CFHL Playoffs Round 1

 The CFHL playoffs have begun.  The first round saw one stinker of a game and one that came down to a final power play assist!  Crazy!

First the Stinker.  The California Raisins almost completely swept all categories against the Krampus Carols, winning 6-1.  I mean hits and blocks were ridiculous.  Raisins had 50 hits compared to 11 by the Krampus, and that was with Cuylle on the bench with 17 more hits!  Raisins had 40 blocks compared to 18 by the Krampus.  Celebrini had 5 goals for the Raisins while Sid "The Kid" Crosby had 7 assists, 3 PPP, 5 hits and 5 blocks!  

The Raisins now move on and face the defending champion Who Gives a Puck.  The Puck bring the Golden Goal scorer Jack Hughes and his 47 assists on the year.  They also have two skaters with 40 plus goals, Wyatt Johnston and Kirill Kaprizov.  And I don't think it will be that lopsided in hits and blocks for the Raisins this time.  The Puck have multiple players with 100 or more hits and 100 or more blocks.

This game will be close and I see the Raisins eeking out a win, preventing a repeat by the Puck.

The Space Monkey Mafia got past the Slapshots on a final shot.  This game was a tight one, with the game 3-3-1 going into Sunday night.  Unfortunately for the Slapshots, their Sabers players that really got them into the playoffs, let them down once they got there.  Josh Norris had no goals.  Tage Thomplson only had 1 goal and 1 assist and 1 PPP.  Goalie Alex Lyon had a SV% of .400!! Ouch!  But despite all that, they were still in the driver seat since they were the home team. But J.T. Miller put the dagger in the Slapshots heart with a power play assist tying PPP and winning the game for the Space Monkey Mafia 3-2-2!

What does the Space Monkey get for it's efforts?  A date with the top seed and juggernaut Assassins.  However the biggest news over the past few weeks was their loss of team MVP Leon Draisaitl.  He will be tough to replace, however Nick Suzuki can fill in as a leader in the face off circle as he has 68 assists on the season.  They have a solid blue line with 3 d-men with more than 100 blocks on the season.  

Another close ones sees the Assassins continuing their dominance on the league.