Philadelphia unleashed the four horsemen leaving a trail of brass casings in a second period eight-point run. The back-to-back champions advanced one step closer to yet another ornamental charm proving that it might truly be more sunny in Philadelphia. In the mean time, it was a dark night in Boston as the championship hosts saw their post-season campaign diminished in front of an adoring audience of 8,648 fans. The Cannons were put through the paces suffering from untimely hardware issues firing short rounds on wet powder. The Barrage out shot Boston 40-38 and 19-29 at the face-off X. Boston went 0-5 on power-play goals.
Boston was spared a house call from the Doc. The Goalie of the Year suffered from a viral infection. Dougherty was instrumental in the 16-14 win over the Cannons stealing the show with 28 saves off 41 shots earning Bud Light MVP honors. `With the Saturday game stakes high, the play offs on the line, and Dougherty out of commission, Boston had a strong shot at the W were it not for the secret agenda of a young Padawan. Keenan bankrolled the most out of a possible Bledsoe-Brady (?) opportunity demonstrating that the midi-chlorians run strong in the Philly pipeline.
Philadelphia pushed the tempo of the game capitalizing on transition, moving the ball and the defense. The Barrage were able to execute on the fundamentals and play better as a team. Boston had started off strong with three goals from Mikey Powell, but as Philly took the momentum the offense took a sloppy turn taking shots with no back up and going for Keenan’s legs.
The Cannons led the first quarter 4-2. Powell returned to home action scoring the first goal on a sweep past two defenders with the overhand wrist snapper top shelf (1-0). Ryan Boyle answered off a grounder shooting lefty off the crossbar (1-1). Jed Prossner scored of the bouncer through the five hole off the a dodge (2-1). Powell lit up the crowd with the equalizer on transition (2-2). Ray Megill dished off the assist. Rabil set up Powell on his hat trick goal. Rabil who was checked at midfield got the grounder in transition and hit Powell with the no-look pass. Powell cruised through traffic faking high and finishing with a low bouncer (3-2). Poskay wrapped up the scoring with a quick stick on the run off a pass from Morris (4-2).
The Barrage stormed back going 8-1 in the second period. Tom Zummo was the only Cannon to score in the second quarter off the substitution seeing the opportunity when no one was on him and taking the shorty to cage going off hip (5-2). All of the Barrage artillery came to life. Colsey, Prossner, Strieble (2), Springer, and Boyle (3pt) found the back of the net. Colsey found the back of the net with the righty underhand on the run (3-5). Springer dished off the ball to Prossner who finished with a low bouncer (4-5). Striebel banked the equalizer off the dodge on the low bouncer (5-5). Striebel converted again off an underhand rip (6-5). Boyle passed off to Springer during a textbook fast break. Springer took the ball 1v1 to goal with a fake high and low shot (7-5). Boyle scored off the look from Trombino (8-5). Boyle added insult to injury at the end of the first half with an off 2-pt goal (10-5).
Philadelphia edged out Boston 3-2 in the third. Kevin Cassese picked up where Boyle left off at the end of the first half. Cassesse scored a 2-pt goal on the hidden ball. Turner was tracking Strieble and missed the overhand bouncer (12-5). The Barrage had the game in control at this point and the outlook for Boston was grim. Rabil responded with a low shot of his off beating Sweeney in a foot race (6-12). Striebel scored on a high to low one-handed face dodge (13-6) extending the Barrage lead by seven. Poskay closed out the third with a goal from Rabil. Poskay was cutting from X and caught the pass shooting on the run (7-13).
Boston finally took the 4-3 lead in the final quarter but it was a little too late by that point. Boston was able to score and would have scored more if they had not forced shots and worked the ball more. Alrich dished off to Zummo on the substitution. Zummo scored 8-13. Boston and Philly traded goals for the remainder of the period trading words every now and then. The Barrage got goals from Colsey (powerplay) and Goldberg. Powell, Rabil, and Jacovina countered.
The Cannons will face Denver at home next Saturday at 19:00. The Cannons are 6-5 while the Barrage are 7-4. Philadelphia will face the Pride for their last in-season game.
Boston Cannons vs. Philadelphia Barrage
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Boston Cannons | 6-5 |
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Philadelphia Barrage | 7-4 |
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