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Tumba Wolves - Stuttgart Bison 4-2

The Wolves keep on cruising in the World Conference playoffs. After a smooth first round victory over the Chicago Crusaders, they disposed themselves of the Stuttgart Bison in 6 games.

Starting off in front of their home crowd, the Wolves needed to overcome adversity to claim game 1 thanks to late third period goals by Magnus Paajarvi and Oscar Klefbom to overcome a 2-1 deficit.

Also in game 2, it took patience for the Wolves fans before they could notch the “W”. Despite peppering Connor Hellebuyck with 37 shots, it took over 35 minutes of play before the spell was broken.

First Alexander Barkov broke free on the right hand side before sliding a nifty puck through Hellebuyck’s legs before Viktor Arvidsson earned his team the lead just over a minute later.

Barkov tallied a power play insurance goal for the 3-1 victory.

More of the same in game three, where the Bison took a first period lead after hard work from Brock McGinn in front of the net paid off, but the Wolves responded with three unanswered goals themselves, all with Alexander Barkov being the beneficiary.

The Finnish forward’s hattrick meant he took his goal scoring tally to seven this post season and made him one of the front runners for the Playoff MVP title this year.

Facing a sweep elimination in game 4, the Bison got what they deserved. A much more balanced game in Stuttgart saw the Bison being far more efficient with their opportunities resulting in a 4-2 win.

The series was extended to game 6 after a third period Daniel Sprong goal was the tie breaker in another even match up between both sides.

Eventually the Bison ran out of gas, giving the Wolves ample opportunity to take advantage of their roster depth.

Despite trailing 2-0 after the first period, the Wolves marched on to a 5-3 victory outshooting their opponents 40-20.

Michael Grabner scored twice including an empty netter and Barkov added to his overall point totals (15) with an assist.

The Wolves will now face the Gander Slapshots in the World Conference finals.

Wolves GM Zac Ryan continued to be unavailable to the media leaving a packed press room scratching their heads in search for quotes.

Gander Slapshots - Tilburg Trappers 4-2

The Gander Slapshots advanced to the World Conference finals after a close rollercoaster series against the Tilburg Trappers.

All six games in the series were decided by a single goal margin, justifying the even odds provided by the bookmakers ahead of this series.

Slapshots GM Wagner: “It could not have been a closer series. All were one goal games and three went to overtime. Literally either team could have easily won any of the games. The Trappers are a great team and we were fortunate to have advanced”, Wagner gave credit to Tilburg.

The Trappers came out strongest in this series.

Having eliminated the Mulheim Mustangs, their confidence was sky high and the momentum carried on as the Trappers stole two away victories to take a comfortable 2-0 series lead.

It wasn’t over and out for the Slapshots though who clawed their way back in the series with a pair of away victories themselves.

First period goals by Travis Konecny and Jay Beagle proved enough cushion to hang on to a 2-1 victory in game 3 while Cedric Paquette’s first post season goal in overtime meant the series was tied at 2 again.

Having seen two overtimes already, the fans were offered value for money as also game 5 went to overtime and like in game 4, the Slapshots bench could celebrate.

After a barrage of Trappers attempts at the net of Pekka Rinne, it was Jakob Silfverberg who struck through traffic sidefooting Jordan Binnington.

The overtime loss in game 5, seemed to have demoralized the Trappers.

The Tilburg-based team looked sluggish in game 6 and found themselves 3-0 behind after the first period and needed something special to extend the series.

Trappers coach Bill Peters was fuming in the locker room and he sent a clear message, sending his team back to the ice after just 5 minutes.

What followed was a much different Trappers team for the next 40 minutes. Radek Faksa cut the deficit to two as Tilburg set themselves up for a fanatic third period of power hockey.

Things looked promising when Brendan Gallagher was sent to the box for Cross Checking but playing with five forwards on the man advantage includes accepting the risks that come with it and Brandon Sutter made the Trappers pay with a short handed goal at 08:23.

In Do-or-Die fashion, the Trappers fought for their last chance and they came close to realizing the comeback. Patrick Maroon struck a deuce to make it 4-3 with32 seconds remaining on the clock. It wasn’t to be as the series was concluded the same way it had gone throughout all games: wins by a single goal-margin.

Trappers GM Loonen was visibly disappointed by his team’s post season exit but was able to reflect on a remarkable season later on when meeting with the press.

“Had you said we’d be in the World Conference semi finals at the start of the season, I’d have had you administered in a mental place,” he joked. “We had planned for a couple of rebuilding years aiming to get some high end draft picks to help building our new core. This plan was supported by dealing away some key players during the season in return for prospects and picks. I must give credit to the team who really gelled and made the impossible possible going on a great Cup run in the end.”

The Slapshots will continue their hunt for silverware with a series against favourites Tumba Wolves. Not an easy task for anyone who has seen the Wolves play this season.

“The Wolves have a lot of high end talent. We'll need to contain them and stay out of the box to survive,” knows Wagner.

“When I took over as GM early in the season, our team was in the 7th or 8th playoff position. At that point the season could have really gone either direction and I so I sat tight for a little bit evaluating the team,” he explains. “We have made a few trades to get some guys we liked and the guys responded and went on a hot streak. That convinced management to allow us to trade away some picks and prospects to go for it and see what might happen moving forward.”

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