Hi and welcome back to our coverage of the Hockey Playoffs this round was between The Philly Shamrocks vs The New Jersey D Bags. This report will be given on a game by game basis so without further ado let's get to it!

Game 1:

In the first period the heavily favorited D Bags dominated the play by spending the majority of time with possession and time on attack in the offensive zone with a demanding 60% of the period pounding away firing shots at the goalie. The Shamrocks forced to play D most of the period were lucky to give up only 1 goal that period on a great one timer by the 1st line winger of the D Bags. The rest of the period involved the Shamrocks trying to limp into the D Bags zone but their offense wasn't effective and they were dominated physically by the D bags.

The second period was a little more competitive from the Shamrocks and time of possession and attack were much more even but the D bags still controlled the physical play wearing down the Shamrocks slowly even Shoresy was the victim of some vicious body checks by the other team. The game is looking pretty grim from the Shamrocks point of view at this point the stats may not look that bad but the flow of the play has been lopsided as hell.

The third period is where what little control the Shamrocks had regained in the second fell completely apart it started with some dumb minor penalties one of which led to a goal against putting them down 2-0. Halfway through the third a fed up Shoresy finally had it hit the first line star center viciously into the boards resulting in a fight where he knocked out the opposing guy and got a game misconduct. That 5 minute major on Shoresy they got scored on 2 more times and the game ended in a massive brawl when the D bags shot on the Shamrocks goalie after the whistle. 

Summary: This was a rough game from a Shamrocks team that was very dominant in their first series and the end of the regular season. If they are gonna have a chance against this studded line up of D bags they are gonna need to bring up their physical game to the level of the D bags because they were dominated and then could barely form an attack because of the beating they took. The only part of the Shamrocks that looked good tonight was the defense because they were definitely forced to work overtime as the whole time the play was in their end. The last thing this team needs if they want a chance is their captain and leader Shoresy to not be getting thrown out of games and step the hell up in the next games assuming he doesn't face suspension. We'll be back with with game 2 in hopefully less of a blowout game than tonights.

Slim was a new kid relocated from Baltimore to South Philly which had excited him because he was a fan of the Broad Street Bullies he was walking the streets when he saw a bunch of hockey jersey wearing beer drinking men and women were headed towards the arena in Philadelphia. Charles loving the game decided to follow he walked up to the ticket booth and found out the Shamrocks ran by his good friend Shoresy were playing a game tonight so he grabbed a ticket.

It was a tight game and Charles was intrigued by the skill shown throughout the night it was a tough night in the stands as the fans in philly who were always ruthless especially when playing against their rivals from New Jersey , the game wasn't close and with the shamrocks being constantly pressured in their own zone the fans really let them hear it.

"Damn , next game we got these bums!" Charles yelled out as the final whistle went he knew the Shamrocks would have to show some heart next game but in a series Charles had faith in the adjustments and that the shamrocks would come out buzzing next game.

Ladies and gentleman we're here for the second game in the second round of the Philly Shamrocks Vs The New Jersey D Bags. Now last game saw the higher seeded team give the boys from philly a whoopin and one they're gonna remember today the X Factors for them to compete in this game are: 

1) Shoresy needs to step up and not take bad penaltys

2) Play with a more physical edge 

3) Hope they're goalie stays as good as he was in that first game because without him that would have been a lot worse.

Now without further adieu let's head to center ice for the puck drop!

Game2 :

Period 1:

Game 2's 1st period starts off similar to last game with the first 5 minutes in the Philly zone, the Shamrocks brought the body checking but the D Bags crisp passing always kept the puck just out of reach of their sticks it took an icing at about 14:30 to finally give the Shamrocks goalie a short breather. As the 1st period marched on the Shamrocks got a little bit more into the driving seat and were able to force some neutral zone turnovers and used a strong forecheck to keep the play firmly in the D Bags zone while not having the star power and finesse the D bags had hard work and determination paid off as with 2 minutes left Shoresy scored a goal off of a rebound from a point shot, it's not pretty but those blue collar goals look just the same as the fancy ones. We leave the 1st period 1-0 Shamrocks!

Period 2:

Period 2 starts off the complete opposite of the 1st and we have momentum fully on the Shamrocks side as they pressure they're way into the offensive zone and stay there with an overbearing forecheck and hard physical play. The D bags were being outworked and they knew it, frustration boiled over and they took a penalty on a cheap hit after a whistle, on the power play Philly had lots of good shots and opportunities but a hot goalie robbed them at every turn and the D bags killed off the penalty but at this point a dominant 7 minutes for time on attack was for the Shamrocks and this is the team we saw in the 1st round of the playoffs. The rest of the period was a little more back and forth with Jersey trying to fight their way back in but the Shamrocks were riding a mighty high wave of momentum and did their best to shut them down at every turn, the frustrating part for the jersey fans was at the end of the second a point blast beat the Philly Goalie but they were beat by the Buzzer therefore no goal and it's still 1-0 Shamrocks.

Period 3: 

Last and final Period of game two and what a period it was this period the stars from the D bags really showed up and they tried everything but that defense we saw last game from the Shamrocks coupled with an amazing goalie was not a one time deal and they continued to block shots, make saves and perform highway robbery on some of the best players in the league. The Shamrocks continued to play a hard hitting gritty game that relied on hard work and it was paying off the dump and chases the forechecks and good line match ups forcing their star players to play against some of the biggest hitters in the game was wearing down the all star D bags. In a desperate attempt in the last two minutes the D bags pulled their goalie which turned out to be a double edged sword as Shoresy scored on them not once but twice when they emptied their net getting him a hattrick and making sure there was no way for the dbags to come back.

Summary:

After a 3-0 Shutout victory over the Dbags the Shamrocks seem to be back to the team we've seen previously though the score is misleading as two goals were empty netters so despite one of the best performances we've seen from them this postseason realistically it only generated one goal and showed how reliant they were on their goaltending and defense. In that third period there were several chances that everyone thought were for sure in and that is something they are going to have to continue to deal with because all it takes at this point is one little slip from the D or goaltender and this game is not a win it's a loss. The big upside from today was Shoresy was back he scored 3 goals, had no dumb penalties and played like the captain he needs to be in this series if his team is going to win. So 3-0 for the Shamrocks we'll see you next time with game 3 until then stay frosty! 

What the hell is this game? You’re like on sticks and ice and stuff and there’s like padding and teeth missing and there’s a Petah duck! Quack.

But yeah I dunno, maybe you should start a league of ducks and stuff and other Canadian things and they can hold sticks too and have pucks and padding and ice and stuff, and they can play a game of this hockey thing and quack and they’ll like not fly because that would be cheating and it’d be pretty cool but they could slide and stuff and maybe the ducks and the penguins could go to war on this ice field and it would be bloody and feathery but the ducks might prevail I’m not sure penguins can be pretty feisty and stuff if you’ve ever seen how they eat they practically bathe in blood and things so yeah it’d be a good battle. Chip chip cherrio.

Welcome ladies and gentleman to the pre game for game three, going into tonight's game we are back to an even series at 1-1. Game 2 after a grindy game of hard work and determination the Shamrocks squeaked out a win we're going to see tonight how the New Jersey D Bags are gonna answer back.

Game 3:

Period 1:

WOW what a period this was this was all offence from both sides all period nonstop seeing the pure skill of the stars from the D bags and the determination and work by the Shamrocks two completely different ways of going about it but effective none the less. Back and forth each team answering the other's goals in a period that wound with the score being 4-4 by the end of the first. Going into the second it looks like it's gonna come down to which team remembers to play a defensive game as well as offense.

Period 2:

After an explosive 1st period of nothing but pure offense both teams start this one off a bit more cautiously focusing on crisp passing, and time in the others neutral zone with precision shots to not make as many neutral zone turnovers. This was a risky move by the Shamrocks as this type of play highlights the skill level of the D bags top players and is more their game than the Shamrocks and at the end of the second period they were finally punished as the D bags finally found the back of the net from a beautiful shot off a nice passing play. 

Period 3:

After a very intense high scoring game so far the Shamrocks decided to go back to the the formula from game two that made them successful and brought the body back to it. Some heavy body checks to force turnovers in the neutral zone and offensive zone gave the Shamrocks the opportunity to have a flurry of offense with Shoresy stepping into the role of annoying screening forward standing in front of the goalie and making it hard for him to see he missed a blast from the point and the game was tied back up at 5-5. Several more plays like that got the Shamrocks a few more goals off of bounces, and rebounds, playing a hard hitting gritty blue collar game worked out for them and the Shamrocks finished game 3 with the score of 7-5.

Game Summary:

So the first period the Shamrocks kept up playing a high paced goal scoring game with the D bags but in all honesty that could have gone just as bad the other way. The D bags have shown that they can take advantage of a fast paced open game but the Shamrocks playing the hard hitting gritty game seems to throw the D bags off and may just be too much for them as when Philly plays like that their numbers are all up and keep them reeling. Going into game 4 we're gonna see if Philly can find that defense and goaltending they relied on in the 1st and 2nd games.

The Roar of the crowd filled the arena tonight the boys from Philly really came to play and with the crowd into it the Shamrocks were all over the D Bags this game the air was grim the previous game Charles had gone to but tonight right from the first drop of the puck he could see the game was going to be different.

The cycling of the puck in the offensive zone and the constant pressure of the forecheck from the forwards allowed the defensive to sit back and line up the hits and when the D Bags made a mistake the forwards ended up striking and putting the puck in the net , now this is the type of hockey Charles expected from his home town team. 

As the buzzer went Charles was fist bumping and high fiving with the fans as they stormed the streets the Shamrocks were rolling and were going to be expected to keep up this type of play.