Team21 16, Merman 15
In by far the most exciting game of the tournament, the up and comers Mermen were very impressive but couldn’t over come the team from Cornell. This game saw about as many lead changes as there were goals; it was a barnburner for sure.

The game was relatively close throughout and was highlighted by goals from each team in the last forty seconds. Team 21 scored with 24 seconds to put them up by one. The Merman then won the face, missed a shot wide, and on the inbound hit a diving Boston Boinkins to tie the game with two seconds left on the clock.

The Merman’s youth was evident in overtime as they didn’t get a great look on goal, and had a few unforced errors. Team21 capitalized on this and had possession for most of the overtime period. The 21 boys moved the ball well and with 1:45 left in the overtime period Casey Lewis beat his man for the winning goal.

For the Mermen, Mike Kimmel had six points with five goals. On the 21 side they had two four point scorers, Andrew Collins and Max Seihald both had three goals and an assist.

Lax Grip 11, Merrill Lynch 8
In another great quarterfinal game, a battle to two finesse teams was highly emotional. It was a great game to watch for many reasons but the fluidity and quickness of these two teams was inspiring.

Merrill Lynch went up by two goals to start the game but after that they never saw the lead again. The teams traded goals for most of the game with Lax Grip either ahead by one or tied until the middle of the third quarter. Lax Grip was able to string together four straight goals at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to pull away from a good Merrill Lynch team.

Chris Sanderson was the star of this game, making fourteen saves while allowing eight goals. While he stopped 63% of the shots, which is impressive enough considering the talent Merrill Lynch had, he was almost unbeatable at the end of the game. Sanderson made three saves on the door step in the beginning of the fourth quarter to give his team the breathing room they need to advance to the final four.

Young Guns 10, Jammin Salmon 9
The second best game of the day was marked with determination and grit on both sides of the ball. The Young Guns looked like they would run away with the game early, opening up a four goal lead by the end of the first quarter. The Salmon stormed back with three unanswered goals in the 2nd to cut the Young Gun’s lead to one at halftime.

The Gun’s got the first goal of the 3rd quarter but, Brett Robinson and Brian Koch scored goals less then a minute apart to tie the game with 6:09 left in the 3rd. Robinson and Koch paced the Salmon on the day with Robison scoring three goals and Koch notching three goals of his own to go along with his two assists.

That was the closest the Salmon would come to taking a lead, as the Young Gun’s rattled off four goals in a row to give themselves a 10-6 lead with 11:00 left in the 4th quarter. The Salmon fought hard and got scored three more goals in the game, with the last goal coming with 1:30 remaining in the final frame.

The Salmon did get the ball back with under a minute remaining but couldn’t convert and with the victory, Young Guns will be making their first final four appearance.

Go Fast 16, Club All Stars 5

Go Fast controlled the entirety of the game. It was good spirited and the score is not indicative of how even the play could have been. Too much offensive fire power and a fast transition game proved to be the undoing of Club All Stars.

For Go Fast, Spencer Cooperman had three goals, Scott Davidson and Steven Brooks each chipped in with two goals of their own.

Consolation Bracket

Guttman 16, Rocky Mountain Oyster 13
It was a run and gun high scoring game for the teams from Middlebury, and Denver. There were assists on half on the 29 goals in the game. Guttman held the Lead most of the 2nd half but never was able to blow the game wide open.

Brine Elite 8, Tap Room/5280 7
Brine Elite started the game strong and was taking very good shots. It too tap room a little bit to warm up but they made it a game in the second half out scoring Brine 3-1 in the final quarter.

The Generals 13, Dunn Financial 8
In what seemed to be a battle of the lumbering teams, the Generals and Dunn Financial tried as hard as they could on the heat of Edwards turf field. The score until the fourth remained fairly even. In the end, thanks to the Murray clan the Generals pulled away with a six goal tare in the fourth to win.

Black Seal 17, IAS Team Breakaway 9
Black Seal were by far the more dominant team launching twice as may shots as IAS but somehow IAS managed to keep it a close game through the 3rd. In the 4th Black Seal out scored IAS 8-1 to take a commanding lead. The best part of the game was by far a behind the back goal by Black Seal goalie, Schroder.

Friday’s Schedule

Ford Field
9:00am Club All Stars vs. Mermen
11:00am Young Guns vs. Lax Grip Semifinal
1:00pm Team 21 vs. Go Fast Semifinal
3:00pm Jammin Salmon vs. Merrill Lynch

Edwards
9:30am Dunn Financial vs. Rocky Mountain Oysters
11:30am Guttman vs. The Generals
1:30pm Brine Elite vs. Black Seal
3:30pm IAS Team Breakaway vs. 5280/Tap Room