Well well well what a night this past Friday as we completed our 28th PCOHL season.  29 fans in the stands, might be a record crowd.  Even saw some parents watching on the Boston side, not sure if Dad was going to give his son the regular $5 bill.

First off the the famous ‘Kiss your Sister Game’ for the Bronze medal as the Islanders faced off against the Flyers.  This tilt was a beauty right from the opening puck drop.  Islanders scored first in the opening 90 seconds.  Flyers tied it up to end the first at a draw.  Islanders jumped back on top at 12:12 of the 2nd but the Flyers responded less than a minute later.  Flyers jumped out in front with 5:26 left in the 2nd and the Islanders made it 3-3 after 2 frames.  The final period belonged to both McCallum and the ageless Bobby Ide as they booth shut out all shooters.  The Bronze medal then belonged to a sudden death shoot out as both first players selected, Robb for the Island and Diluzio for the Flyers, took their scoring prowess at the same time.  I tried to watch both but it was tough.  I witnessed Robb fumble the puck on his deek but seemed to find it and slide it under McCallum.  Diluzio made a small move but was stopped by Ide and the Islanders celebrated.  As we got ready for team pics both teams chanted for Brenda to join them.  Islanders got 2 goals from Alan Robb and singles from Carlisle and Fletcher Mr. April.  Flyers got goals from Rundle, Diluzio and Tygesen.  Both teams went 0-1 on the PP.  Players of the game went to Islanders Alan Robb and Flyers Dwayne Tygesen.  Great game and got the record crowd all charged up for the upcoming Gold game.  Congrats to the Islanders our Kiss your Sister Champs!

The last game of our 28th season for all the marbles between our season long top 2 seeds, Boston and Edmonton.  As the crowd filed in you could feel the excitement in the arena.  Bruins with a full squad and Oilers down 3 players to upper and lower body injuries, not sure who that favoured.  Bruins looked strong for the majority of the opening frame scoring the first 2 goals.  Oilers got on the board finally with 1:20 left in the period and then tied it up at 2’s with 29 ticks left on the clock.  This seemed to faze the Bruins but the period change seemed to calm them down and they got back on their train as they scored the only goal in the 2nd frame for a 3-2 lead.  Rispoli for the Oilers kept them in this one as it was all Bruins in the 2nd period.  Oilers took 2 penalties late in the 2nd and the Bruins on a 2 man advantage to open the 3rd looked to close this puppy out but the Oilers managed to kill off this large disadvantage and then like the hockey gods meant it to be saw them tie up the game soon after the big penalty kill.  Oilers then took their first lead of the game at 9:40 of the 3rd followed by another back breaker for the Bruins just 16 seconds later.  Oilers on top 5-3.  Bruins then took a couple of back to back penalties and in the midst of that a penalty shot awarded for the Oilers.  Bruins Gord Ide came up big on the Penalty shot and their penalty killers fended off these high flying Oilers and pushed hard with 5 minutes to go down by 2.  Rispoli was solid, the Italian Hamburglar, did not allow the Bruins to get back into this one.  Oilers get one more goal and skated to Gold with a solid 6-3 win.  What a game!  Oilers goal scorers 2 each for Rick Burke and Rob Leenaars, singles for Cosentino and a beauty from our oldest member Bruce Freeman with excellent hands.  Bruins got goals from Peacock, Cormier and Flumerfelt.  Players of the game went to Oilers #21 Rick Burke and Bruins #44 Tony Thomas playing on a bad wheel.  Lots of visits to Brenda in this one with 18 minutes of penalties.  At one time looked like the refs got into it pretty heavy with the Oilers bench as a disagreement seemed to get heated.  Lots of drama.

The Exec also selected our Conn Smythe winner and it was unanimous, rookie Tim Randa from the Oilers ran away with the playoff scoring race with 17 points a record that may be tough to beat for many years.  Congratulations Tim Randa and all the Oilers as they have a year of bragging rights as our 28th Champions.

A special thank you to our refs and to Brenda our time keeper for all your work this year.

So great season Boys, enjoy your summer and if you haven’t given us your application or deposit please contact Sal Guerra as soon as possible to secure your spot for next season.  We will have our Annual Meeting early September at our draft and also our Fall golf tournament.  Once details are confirmed we will let you all know.  Year end celebration will happen in the next few weeks and will let everyone know date and location.  Let us know if there are any special requests to play with anyone next season due to driving or other reasons, we will do our best to accommodate but no promises.  Any other suggestions to make us even stronger please let us know.

Have a safe and happy summer, cheers.