CFHL Playoffs and Cherry Cup Preview

The CFHL Cherry Cup Playoffs were in full swing and has gone "chalk" all the way to the Cherry Cup Final.

Round 1:

Marchand had 5 goals for Puck

Who Gives a Puck vs Goon Crew 7-2:  This game was over from the start as Brad Marchand from the Puck started the week with a hat trick as the Puck were on their way to 17 goals.  A record in the playoffs.  (I think...we'll say it was a record).  Marchand ended up with 5 goals on the week and Crosby added 6 more!  The Crew surprisingly beat them in FOW 127-123, but what was once the power of the Crew, the goalies started the week terrible and could never recover.

Mayhem on Ice vs. White Mambas 5-3:  In the second game, the favorite won as well as this game wasn't very close either.  Mayhem tallied 13 goals, and it was a team effort 4 players scoring 2 goals and all but one other player scoring 1.  McDavid continued his amazing season for the Mayhem scoring 2 goals and 3 assists with a +5.

Round 2:

Alex Assassins vs. Mayhem on Ice 7-2:  If this was an opportunity to knock of the top team in the CFHL this would have been it.  They failed to reach the century mark in FOW.  They only had 2 goalie wins and had less than 10 goals.  But unfortunately for the Mayhem they managed NO goalie wins, only 30 FOW and 7 goals.  Jack Eichel for the Assassins scored 3 goals and Bobrovsky had a GAA of 0.48.

AshBuster fans celebrate Kucherov's hat trick.

AshBusters vs. Who Gives a Puck 6-2:  This game was closer than the score indicated but the Number 2 seed defeated the Puck and moved onto the Cherry Cup Final.  If it wasn't for Kucherov this might have been a different story.  He had 5 of the 8 goals the AshBusters scored.  They beat the hell out of the Puck as well as Borowiecki had 25 hits alone!!  My god, wow! The Puck still only lost goals by 2, assists by 1 PPG by one and tied goalie wins.

Cherry Cup Finals Preview:

AshBusters at Alex's Assassins

This is a match up between the 2 top teams in the CFHL.  And the Assassins will go for the Cherry Cup keeping the cup in the Cherry family for yet another year.  But it won't be easy versus the AshBusters that bring a high power offense.

Goals:  Advantage here is with the AshBusters who lead the league with 206 and are lead by Kucherov's 38 goals (5 last week).  Lets not forget about Rakell (32), Pavelski (28) and the bearded wonder Burns (27).

Assassins' leading helper Backstrom

Assists:  This is pretty even with both teams mid of the pack.  Assassins probably have a slight advantage who have 38 more assists than AshBusters on the season.  But over a course of a season isn't that many.  Backstrom leads this team with a whopping 57 assists on the season.

Rating:  The plus/minus is hard to rate.  But if you take just the season stats on this the Assassins have a huge advantage as they lead the league with a +69, while the AshBusters were second to last with -37.  But each week you never know how your team will fare.

Schenn has 15 PPG for AshBusters

PPG:  You could say this might be pretty even as they are 1 and 2 in PPG.  However the AshBusters have 79 PPGs compared to the Assassins 56.  They have two players with 15 or more PPGs.  Brayden Schenn had 15 and team MVP Kucherov has 17.  However this is another category hard to predict as it is at the mercy of power play opportunities.

Hits and FOW:  This one is easy.  AshBusters will easily win Hits, as they lead the league with 1,080 hits and with the beast Borowiecki shouldn't be a problem.  The Assassins have consistently been a top FOW team and are typically over 100 FOW each week.

Goalies:  My goodness, could you have a better match up of 4 goalies.  All candidates for the Vezina Trophy in the NHL.  Assassins have Carey Price and Sergi Bobrovsky and the AshBusters have Craig Anderson and Devan Dubnyk (both former Goon Crew, just so you know...doh!!!).

Could these be the stars of the Cherry Cup finals?

Don Cherry's take:  Well boys this should be one for the ages.  I mean you have the two best teams in the league squaring off and how good does it get with those boys in the net facing off eh??  The AshBusters hit like a ton of bricks and might wear the Assassins down.  It will come to who can win assists, ratings. And that Kucherov boy from Russia is a hell of a player for the AshBusters.  Duby and Price are just a little better than Anderson and Boby...  Assassins win a close one and the Cherry Cup stays in the Cherry family.  Which is what I like...those Cherry boys...hell of organ-eye-zations.