Early Game – Scotland vs Slovenia

With 3rd place Italy on a bye week, this match between #2 Scotland and #4 Slovenia was relevant. With a win, Scotland would ice a 2nd place finish on the season behind the mighty Irish, but that same 2nd place final position was still within Slovenia’s reach with a win against Scotland.

Scotland’s “no shot is a bad shot” Vincelli got the first goal five minutes in, but rookie Robert King tied it up halfway through the first period. Both goalies tightened things up at that point with only Slovenia sniper Stephen Davis finding net for the rest of the period. 2-1 for Slovenia after one period.

Brad “Bobby Orr” Stoll lit the lamp for Scotland to make it 2-2 halfway through the second period and, commenting to his teammates, “a man can’t stand on one leg,” he scored again five minutes later to give scotland a 3-2 lead. It was looking like that’s how the period would end until Davis picked up his second of the night to make it a 3-3 draw going into the final frame.

The Barrett’s found their whistles during the intermission and kept Brenda busy during a four-penalty third period. Holding, body-checking, hooking. Clearly emotions were high in the third as both teams pressed for the winning goal. Finally with less than four minutes left, rookie Ciro Napolitano lit the lamp for a jubilant Slovenian squad and less than a minute later Scotsman Vincelli took a body-checking penalty giving Slovenia a powerplay and the lead with 2:42 left on the clock!

But this one wasn’t over. Slovenia took a penalty with 1:40 left on the clock and Scotsman Enzo Ianno made them pay, lighting the lamp and tying the game with seconds left.

Final score: Scotland 4, Slovenia 4.

Slovenia Player of the Game goes to the Great Wall of Ljubljana, Art Senkowski, while Team Sponsor Frank Nweisser plays Scotland the Brave on his trusty bagpipes.

Late Game – Ireland vs Portugal

The late game featured Ireland, who locked up first place in the regular season last week, against Portugal, who will finish in 5th place. As league icon Leo Brideau always says, “It’s a 20 game pre-season” but this game was a good chance for the Lisbonites to test their mettle against the league leaders.

Tight play for the first half of period 1 but then Portugal’s Chris Johnson breaks the ice and puts his underdog squad ahead 1-0. More tight play to finish the period with the exception of Paul Riopelle’s snipe with three minutes to go to tie it up 1-1 after one.

After seven minutes of scoreless play, Fabulous Joe Peacock put Ireland ahead but it took only eight seconds for Chris Johnson to notch his second of the game and tie things up at two goals apiece. Leo Brideau then took matters into his own hands and put the Portuguese ahead by a goal and then a few minutes later Fred “Flintstone” Raidl put Portugal up by TWO GOALS near the end of the second period, proving that this whole “1st place, last place” thing don’t mean bupkis. Fabulous Joe Peacock picked up his second in the dying minutes to make it 4-3 for Portugal going into the third period.

If the game ended at that point, Portuguese fans would be filling the pubs after the game, but they make you play that damn third period even when you’re winning. And it did not go Portugal’s way.

Ireland won the 3rd period by a score of 5-1 to make it an 8-5 final. Riopelle and his personal assistant Scott Wilson (expl: Scott assists on a lot of Paul’s goals) both bulged the twine in the third period but Tim Randa worked a third period HAT TRICK to put this one away convincingly.

Still, a very respectable game for Portugal and a clear indication that they can beat any team on any night, especially when Leo and Co. put their playoff faces on. You heard it here first. Stay tuned.

Portugal’s Player of the Game goes to Fred Raidl while Ireland’s Acheson Thomas adds an apple to his usual solid defensive play to earn Irish Honours.