![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.btsh.org\/bruise\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/wtpvsfk.jpg\" "\\"What")
<\/a><\/p>\n#7 What The Puck (12-5-1-2) at #2 Fresh Kills (14-4-2)<\/strong> <\/p>\n Keys To The Game For What The Puck:<\/strong> Fresh Kills Is Not Intimidated By Mike’s Canadian Scowl #7 What The Puck (12-5-1-2) at #2 Fresh Kills (14-4-2) Location: Tompkins West, 4:00 PM All-Time Series: What The Puck leads 9-8-1 2011 Result: Week 1 – Fresh Kills 3, What The Puck 2 (OT-SO); Week 8 – Fresh Kills 3, What The Puck 0 Game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[153,27,115,8],"class_list":["post-5066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-previews","tag-2011-season","tag-fresh-kills","tag-playoff-preview","tag-what-the-puck"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5066"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5066"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5088,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5066\/revisions\/5088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.miyagimedia.com\/bruise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLocation: <\/strong>Tompkins West, 4:00 PM
\nAll-Time Series: <\/strong>What The Puck leads 9-8-1
\n2011 Result: <\/strong>Week 1 – Fresh Kills 3, What The Puck 2 (OT-SO); Week 8 – Fresh Kills 3, What The Puck 0
\nGame Notes:<\/strong> At the beginning of the 2011 season, picking What The Puck to reach the championship game was a no-brainer.\u00a0 Larry “Mad Dog” Zimmer had just concluded an off-season shopping spree, pillaging the Rehabs of goaltender Anthony Romeo and forwards Brock Bosacker, Alex Doucette, and “The All-American Canadian” Adam Skuse.\u00a0 Zimmer’s grand plan to ambush BTSH with his all-star squad was working to perfection through the spring, as What The Puck jumped out to an 8-1-0-1 record through ten games.\u00a0 However, once the calendar turned to summer, injuries and lackluster attendance began to deplete Zimmer’s charges, and his Orange Juggernaut stumbled to a 1-4-1-1 finish, scoring an uncharacteristically low 11 goals in this seven game stretch.\u00a0 Once the playoffs began, however, What The Puck returned to the form everyone expected to see, and the team dispatched the Sky Fighters, Denim Demons, and Butchers, allowing just one goal in each game.\u00a0 What The Puck’s opponent in the championship game, Fresh Kills, is a familiar foe.\u00a0 The two teams are meeting in the postseason for the fourth time since 2006, and as members of the Hackett Division, they faced off twice this season.\u00a0 Captain David Sokolyansky, armed with a much smaller budget than Zimmer’s, took an alternate route to building his squad, preferring to add undervalued free agents and players other teams viewed as flawed.\u00a0 This haul included Scott Lee, who was cast aside by the Mathematics because of his inability to finish.\u00a0 Sokolyansky’s philosophy paid off, as Fresh Kills performed consistently throughout the season and claimed the Hackett Division crown on the penultimate weekend of the regular season.\u00a0 However, all of this hard work was almost undone in the opening round of the playoffs, when Fresh Kills was extended to a shootout before putting away Mega Touch.\u00a0 The next two rounds proceeded more like the regular season, as Sokolyansky’s bunch used stifling defense and opportunistic offense to eliminate the Dark Rainbows and defending champion Happy Little Elves.\u00a0 Entering the finals, Fresh Kills now seems to have all signs pointing in its favor, as Sokolyanksy and his crew are the higher seed and swept What The Puck in the season series.\u00a0 However, Zimmer is known for pulling rabbits out of hats throughout his illustrious BTSH tenure and may have one more trick up his sleeve.<\/p>\n
\n1. In last week’s semifinal against the pesky Butchers, Hannah Stark delivered in the clutch and scored the game-winning goal with 1:30 remaining in regulation.\u00a0 What The Puck will once again turn to her to rise to the challenge in this pressure-filled matchup.
\n2. Goaltender Anthony Romeo continued his postseason success in last week’s semifinal, as he allowed just one goal for the third consecutive week.\u00a0 This has come after a regular season rife with attendance issues and mediocrity for the centerpiece of What The Puck’s offseason acquisitions.\u00a0 However, Zimmer is not surprised, as his master plan all along was to rest his top goalie from the wear and tear of the Indian summer, allowing Romeo to be fresh and healthy for the playoffs.
\n3. Grizzled veteran Tom MacDonald has had a bit of a chip on his shoulder after Zimmer cut him just prior to the playoffs in order to clear roster space for Brock Bosacker.\u00a0 However, after Bosacker’s ship lost communication somewhere in the Bermuda Triangle, Zimmer resigned MacDonald one day after his release.\u00a0 MacDonald noted that he understood Zimmer’s initial decision, but he is now determined to prove he belongs on the playoff squad.\u00a0 He had one goal in last week’s semifinal.
\nKeys To The Game For Fresh Kills:<\/strong>
\n1. Without the presence of last season’s leading scorer, Justin “The Boss” Ross, there has been a team-wide effort to fill his offensive void.\u00a0 As a result, in Fresh Kills’ three playoff games, nine different players have combined for the team’s 12 goals.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sokolyansky boasts that his team is particularly dangerous, because any line can score at any time.
\n2. After finishing the regular season with the fourth best GAA among qualifying goalies in BTSH, Patrick Barch has been a steady force between the pipes in the playoffs.\u00a0 He has allowed just four goals in Fresh Kills’ three games, including a shutout of the Dark Rainbows.\u00a0 In addition, Barch seems to have a cosmic connection with his favorite NFL team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, whose results have mirrored those of Fresh Kills since the start of the playoffs.\u00a0 In other words, if Fresh Kills wins on Sunday, look for the Steelers to upset the Patriots.
\n3. As a special treat to motivate his team, Sokolyanksy had intended to bring back former Fresh Kills captain “Hollywood” Jeff Lesser to give a rousing pre-game pep talk.\u00a0 However, in finalizing the details, Dave’s brother Mike repeatedly called Lesser by his given name, rather than “Hollywood,” as Lesser prefers.\u00a0 These gaffes offended Lesser so much that he will no longer be attending.\u00a0 Instead, the team will receive a pre-game pep talk via satellite from former Notre Dame head coach, Lou Holtz<\/a>.
\nRich Glanzer’s Thoughts:<\/strong> If this game was played from June to August, Fresh Kills would be five goal favorites. But WTP has come from their now-annual summer swoon to the championship game. Fresh Kills has had one goal all year: not just to make this game, but to win it. Talent-wise, What The Puck has the better men, and FK has the better women. Goalies are pretty much equal. I say this game comes down to who wants it more, and I gotta believe Fresh Kills does. I see a tight defensive game where Fresh Kills grabs a 2-0 lead, WTP scores early in the 2nd half, and FK adds one more late. 3-1 Fresh Kills.
\nEli\u2019s Pick:<\/strong> Fresh Kills.\u00a0 It’s worth noting that my history of correctly picking the championship game is extremely suspect, but the Corlears Hookers are not in it this year.
\n Derek\u2019s Pick:<\/strong> What The Puck.\u00a0 Dave Sokolyansky seems to think his team plays better when I pick against them.\u00a0 As such, if Fresh Kills wins, it’s because my pick helped them out.\u00a0 If WTP wins, I knew it all along.
\n Watchability:<\/strong> 5 Mr. Skuses.\u00a0 This game is so big they’ll be listening to a live feed all the way to Cobourg, Ontario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"