Hockey Weekend in Korea, Part 2

This doubleheader was slightly better than the last doubleheader held in Goyang. Halla ran their usual in-house contests, and the media seemed to show up for these games as TV cameras lined the rink for all games. The League still didn't really do anything to try and promote itself beyond that though, there were no pre/post game events with players, no branding from the League, nothing really at all.

Saturday

High1 vs Freeblades 4-1

The Freeblades were desperate to win to try and stay ahead of Anyang Halla and the Cranes. Despite having a couple games on Halla, they had tough games ahead and needed every point, especially with the Cranes playing China right now. Inoue did his part and stood tall for High1. Despite being out shot 39 to 26 he was able to hold the Freeblades back. Both teams had ample powerplay opportunities, but it was High1 who took advantage more, by getting 2 goals from Barney and Ko. Swift sealed the game with an empty net short-handed goal at the 19 minute mark of the third. Tempers flared at the end with the teams getting into several tussling matches. 

Barney had 2 goals and an assist, with Swift getting a goal and 2 assists for High1. Suzuki had the loan goal for the Freeblades. 

Anyang Halla vs Oji Eagles 4-5

Halla looked to be well in command of this game, but repeated breakdowns left them holding the bag. Early in the second period they were up 3-0 and seemed to have the Eagles contained. On a short-handed goal by Radunske they'd made a bold statement saying they could compete with the Eagles. Unfortunately for them, they were let down again. Eum is far too much of a hot and cold netminder for Halla to rely on. When he's brilliant, he is brilliant. Halla is cool and confident, when he's not, they fall apart. In the first, he was brilliant. Making several incredible saves, but in the second, after Oji tasted blood, they began their onslaught and he started to show his cracks. On 22 shots they scored 3 times. Into the third Halla regained the lead but only for a few seconds as the Eagles quickly scored. With the game headed to overtime, a screen shot blew by Eum with under a minute to go, and it was too late to pull the goalie to really work to tie it up. The officiating was lopsided with Halla getting about half a powerplay all game, and several non-callls going against them. One notable incident being a call against Halla for making contact with the goalie outside the net, yet the same incident at the end other end of the rink a very short time later generating no call. 

Derlago had a goal and an assist for Halla. Takahashi, Hashiba, and Saito each had a goal and an assist for Oji. Several of the players sent to military service were treated to VIP seats for Saturday's games and after Geun-ho Kim scored the second goal for Halla he turned to salute them for their service. 

Paper Cranes vs Dragon 5-1

Though filled with penalties, the Dragon did at least manage to put up a solid second period, out-shooting the Cranes and getting their lone goal. The Cranes had little trouble though out-shooting them heavily in the other periods and 39-21 overall. The Dragon were 1/6 on the power-play. 

Kubo, Iimura, and Takagi each had a goal and an assist for the Cranes. Kondo had the loan goal for China.

Sunday

High1 vs Eagles 5-6 OT

The Eagles found themselves heavily penalized in this game against High1. However, neither team could take advantage of the power-play, with all goals, except a short-handed one coming at equal strength. High1 also outshot Oji 33 to 25. After two periods the game was tied at 2, but it opened up in the third. Oji took a 3-2 lead on a goal from Ogawa, but High1 tied it back up a short time later. Oji seemed to be running away with the game Scoring two quick goals making it 5-3. However, High1 scored with just 96 seconds to go, but took a penalty after the play. Oji argued at length that the referee put up his hand to call the penalty before the puck entered the net, but the officials maintained the call came after the goal. Still, down a player, and with under 2 minutes to go, High1 pressed hard, and just 11 seconds later, they tied it up on a shot from Swift. High1 still had to kill the penalty to push for overtime. In overtime Swift got physical in front of the Oji net which led to a a pile-up. Despite the goalie's mask being ripped off, and the goalie going after Swift outside the crease, no call was made against the goalie despite it being a clear violation of the rules. The teams were predictably given off-setting minors. Swift exploded in the box and was given an additional unsportsmanlike penalty, however that penalty was not assessed until after the game. With Swift in the box, Oji was able to come down and score in overtime to take the victory. 

Takeshi Saito had 2 goals for Oji, Dong-hwan Song had 2 goals with Barney getting 4 assists for High1. High1 is long eliminated from the play-offs, and Oji more or less clinched first with their stunning opening run, so the points were not overly important in this match. 

Anyang Halla vs Freeblades 2-3

With both teams having lost the day before, it was inevitable that one of them would end up very disappointed this weekend. Unfortunately for Halla it was them and they were also the only team to not get any points this weekend. Both teams were desperate for a win as whoever won would take posession of second place. They came out slamming, and initially play seemed to favour Halla, however it was the Freeblades that scored first. Halla tried to answer quickly, but the Freeblades had little trouble scoring on Eum a few seconds later to regain the lead. They made it 3-1 early in the second and Halla showed hope by scoring late in the second, but neither team could muster a goal in the third. Several blown calls left the teams frustrated and with Farynuk already in the box for high stick, he began to verbally assault the referee over an incident in front of the Freeblade net. After being assessed a 10 minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike behaviour Farynuk continued to berate the official and was ejected from the game. A camera man between the benches trying to get a shot of him leaving the ice ended up making contact with him. 

Wrigley and Go Tanaka each had a couple of assists for the Freeblades. With the dry weekend for Halla it seriously damages their hopes of finishing in second, a strong finish to the season of 12 points would have put a lot of pressure on the Cranes and Freeblades, but with them only having 2 games left, it is likely they will finish in third or fourth meaning they will start their play-off series in Japan. 

Paper Cranes vs Dragon 8-1

Another night, and more of the same. The dragon didn't really manage any kind of consistent effort and were heavily outshot and outscored in each period. Osawa and Radja each had a couple goals for the Cranes. 

The Cranes still have 2 more games against China which should help them secure second place. The Blades must face High1 and the Cranes and Blades will face-off for one more game. If High1 is able to defeat the Blades it will more or less secure the Cranes second place finish. It might also give Halla an opportunity to move into third. The last few games of the season will decide a lot about the order of the 2-4 places in the roster. Theoretically the Icebucks could still catch Halla but, with tie breaking rules in place, Halla would advance even in fourth place. It's extremely unlikely that Halla would take no points against High1 in their remaining two matches.

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