Sunday, February 17, 2008

Storm Slip into 7th Place

On the last day of the regular season, the Storm finished off an incredible run to grab 7th place and avoid a sudden death playoff game with Etobicoke. Just 3 weeks ago the Storm were 8 points behind Vaughan and had just lost a disappointing game to Clearview after coming back from a 3 goal deficit. Since then the Storm have been undefeated in 7 regular season/playdown games.

The game against Etobicoke was an intense and hard fought game. The first goal was scored by Marley with less than a minute left in the 1st period on the powerplay as a result of a nice 3-way passing playing with Sheri and Jackie. It was the only powerplay opportunity for the Storm because for the first time this season the took more penalties than their opponents. However, Mari scored a shorthanded goal in the 2nd period on a shot from the left faceoff circle. Early in the 3rd period, Sheri was off for tripping when Amanda was also called for tripping. The Dolphins were able to score on the 2-man advantage but that was it. They put on considerable pressure for the rest of the game but the Storm played well defensively and hung on for a 2-1 win.

The win was a huge confidence boost for a team that was near the bottom of the standing all season and had only 1 win at the start of the new year. The game had an extra dimension to it as it was also a playdown game. The Storm are now undefeated in 2 playdown games.

The Playdown standings currently are:
North York 2-0-0, 4 pts
Sarborough 0-0-1, 1 pt
Leaside 0-1-1, 1 pt
Etobicoke 0-1-0, 0 pts