Roughriders Finish NAPHL Tournament 3-1

Lucas Blomquist celebrates after scoring for the Roughriders

Troy, MI - Hockey is a mysterious game. Playoff hockey is particularly mysterious. In a weekend where it was necessary to play practically perfect hockey the Rocky Mountain Roughriders U16 did just that. Then how can it be that the Roughriders did not advance to the Championship game? Several days later I am still scratching my head looking for the same answer.

In Game 1 the Roughriders faced the Indianapolis Jr. Ice as mention in the previous blog entry and were in command of the game the entire time, winning the game by a margin of 6-2.

In Game 2 the Roughriders faced the Pikes Peak Miners and fought hard the entire game only to be forced into a shootout at the end of regulation. The Roughriders won this game by winning the shootout to put their season record against the Miners to 7-0-1.

Then came Game 3 and the mysteries of hockey. The Roughriders faced the California Titans in game three and played amazing. The Roughriders were passing well, shooting well, staying out of penalty trouble. They were forechecking, backchecking, and doing everything a quality hockey team should be doing. The trouble was, they ran into a hot goaltender. A hot goaltender can steal a game from a better team, especially during playoffs, derailing a quality team's shot at a championship. This is exactly what happened against the California Titans. The Roughriders outshot the Titans by a margin of 37-25. The Roughriders did everything that they needed to do win the game, except they weren't able to overcome a hot goaltender and ended up losing 2-1.

Now with a record of 3-1, the Roughriders should have enough points to qualify for the semi-finals, however, since they went to a shootout with the Miners, the Miners were able to earn one point while the Roughriders earned two. The extra point that the Miners earned from the shootout was enough to vault them into the semi-finals and leaving the Roughriders to play in the consolation game even though the Roughriders remain undefeated by the Miners the entire season. Mysterious, isn't it!

The Miners went on to beat the California Titans in the finals to earn the NAPHL Championship. The irony that the Roughriders were undefeated against the Miners all year, yet the Miners win the Championship is what makes hockey playoffs so exciting to watch.

Pointstreak Tournament Coverage