Atlanta and Jacksonville Win their MET South Playoffs
Both Teams Move on to Keegan Cup and USA Hockey’s National Championships
March 8, 2010
by Phil Brand

The six qualifying teams in the MET South’s two divisions completed their double elimination series this past weekend. Pre tournament favorites the Jacksonville Ice Dogs and the Atlanta Knights emerged as the winners of the Florida Division and the South Central Divisions respectively. Atlanta and Jacksonville now await the completion of the playoff action in the MET North to see which four teams from the North will join them in competition for the Keegan Cup. This competition is scheduled to be held in West Chester, PA, March 19th through March 21st. It will feature four teams from the MET North and Atlanta and Jacksonville to determine the overall Metropolitan Junior Hockey League’s 2009-10 Champion. Additionally all six Keegan Cup finalists automatically advance to the USA Hockey’s National Championships held the last weekend in March in Marlborough, MA.

Florida Division Playoff Summary
The Jacksonville Ice Dogs, Palm Beach Hawks and Florida Eels met in a double elimination format at the Space Coast Ice Complex in Rockledge, Florida. While the Ice Dogs won the series they were pushed hard by the Florida Eels who finished in third place in the regular season. The Eels made life interesting for Jacksonville by forcing the series to a decisive winner take all final game on Sunday. The ice Dogs prevailed in the final game by a 3-0 margin.

Game 1-Palm Beach Hawks-8, Florida Eels-6: Goalie Jake Sofer of the Hawks stopped 35 of 41 shots to beat Eels net minder Jeremy Eck who allowed 7 goals on 41 shots in a high scoring game that featured a combined 24 penalties and an empty net goal that provided the final two goal margin. Justin Jantzen’s regular season scoring touch remained intact as he and teammate J.P. Larmoyeux each scored twice in the Hawks’ win. Matthew Plate and Barron Kleinbach scored two goals apiece and Wehebe Darge added three assists in the losing effort.
Game 2-Florida Eels-2, Jacksonville Ice Dogs-0: The Eels fought off elimination and surprised the regular season first place finishers as goaltender Jeremy Eck stopped all 38 of the shots he faced and Cody Boyd got the game winner early in period two. The one goal lead held up until Wehebe Darge got a late third period insurance goal with Boyd picking up his second point with the assist. Jared Lenner took the loss in goal for the Ice Dogs.

Game 3-Jacksonville Ice Dogs-4, Palm Beach Hawks 3: Justin Jimenez broke a 3-3 tie with a goal at 17:46 of the third period to keep the ice Dogs alive in the tournament. Jimenez had two assists and a goal for three points on the night as did team mate Dustin Disbro who had two goals and one helper in the victory. Taylor Vincent scored the other Ice Dogs’ goal. Jared Lenner stopped 37 of 40 shots in goal for the win. The Hawks got single goals from Sebastian Romeo, Nick DiNardo and Sal Lucania. The game hinged around special teams as 27 minor were called. Jacksonville scored three of their four goals with a manpower advantage. Jake Sofer took the loss in goal for Palm Beach facing a total of 39 shots on goal.

Game 4-Palm Beach Hawks-3, Florida Eels-6: Jeremy Eck picked up his second win in goal as the Eels eliminated the Hawks in a game where both teams faced elimination. The Eels scored two goals in each period to move to the final championship game of the series. Eck was pounded with 43 shots in allowing three goals while two Hawks’ goalies shared the net in the loss for Palm Beach. Six different Eels lit the scoring lamp. Michael Visnick (1g-1a) and Zach Buckland with two helpers led the Eels offensively. The Hawks got a three point performance from Sal Lucania (1g-2a) in the loss.

Game 5- Florida Eels- 0, Jacksonville Ice Dogs-3: Jacksonville sealed their trip to the Keegan Cup and the Junior National Championships as Jared Lenner outdueled his counterpart in goal Jeremy Eck of the Eels. The game featured a scoreless first period and a single Jacksonville goal in the second period by Chad LaBarge. This goal at 5:56 of the second period was the game winner as Lenner stopped all 24 shots launched by the Eels. Louis Tincher added goal number two midway on the final period and Sam Trask got an insurance goal at 18:44 to close out the scoring and clinch two trips north for the Ice Dogs.

South Central Division Playoff Summary
The favored Atlanta Knights won three straight games in the double elimination series played at the Chilled Ponds Ice Arena in Chesapeake VA to clinch the top spot and move on to the MJHL finals and Junior National Championships. It wasn’t easy as the Hampton Roads Junior Whalers led by a score of 3-1 late in the second period of game four as Atlanta trailed in a game for one of the few times this year. Eventually the Knights took control of the game to close out the series on Saturday night.

Game 1-Charleston Wolverines-2, Hampton Roads Jr. Whalers-10: The Junior Whalers scored five times in the first period and led from start to finish in the first game of the South Central Division playoff series. Charleston’s two goalies John Layton who started and Roy Murphy in relief looked at a combined 50 shots on goal. Layton allowed seven goals in the start. John Cobb and Casey Moneer got goals for the Wolverines while nine players scored for the Junior Whalers. Max Raskin led Hampton Roads offensively with two goals and an assist. Corey Frank allowed two goals on 21 shots against to gain the win. David Amman played a part of the third period in relief of Frank. The fast paced game featured only six minor penalties.

Game 2-Charleston Wolverines-0, Atlanta Knights-11: The Knights sent Charleston home giving the Wolverines their second loss. Atlanta used using a smothering defense which allowed the Wolverines only four shots on goal and no real scoring opportunities. The offense was also in high gear as forward Scott Murphy picked up a goal and five assists, Cody Durwachter had a hat trick with three goals and Trevor Cope the leading scorer in the MET picked up two goals and an assist. Oliver Evans got the shutout and win in net for Atlanta while Roy Murphy in net for Charleston was bombarded with 56 shots on goal.

Game 3-Hampton Roads Jr. Whalers-2, Atlanta Knights-7: The Knights pushed the Junior Whalers to the brink of elimination with Kevin Carr stopping 25 of 27 shots for the win. The Knights got two first period goals by David Lansdowne and another by Brendan Boyd to score all the points needed to win the game. Lansdowne also assisted on the Boyd goal for three first period points. Mathew Baske scored for the Knights in period two and Max Gavin, Tom McEachern and Jordan Day got third period goals as Atlanta dominated the scoring. Trevor Cope had three assists in the game for Atlanta. Lee Jenkins and Paul Hefferan scored markers for the Junior Whalers.

Game 4-Atlanta Knights-5, Hampton Roads Junior Whalers-3: Atlanta started the scoring in a tense hard hitting competitive game at 1:48 of the first period when Brendan Boyd one timed a pass from Jordan Day over the shoulder of Junior Whalers’ goalie David Allman for the opening score. However, the Junior Whalers continued to press and in an equally played first period Hampton Roads tied the game late in the period off a Maxwell Soliday goal. They then stunned the Knights with two straight goals to take a 3-1 lead midway into the second period outplaying the Knights in the process. Max Raskin scored on a power play 0:33 into the period and 15 seconds later Lee Jenkins hammered home their third goal. A fourth potential Whalers’ goal was disallowed as it was waived off by the Referee. Just a short time later Atlanta got untracked. They crept within one when David Lansdowne got an even strength goal at 12:18 and then with two seconds left on the clock Trevor Cope used a wrist shot off a turnover to tie the game going into the third period. Atlanta struck again quickly at the start of the third period when Trevor Cope fed a pass to David Lansdowne whose odd angled shot appeared to bounce off the back of the Junior Whalers’ goaltender David Amman’s shoulder and dropped down to cross the goal line. Scott Andler ran the score to 5-3 with a goal at the 12:02 mark and the Knights shut out the Junior Whalers for the balance of the game to move on to the Keegan Cup. Kevin Carr got the win in goal for Atlanta stopping 17 of 20 shots on goal.