The quarter-final results are now complete and are below. In our tie of previous cup winners it was “Oeppen” who comfortably made it through against Lizzie’s Lions with Charlie Combs scoring 67 points and Sebastian Bengtsson 42 points, largely due to Dundee having 13 powerplay opportunities in the game on Sunday.
In the other game we highlighted it was “Hard to Yandle” against “The Flying Puckhits” and we thought the goalie matchup could make a big difference. That turned out to be the case as “The Flying Puckhits” duo of Carruth and Owen scored a huge 91.7 points compared to just 17.9 points for Whistle and Motte for “Hard to Yandle”. However this wasn’t enough to secure victory as a lack of scoring throughout the rest of the team meant it was a victory for “Hard to Yandle” by just 18.2 points. Captain Mathieu Roy scored 64 points and it was that man Charlie Combs again also making a difference.
In the semi-finals we have two clear favourites based upon last weeks scores. “No Woman, No Krejci” knocked out soon to be FHL UK League champions “#caps” in a tight game and scored more than 100 points more than his opponent “Thunder Bay Bombers”. So where can they make up the difference? The answer might be in goal as both teams have Mac Carruth but “Thunder Bay Bombers” have Tyler Beskorowany, who must start at least two of the Giants’ games this week, and “No Woman, No Krejci” have James Downie who currently isn’t starting for the Storm.
Both defences are quite similar however “No Woman, No Krejci” have Mathieu Roy up front who has four games in this gameweek. In terms of captain picks it is Brodie Reid and J.J. Piccinich who are picking up double points. As both are in each others teams it shouldn’t result in a huge difference. Our prediction is a close tie with the result of the Challenge Cup Final on Wednesday giving one side a big enough lead to hold until the end of Sunday.
In the other semi-final it is fifth against second from the league standings, so you can ignore the scores from last week as this will be close. Looking at each teams forwards makes for interesting reading. “Hard to Yandle” have a good mix across the Elite League teams with seven different ones represented. The big scorers from each team are there but GM Drew Williams has spread the risk of having one or two teams having a poor week. Compare this to “Oeppen” and we have a lot of teammates in there with Reid/Sanford/Coughler from Cardiff, Piccinich/Conway from Belfast, Vallerand/Latal from Sheffield and Combs/Bengtsson from Dundee. If those teams are in high scoring games over the weekend then “Oeppen” will score a huge number of points. However a couple of shutouts for those teams reduces the overall score by a huge amount.
In goal it is advantage “Oeppen” as they have Brython Preece who has come in to replace Adam Morrison for a streaking Dundee Stars team and Tyler Beskorowany who guarantees points every week. “Hard to Yandle” have Belfast back-up Jackson Whistle who might get one start at most, but also CJ Motte who will likely play all three Blaze games with two of those being against the struggling Storm.
Can the well rounded “Hard to Yandle” beat stacked forward lines of “Oeppen”?
