Tier 3 Wrap Up

For team picture, please click on the link below...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10157281795960422&set=gm.10157290660245584&type=3&theater

This TIer 3 season was disappointingly only 3 teams deep but the parody between those teams was impressive as not only were their games against one another great, they also proved they were a class ahead of most tier 4 teams and turned some heads of tier 2 teams who were defeated by their tier 3 counterparts or were given more than they bargained for during the cross over portion of the schedule.  2015's regular season Champions (Broad Street Bullies) once again reigned victorious after this years regular season paly and in doing so bought themselves a ticket in the finals.

Their opponent would be either the old boys from the Master Outpatients whose age may have been afecting them lately as they had fallen in back to back game 3 finals during last summer and this past winter seasons......or the Bullies would face a newly promoted team in the Lorne Ave Stars team who had won back to back championships in Tier 4 both last summer and this past winter season.The season series between these teams were tight and the tension finally boiled over in the teams last meeting of the year as there was multiple line skirmishes and a couple of fights....

Their playoff series however would have none of that.  In game 1 we saw the Mop's play a tactically sound game in which they controled the play, burried their chaces and left little work for their keeper in a 3-0 win....however in game 2 the tables would eventually change during game the 2nd half of play which for the longest time looked as though The Masters team would skillfully grind out a 2-1 win and advance to the finals.  The Stars had other plans and mid way through the 2nd flipped the tables and score by exploiting the Mop's over aggressivve play by their defence and utilizing their speed as they broke out of thier end with numerous odd man rushes of which they would pot 3 goals to take the game and even the series up at 1-1........Game 3 would be determined by the youth and speed of the Stars or the experience and grit of the Master Outpatients.  In the end the old boys were led by their youngest (30) player (Shawn Duncan) who scored 3 beauties which was the driving force behind a 5-0 lecture over the Stars and for the 3rd straight season punched their ticket to the Tier 3 Finals!

Broad Street Bullies after sitting idle for the first round came up short when they did play in round 2 and lost against the Bombers in 3 games before they moved on to defeat the Mop's in last summers Final.  This year they once again had to wait to face an opponent but instead this time when they played it would be in the finals.  Game 1 of this series would feature a tight checking game that prevented either team from getting an abundance of scoring chances but when they did both goalies were generally up for the task.  The Mop's 43 year old power forward (Chris Drohan) would break the scoreless tie with only 9 minutes remaining in the game and Ducan would factor in on the scoring again as he gave his team all the insurance they would need with his goal, especially with goaltender (Mike Lemanski) pitching the 2-0 shutout.....Game 2 saw the young up and comers of Broad Street bounce back and pitch a defensive gem!  They would talley an early goal in each period with the first coming from (Brandao) and the second from (Gaul).  Two goals was more than enough offense with the systematically perfect defense they put out in front of the veteran lined Mop's team who had no answer on how to penetrate the Bullies zone. An empty netter was eventually added and this series was locked at 1's a peice and not surprisingly heading to a game 3......The Master Outpatients had obviously be in this situation before and were hoping to leave with a different outcome this time around while the Broad Street Bullies were new to the finals but still felt they had wrongs to right from last years disappointing exit from the post season.....Fairly quiet through the first 2 games of this series, team and league leading scorer Ben Lawrence- Farhi finally made some noise as he capitalized on a substantial Mop defensive blunder which alowed him to snipe a shot while walking in all alone in the slot.  The Master Outpatients responded quickly however and tied things up on a gritty goal late in the first period.  The second began and only minutes in another huge defensive lapse left (Waltham) 1 on 1 with the Mop goalie, (Waltham) seized his oppertunity and gave his team the lead with a nice short side goal with 12 minutes remaining in regulation time.  A strong push was made by the vet filled bench which included some glorious scoring chances that were missed or stifled by Bullies keeper (Trevail), two shots did get by him including one with just over a minute to go in the game but the clang of iron saved the day each time and sustained the 2-1 lead until the final buzzer sounded.

Once again the Master Outpatients leave heart broken in defeat and hanging their heads in disappointment while the Broad Street Bullies instead got to check off thier to do list by advancing to the LBHA Tier 2 level and in doing so capping off  a great season and solid first 2 years in the LBHA to which they can now say to all tier 3-4 teams that they "Better Than You".  Congrats to this years Tier 3 Champions as well as a firm Salute to their fellow tier 3 combatants of the 2016 season.