Missed Opportunities

Waterloo (CP) With only two games left in the regular season YDP controlled their own destiny. Win out and they’ll get a first round bye, stumble and they’ll be forced to play a first round match against the upstart Grande Prairie Stingers.

YDP had a meeting in Waterloo against the Thundercats. In 5 previous meetings YDP has a 3-2 record but both teams have won lopsided games and have had success on the road. The rewards for the Thundercats weren’t as valuable but the boys from Waterloo still had a shot at 7th place in the Premier Conference.

The Thundercats made some major acquisitions during the trade deadline acquiring such offensive stars like Hejduk, Schneider and Kovalev. These stars got Waterloo of to a great start as they took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission. YDP came out in the 2nd period with a fury scoring four goals to tie the game at 4 heading into the 3rd period. While it would have been easy for Waterloo to quit they came out to the 3rd period with a vengeance grabbing a 2-goal lead just 6 minutes into the period. This deficit proved to be impossible for YDP to recover as the Bulin wall did his job and held YDP at bay.

The loss allowed the Gargoyles to clinch a bye in the first round and have secured the #3 seed and has put the Eagles in the drivers seat as they hold the first tie breaker against YDP. The Penetrators will host their archrival the Defiance for their final game, while the Eagles must travel to San Diego to face the Aviators.

‘It really doesn’t matter what happens now,’ said GM Wong, ‘we’re fully prepared to face the Stingers in the first round and then head to Edmonton to face the Eagles.’ YDP has the team to go deep into the playoffs, but will need to stay consistent and overcome any coaching deficiencies in the later rounds.

Ima Dumass (CP)

5 down 6 to go

Yellowknife (CP) With 7 games remaining the Penetrators have finished their season series with 5 of the 11 teams in the Premier Conference. While the sweep of the Gargoyles was well documented a while back, here is a brief recap of the other 4 completed season series.

YDP vs SPA 3-3
The Penetrators and the Spartans tied their season series at 3 games a piece with each team winning in the other’s barn twice. While home ice was definitely a disadvantage, the true measure of success was offense specifically the team that scored three or more goals. The Spartans outscored YDP 17-14 in there 6 game set, but it wasn’t from a lack of effort as YDP out shot the Spartans 194 to 120. The bottom line was Martin Biron stole the 2nd and 5th game of this series as YDP pumped 72 shots at Biron only to see him surrender 3 goals.
Day 32 @ YDP – Penetrators 4 – Spartans 2
Day 43 @ SPA – Spartans 4 – Penetrators 2
Day 65 @ SPA – Penetrators 3 – Spartans 2
Day 66 @ YDP – Spartans 5 – Penetrators 1
Day 82 @ YDP – Spartans 3 - Penetrators 1
Day 94 @ SPA – Penetrators 3 – Spartans 1

YDP vs PUR 3-3
I’ve never seen a homer series like this one. Not only did the home team win all 6 games but they also outscored the road team by a margin of 18-1, which included 5 shutouts. YDP out shot the Purge 180-118 in 6 games, that’s 10 extra shots a game, but YDP has only been able to muster a 11-8 advantage in goals. The real story in this series is not Martin Brodeur but all his N/A buddies.
Day 35 @ YDP – Penetrators 2 – Purge 0
Day 56 @ PUR – Purge 4 – Penetrators 1
Day 60 @ PUR – Purge 1 – Penetrators 0
Day 105 @ YDP – Penetrators 5 – Purge 0
Day 109 @ YDP – Penetrators 3 – Purge 0
Day 119 @ PUR – Purge 3 – Penetrators 0

YDP vs FRE 4-1-1
The Penetrators dominated this series from day 1 and took 9 of a possible 10 points in the first 5 match ups, but the interesting game came on Day 110 when the Freeze embarrassed the Penetrators by a score of 8-1. This wake up call motivated YDP tremendously as they took 3 of the next 4 points against the Reapers and Defiance both currently ahead of them in the standings. YDP outscored the Freeze 27-18 and out shot them by a 201 to 139 mark.
Day 20 @ YDP – Penetrators 5 – Freeze 0
Day 24 @ YDP – Penetrators 2 – Freeze 2
Day 72 @ FRE – Penetrators 8 – Freeze 4
Day 87 @ FRE – Penetrators 7 – Freeze 3
Day 89 @ FRE – Penetrators 4 – Freeze 1
Day 110 @ FRE – Freeze 8 – Penetrators 1

YDP vs GPS 3-2-1
3rd year team that loaded up versus an expansion team, the prediction should be easy 6-0 for the old guys but the new kid on the block just wouldn’t have it. The upstart Stingers gave YDP fits all year playing them extremely tough every step of the way and made the old guys earn every available point. YDP finished with a 7-5 point advantage, which included a 21-17 goal and 203-140 shot advantage.
Day 16 @ YDP – Penetrators 5 – Stingers 1
Day 30 @ GPS – Stingers 4 - Penetrators 3
Day 39 @ GPS – Penetrators 1 – Stingers 0
Day 45 @ YDP – Stingers 5 - Penetrators 4
Day 58 @ YDP – Penetrators 4 – Stingers 3
Day 77 @ GPS – Penetrators 4 – Stingers 4

Ima Dumass (CP)

Penetrators clinch home ice

Yellowknife (CP) After earning their 72nd point with a tie against their arch rival the Washington Definace on Day 117, the Penetrators have earned home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs. ‘There’s still a lot of hockey left,’ said Hannan, ‘our next goal is to earn that first round bye and go from there.’ While some may not see the importance of a first round bye please refer them to the Aviators (sorry Richard), Gargoyles and the Red Wings who all had excellent regular seasons only to lose in the first round.

YDP has earned 7 of a possible 10 points in their past 5 games. With the exception of the one poor performance against the Freeze, YDP has played a relatively sound defensive game giving up 5 goals in 4 games. ‘We had a real good chance to take 2 points from the Defiance the other night but we’ll settle with 1 for now,’ said Sakic. With only 8 games left in the regular season the boys will need 11 points to secure a first round bye. ‘The bye would be nice, but our focus is against the Purge tomorrow night,’ said Brind’Amour.

Ima Dumass (CP)

Day 109 – Penetrators 3 – Purge 0
Day 110 – Freeze 8 – Penetrators 1
Day 113 – Penetrators 2 – Reapers 1
Day 115 – Penetrators 3 – T-Men 1

Day 117 – Defiance 3 - Penetrators 3