PowerPlay Magazine

In a series weirdly reminiscent of the 2012 Stanley Cup Finals where 8th seeded Los Angeles Kings squared off against the 6th seeded New Jersey Devils we find in Canada league II.1 the seventh seed Milleteers facing the eighth seed Dinomites for the championship. In what has to be one of the most remarkable playoffs in terms of Cinderella teams there have also been what can only be termed catastrophic collapses by the regular season champs Vancouver Vanucks and runner up Biznows. Biznows cannot finish higher than 5th while the Vanucks are shaping to finish possibly 8th with what must be a huge disappointment for GM andylin329. However with the second lowest OTR of the top 8 it should be noted that the Vanucks punched well above their weight class to finish first, and they should be congratulated.

But of course it's the underdogs that really should be celebrated. The Dinomites made it look easy with four straight comfortable wins over the Vanucks and third seed Fedidit Rangers. Their combined 14 goal attack versus 5 goals against was led by Canadian Bernard Bristow. His 5 goals, scintillating 29.4S% and impressive +7 is a remarkable change from the regular season when he led his team in goals, but also finished with a rather ugly -5. Bristow's S% cannot remain so superhumanly high and should be somewhat of a concern for GM Dino Barnabé, but as long as his playoff player acquisition German free-agent Lennart Grobian minds the twine as effectively as he did in his sole playoff appearance there should be plenty of cautious optimism in the Dinomites camp.

In stark contrast to the Dinomites the Milleteers path to the championship series has been one of much more drama and closer margins. Biznows took their first quarterfinal series to 3 games, but more or less embarassed themselves by getting shutout 4:0 in the decider. In the semi's the Milleteers and the fourth seed Ice Monkeys proved to be much more of a classic playoff series that really could've gone either way. After a shorthanded goal late in the third by Mathias McFadden it was Worldwide star Harvey Latour's shootout goal that decided the game one nailbiter. But the real accolades should go to unsung thirdliner, lunchpail defenseman Jaroslav Juránek who scored the only goal in game two to clinch the series. Truly a fitting moment for an underdog on an underdog team for this playoff of seemingly fated underdogs.

The championship series will start shortly, and the prognosticating is once again similar to the 2012 Stanley Cup finals. The smart money was on the (8th seed) Kings with their incredibly dominant playoff run, while for this II.1 series the (8th seed) Dinomites are similarly showing everything it takes to win the championship with confidence. The Devils took a much longer, more plodding path to the final and despite the long odds anyone with a heart was pulling for Brodeur to get one more hoist of the Cup. Considering the Dinomites won two of their three regular season matches and lost only via shootout it will likely take a continuation of heroics from sometimes unexpected corners for the Milleteers to pull this off. Who knows? I suppose stranger things have happened, but considering this playoff I would say probably not too much so.