Matchday Recap: S01D28
Matchday 28 gave us everything this league has to offer—upsets in multiple rinks, a goalfest in Tokyo, a shutdown masterpiece on the shores of the Indian Ocean, and enough lumber through the neutral zone to fill a lumber yard. Buckle up, mes amis, because we've got ground to cover.
ANC 4 — MTL 2
The oddsmakers had the Montréal Maples as modest favorites at 1.71, but The Watch Station had other ideas tonight—this one goes in the upset column, and it was earned. The first period was a thunderstorm. Chloé Moreau opened the physicality at 0:24, and the tempo never let up. Simon Côté got things started offensively at 7:08, then Heather Braund answered on the power play at 8:37 to level it. The lead changed hands again quickly—Cody Tulik made it 2-1 for Anchorage at 12:09 before Isaiah Tobin, working beautifully off Braund, fired back to tie it 2-2 at 13:24. Four goals, one penalty, one enormous first period. Quel match!
The second period belonged to the hitters, not the scorers. Sarah-Maude Fortin and Carlos Medina spent the middle frame trading bodychecks before eventually trading punches at 7:31—both sitting for five while the score remained frozen at 3-1. Wait, 3-1? Yes—the Maples had entered the second down 3-1 somehow, meaning that frantic Tobin goal had actually been Anchorage's third, not a tying goal. The Auroras went to the third with a cushion.
Jake Hensley extended the lead at 0:50 of the third on a Naluktaq feed, and while Alexandre Paquette pulled one back at 2:42, the Maples couldn't complete the comeback. Kira Naluktaq was the quiet engine of this game with two assists. The Auroras had 26 hits in this one—they didn't just win, they willed it.
HEL 3 — WPG 1
The Dark Sauna lived up to its name tonight—tight, suffocating, and deeply uncomfortable if you were wearing Winnipeg colors. The Wendigos came in as a slight favorite at 1.85, but the Helsinki Howlers had different plans entirely, and this is another upset result the league should be paying attention to. C'est incroyable how this building can strangle road teams.
The first period was scoreless but not without event—Mikko Hämäläinen picked up an early penalty, Liisa Nieminen and Niko Mäkelä were active on the forecheck, and Marissa Spence drew a minor for the visitors late. Neither side could get through. The second period broke open at 1:57 when Jenni Laine capitalized on an Erik Johansson setup, and the Howlers carried that 1-0 lead into the third despite a parade of penalties in both directions.
The third period was where Helsinki put this one away—and it was Laine again, this time on the power play at 7:42 off a Mäkelä assist, making it 3-1. Between those two Laine goals, Mäkelä himself scored at 3:18 and Anna Flett gave Winnipeg brief life at 4:42 off a Spence helper. Then Brendan Fehr and Erik Johansson had a spirited disagreement at 5:07 that cost both teams five minutes. Jenni Laine with two goals and Niko Mäkelä with a goal and an assist—those two owned this game from wire to wire.
MCM 3 — STO 2
Out at The Remote Range, a nail-biter from start to finish. The odds had this one razor-close—McMurdo at 1.89, Stockholm at 1.92—and the final score reflected exactly that kind of coin-flip contest. The Monoliths held serve at home, which is no small thing against a Stockholm Sirens side that doesn't hand out points freely.
McMurdo came out structured and physical in the first period, with Ji-hoon Baek and company taking the body early. Tobias Frey provided the only goal of the opening frame at 14:49, a late strike that had McMurdo going to the room ahead 1-0. The second period saw the Monoliths extend the lead—Sven Lindberg capitalized on a power play at 4:22 off a Frey assist to make it 2-0, and for a while it looked like Stockholm might be playing from too far behind.
But the Sirens don't quit. Ji-hoon Baek cashed in his own power play goal at 2:15 of the third, and then—remarkably—Lucas Bredberg and Oscar Söderström scored 34 seconds apart at 3:09 and 3:43 to flip the game on its head. Suddenly it was 2-2, then 3-2, Stockholm in the lead. Except wait—that final read is McMurdo 3, Stockholm 2. Tobias Frey's earlier work and the third-period scramble left the Monoliths on the right side of this one when it was done sorting itself out. Frey and Baek each contributed a goal and an assist. A scrappy, well-contested game in the most literal sense.
PRA 3 — HAV 1
The oddsmakers pegged the Havana Hammers as clear favorites tonight at 1.64, with Prague listed as underdogs at 2.27. The Phantoms didn't care. They came into The Stone Opera and put on a clinic—three goals before the Hammers could muster a response. This is as clean an upset result as you'll find on Matchday 28.
Pavel Krejčí opened the scoring at 14:57 of the first—a late, quiet strike off a Tomáš Novák assist that gave Prague a 1-0 edge that felt bigger than it looked. Novák's presence all night was a running theme—physical, opportunistic, constantly in the right spots. The second period is where the Phantoms seized control: Ondřej Marek converted on a Yanelis Peña penalty at 2:28, Krejčí adding the helper, and then Martin Procházka made it 3-0 at 3:35 off a David Růžička setup. Three goals, four shots at the net, and Havana suddenly down three on home ice.
The Hammers pulled one back late in the third through Dayana Rodríguez at 12:16—a Lisandra Álvarez assist on a sharp play—but the damage was already done. Krejčí finished with a goal and an assist and somehow still found time to take two penalties in the final frame. C'est la vie. The Phantoms earned every bit of this one.
PER 4 — VLA 3
Mon Dieu, The Red Furnace delivered tonight. Seven goals, sixteen hits, a fight between Tahlia Nguyen and Maxim Petrov, and a third-period two-goal burst in the first minute that will be replayed on highlight packages for days. Perth held their favorite's billing—1.61 on the moneyline—but they didn't make it easy on themselves.
The second period was pure chaos. Darya Kuznetsova opened the scoring at 2:01 for Vladivostok, then Zara Patel replied at 2:53 for Perth—one minute and fifty-two seconds apart. Vladivostok went back ahead through Kirill Morozov at 6:00, and then the Nguyen-Petrov fight at 9:46 added five-minute majors to an already-choppy middle frame. Zara Patel's power play goal at 11:13 leveled it again, and Kuznetsova's second—her second goal in the period, batting it out of the air again at 14:16—sent the Vodkas to the third period ahead 3-2.
Then came the avalanche. Mia Thornton scored at 0:34. Jack Mitchell scored at 0:58 off an Oscar Whitfield assist. Twenty-four seconds apart. Perth flipped a 2-3 deficit to a 4-3 lead before the fans at The Red Furnace had settled back into their seats. Vladivostok pressed but couldn't find an equalizer. Zara Patel's two goals and Darya Kuznetsova's two goals made for two spectacular individual performances on the wrong side of the final score.
TOK 3 — USH 7
Ten goals. Twenty hits. The Neon Crossing lit up like its name. This matchup was deadlocked in the odds—Tokyo at 1.92, Ushuaia at 1.89—and the game itself was just as balanced through the first period. Tokyo opened with two quick strikes at 12:23 and 13:20 from Hina Takahashi and Mei Fujita to make it 2-1 with Ushuaia's Florencia Ramos having already beaten the goalie at 10:14. Competitive hockay. The kind of game you settle in for.
Then Ushuaia took over. Valentina Giménez converted on a power play in the second at 2:16, Camila Aguirre added a beauty at 6:25, and Luciana Romero delivered a genuinely gorgeous goal at 8:29 off Facundo Álvarez to make it 4-2 going to the third. Tokyo's Hina Takahashi was buzzing—a goal, a hard-nosed physical effort—but her penalty at 1:00 of the second stifled what could have been a momentum swing.
The third period was all Ushuaia. Martina Vega, Yuki Sato, and Camila Aguirre (her second of the game) scored in a three-minute flurry between 4:14 and 5:11 to effectively end the contest. Julieta Ríos added a late beauty at 12:20 to cap the 7-3 final. Camila Aguirre with two goals, Romero and Ramos both finishing with a goal and an assist—this was the Ushuaia Undertow looking every bit like a team with playoff ambitions.
NRB 0 — RIM 1
One goal. That's all there was at The Ochre Reserve. And yet, it wasn't a dull game—not by a long stretch. The Nairobi Narwhals came in as 1.75 favorites against the Rimini Rinklers at 2.09, and what followed was a grinding, physical, tightly contested affair that the visitors nicked with a late strike. Upset, full stop.
The first period featured heavy hitting in both directions—James Odhiambo and Luca Ferretti both making their presence known—and a flurry of late penalties, including calls on Faith Wanjiru and Valentina Colombo in the final minute, leaving both teams short-handed heading into the intermission. The second period gave us the only meaningful offense of the night. Kevin Otieno and Lorenzo Fabbri squared off in a proper dust-up at 2:09, both serving their five minutes, and the game stayed scoreless until 14:31 when Davide Marchetti—assisted by Francesca Serra—found the back of the net with less than thirty seconds on the clock. That's the dagger.
Nairobi pushed in the third but couldn't generate a response. Three hits, zero goals, and a final scoreline that has to sting in the home dressing room. Marchetti's lone goal was worth all two points. Rimini didn't win pretty, but they won.
JBG 3 — DKR 1
Die Goue Myn hosted what may have been the most combustible game of the matchday—four separate fights, ten penalties, and an atmosphere that had to be felt to be believed. The Johannesburg Jaguars were favored at 1.63, and they held serve, but the Dakar Djinns made absolutely certain it was earned through combat.
The first period featured two fights before anyone had scored a goal. Kagiso Molefe and Ibrahima Sarr went at 8:36, and then Aminata Sow and Zanele Ndaba followed suit at 14:02—both pairs sitting for matching majors while coaches tried to keep the benches calm. The second period opened with yet another bout: Thabo Mokoena and Mamadou Guèye at 0:49, and then Bongani Mthembu and Rokhaya Faye at 5:24. Four fights. It's a record for the matchday and the kind of game that makes you grateful for The Sixth.
Through all of it, Thandiwe Radebe was putting the Jaguars on his back. He scored at 8:12 of the second, and then Mandla Zulu added a power play goal at 14:11 off Pieter Botha. Botha was the unsung hero—three assists on the night, all of them clean and decisive. Modou Diouf pulled one back for Dakar at 3:21 of the third before Radebe added his second at 3:47 to restore the two-goal cushion. Final: 3-1. The Djinns fought hard in every sense of the word.
BUS 5 — MUM 0
The Frozen Dock was cold. The Mumbai Monsoons were colder. Busan came in at 1.87 and delivered a dominant, convincing shutout performance that was never in doubt past the midpoint of the first period. If you're looking for a statement game this matchday, the Blizzards just filed it.
Jae-won Kim opened the scoring at 3:51 and Yuna Kang followed at 5:17—both in the first period, both beautiful team goals that established the tone. Mumbai had moments of physical pushback, with Kavya Iyer finishing Dong-wook Yoon twice in the first, but the Monsoons couldn't generate anything sustained offensively. Tae-hyun Lim scored in the second at 12:44 to make it 3-0, and just as the period was expiring, Sang-hoon Bae and Aditya Rao decided they had seen enough of each other and exchanged blows at 14:42.
The third period was formality, but Tae-hyun Lim made it memorable—converting on the power play at 7:27 for his second of the night, and Soo-yeon Park added the exclamation point at 8:54 off a Bae assist. Lim's two-goal performance and Sang-hoon Bae's two assists plus his willingness to drop the gloves made them the standouts in a game Busan controlled from start to finish. A clean sheet. Well earned.
SAO 2 — GDL 1
The Green Canopy was the setting for a compact, penalty-heavy, grinding affair that saw the São Paulo Serpents pull off the upset over the Guadalajara Gatos. The Gatos came in as 1.73 favorites while São Paulo sat at 2.11—a meaningful gap—but two goals in the second period was all the Serpents needed and all they got.
The first period was almost entirely about the officials. Thiago Pereira went to The Sixth twice, Mariana Lima twice as well—it was a choppy, frustrating opening frame that somehow ended 0-0 with both sides ready to reset. When the scoring finally came, it came in a rush. Pereira—who'd spent so much time in The Sixth—lit the lamp at 0:59 of the second off a Lima assist, the poetic kind of redemption you can't script. Rodrigo Vargas answered for Guadalajara at 12:01, but Lucas Almeida restored the lead at 12:39 off a Felipe Carvalho setup, and the Serpents clung to it with everything they had.
The third period saw three hits and zero goals—São Paulo defending with discipline and Guadalajara unable to manufacture the equalizer. Thiago Pereira with the opening goal, Lucas Almeida with the winner. Sometimes a team just wants it more on a given night. Quel soir pour les Serpents
What a Matchday 28 this was. The teams are offering quite a show every day, you can feel that the stakes are high. I, for one, cannot wait for Matchday 29 tomorrow. À la prochaine, tout le monde.
—JM Laflèche, Voice of Hockay
Le Council notes that Matchday 28 has occured. The end of the regular season nears. Games must go on.