Asia League Regular Season Draws to a Close

The Asia League regular season finally concluded on Sunday, but the race was tight to the end. Despite the Eagles running away with third place, it wasn't until the final few games that second through fourth really began to settle. With the double header in Anyang, Halla removed themselves from contention for second place which really only left the battle to the Cranes and Blades to vie for home ice advantage.

Saturday

Nippon Paper Cranes vs Oji Eagles 2-3

The Cranes needed every point to try and over take the Blades in second place. They wouldn't get it on Saturday though. The Eagles opened the scoring early in the first, but the Cranes bounced back tying it up in the dying seconds. Heading to the second tied 1-1, the Eagles had a bit of penalty trouble which gave the Cranes a minute of 5-3. They only needed 30 seconds to take the lead. The Eagles came back early in the third and mid-way through the period took the lead 3-2. Haga took a double-minor for high sticking with a little over 5 minutes left. With 4 minutes of power-play time, the Cranes waited to pull the goalie until only a few seconds remained in the 5 on 4. While teams traditionally won't pull the goalie until there is around 2 to 2 and a half minutes remaining, down 3-2 against the Eagles with minutes to go, and with a lengthy power play, an early pull might have been in order. Halla could not catch them, and they didn't have a lot of time left to try and pull ahead of the Blades. In the end, the Cranes failed to score and lost in regulation to the Eagles

Nikko Icebucks vs Tohoku Freeblades 2-3

With the Cranes loss against the Eagles the Blades had an opportunity to clinch second place with a clean regulation victory.  They wasted no time getting started as the Bucks got into heavy penalty trouble early in the game. Yamaguchi took a 5 minute major and game misconduct only a minute into the game for a check from behind. Suzuki and Takahashi followed him to the box leaving the Blades with a 4 on 3 and then a 5 on 3. They scored, and then as the penalties finally expired they scored again to go up 2-0. The score remained until the third when the Blades went up 3-0. The Bucks finally got on the board but it was too late, they got close with their second goal coming with just 13 seconds left in the game. Wrigley had 2 goals for the Blades.

High vs Anyang Halla 2-3

Saturday's game between High1 and Anyang Halla was a lackluster affair. Neither team had any opportunity to change their ranking, and the normal passion present in their rivalry was completely missing. At one point in the second, Halla just lazily passed the puck around the High1 zone for an extended time and High1 barely seemed interested in trying to take the puck away from them. The sleepy attitude was present in the officiating as well. Early in the game, Halla clearly had 6 men on the ice for a few seconds before they realized and one bailed, but none of the officials caught it. Halla took a 2-0 lead in the second and seemed well in command in the third when they went up 3-0. High1 tried to come back, but despite a couple goals from Hyeok Kim, they could only manage to pull their goalie for a few seconds. With the victory, Halla completed the combo and all visiting teams won on Saturday by a score of 3-2. 

Sunday

Oji Eagles vs Nikko Icebucks 5-2

With all the spots clinched, Sunday was one without much pressure. Though the Eagles probably still felt a little to finish just as high as possible. Fukufuji couldn't do much for the Bucks against the Eagles onslaught. Outshot 44-20 he didn't get much support from his team. The Eagles started early and never really lost the lead. Haga got a short handed goal for the Eagles mid-way through the third and with the net empty Saito scored his second giving him 3 points on the night. The win gave the Eagles 102 points on the season and a commanding first place finish.

Tohoku Freeblades vs Nippon Paper Cranes 0-1 OT

Speaking of lackluster. This may have been a tight game, but it was filled with few shots, few penalties and even fewer goals. This game had the potential to be a real thriller, but the Cranes couldn't do their part and defeat the Eagles on Saturday. Had they done so, this would have been a winner takes second place match-up for home ice advantage. After a scoreless 60 minutes Radja scored for the Cranes on the first shot only 31 seconds into overtime. The two teams will meet again in the first round of the play-offs.

High vs Anyang Halla 3-4 OT

Contrary to the previous night's match-up the teams showed up with a little more passion on Sunday night. Their final meeting of the season. High1 also showed up with a new group of supporters filling several sections. Technical problems delayed the start of the game as the team turned off the lights for the entry but had a little bit of issue getting them to come back on. Once the game got under way, High1 got an early gift in the form of a 5 minute major given to Halla. They did not squander it as Swift scored twice and Barney scored once to put High1 up 3-0. Halla managed a single even strength goal later in the period, but finished down 3-1. Unfortunately for High1, that was all they had in the tank. Halla scored again in the second seconds after a penalty expired to make it 3-2. Pressing in the third with just 2 minutes left, scored again to tie it up. Overtime was unable to solve anything, and then it entered what may have been the longest shoot-out of the season. It took 12 rounds to settle the game. with Sang-jin Park finally coming out on top for Halla. At the end of the game High1 had a ceremony mid-ice and presented some of the players with awards as well as played some video messages from some of the players. The team captain, #73 Eun-Joon Kim retired at the end of this season.  

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