Playoff Recap: S01P04

Four teams remain. Two Semi-Final series begin tonight—the Tokyo TitansTokyo hosting the Rimini RinklersRimini at The Neon CrossingTokyo Titans · 37,816 capacity · Overclock, the Perth PyresPerth hosting the Montréal MaplesMontréal at The Red FurnacePerth Pyres · 16,849 capacity · Melt. The Final is two wins away. Everyone in those buildings knows it, and everyone is playing like it. On y est. Les demi-finales sont commencées.

TOK 6 — RIM 3

Twenty-two combined hits. Three fights. Nine goals. The Neon CrossingTokyo Titans · 37,816 capacity · Overclock opened the Semi-Finals with a first period that Tokyo controlled entirely, a second period that Davide MarchettiRW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Clumsy, Magnetic nearly hijacked, and a third period that confirmed where the balance of power sits in this series—at least for now.

Haruto NakamuraRW · TOK · ●●●○○ · Ancient, Echo, Burning, Heavy, Quiet scored forty-nine seconds in—Shūta TanakaLW · TOK · ●●●●○ · Heavy, Foggy, Luminous, Quiet, Magnetic, Burning with the setup—and Riku MoriD · TOK · ●●●○○ · Quiet, Luminous, Ancient, Hollow added a second at 12:28, Hina TakahashiC · TOK · ●●○○○ · Magnetic, Luminous, Brittle, Tidal assisting. Two-nothing after one, and the building felt settled. It would not stay that way.

The second period belonged to MarchettiRW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Clumsy, Magnetic. With Kaito ItōRW · TOK · ●●○○○ · Quiet, Awake, Sharp in The SixthThe dimension behind the penalty box. Players who enter may return changed. on a penalty, Marchetti converted a power play at 6:45—Matteo GalliLW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Foggy threading it. With Sakura ShimizuD · TOK · ●●●●○ · Awake, Magnetic, Echo, Heavy, Echo called next, Marchetti converted another at 9:37—Francesca SerraD · RIM · ●●○○○ · Heavy this time. Then Ren InoueC · TOK · ●●●○○ · Doubled, Foggy, Tidal and Giulia BianchiC · RIM · ●●●●● · Ancient fought at 12:50—coincidental majors—but Lorenzo FabbriD · RIM · ●●●●○ · Awake, Ancient, Heavy, Tidal, Clumsy had already been called at 10:59, leaving Rimini shorthanded. Itō made them pay at 13:00, Mei FujitaD · TOK · ●●○○○ · Sharp, Brittle, Burning, Clumsy, Awake assisting. Marchetti finished it at 14:13—Serra's second assist—and in one extraordinary period, he'd scored three times and dragged Rimini to within one. Four-three entering the third.

FujitaD · TOK · ●●○○○ · Sharp, Brittle, Burning, Clumsy, Awake and FabbriD · RIM · ●●●●○ · Awake, Ancient, Heavy, Tidal, Clumsy fought in the third at 7:37. WatanabeLW · TOK · ●●●○○ · Heavy, Luminous, Brittle and Nico De LucaD · RIM · ●●○○○ · Magnetic, Foggy fought at 8:27. And then Tokyo answered with calm: Aoi YamamotoLW · TOK · ●●●○○ · Tidal, Wandering, Luminous, Brittle at 12:19, Ren InoueC · TOK · ●●●○○ · Doubled, Foggy, Tidal assisting, and ShimizuD · TOK · ●●●●○ · Awake, Magnetic, Echo, Heavy, Echo at 14:52, Watanabe returning the favour. MarchettiRW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Clumsy, Magnetic's hat-trick was a magnificent performance in a lost cause. SerraD · RIM · ●●○○○ · Heavy: two assists, one hit. Watanabe: a goal, an assist, two hits, a fight. Tokyo take Game 1.

Series: Tokyo leads 1–0.

PER 1 — MTL 2 (SO)

The Red FurnacePerth Pyres · 16,849 capacity · Melt wanted a fight and got one—not a spectacular one, but the kind that wins playoff series. Seventeen hits. Two fights. Three goals. And a Simon CôtéLW · MTL · ●●○○○ · Wandering, Echo, Clumsy, Foggy shootout winner that sends Montréal home with a series lead they had no right expecting to steal from Perth's building.

The first period was all tension and no payoff until the final minute. Dmitri VolkovD · MTL · ●●●●○ · Translated, Awake, Clumsy, Magnetic, Foggy, Heavy, Magnetic took a penalty at 0:40 that Perth couldn't convert; Tahlia NguyenLW · PER · ●●●○○ · Sharp, Echo took one at 11:50 that Montréal couldn't convert either. Then Catherine LavoieLW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Magnetic, Awake, Ancient, Quiet, Burning batted one out of the air at 14:51—Amélie BouchardRW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Foggy, Clumsy, Doubled, Luminous, Quiet with the setup—and The Red FurnacePerth Pyres · 16,849 capacity · Melt went quiet.

The second brought hitting and one fight—BouchardRW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Foggy, Clumsy, Doubled, Luminous, Quiet and Liam O'BrienRW · PER · ●●●●○ · Burning, Brittle, Clumsy dropping the gloves at 11:58, both off for five—and no goals. Perth pressing, Montréal holding. Into the third scoreless and the building buzzing.

Mia ThorntonC · PER · ●●○○○ · Awake, Heavy tied it at 7:17—Callum ReevesRW · PER · ●●○○○ · Burning, Foggy threading the pass—and Perth believed. In overtime, with Alexandre PaquetteD · MTL · ●●●○○ · Sharp, Echo, Wandering, Brittle, Heavy, Quiet, Foggy, Luminous, Translated serving a penalty, Philippe DuboisC · MTL · ●●●○○ · Awake, Tidal, Echo, Clumsy, Magnetic, Burning hit O'BrienRW · PER · ●●●●○ · Burning, Brittle, Clumsy at 13:59 and they fought at 14:01—both off for five, one of them still needing a goal. The shootout answered everything: CôtéLW · MTL · ●●○○○ · Wandering, Echo, Clumsy, Foggy at 4:31, composed and final. LavoieLW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Magnetic, Awake, Ancient, Quiet, Burning: one goal, one hit. BouchardRW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Foggy, Clumsy, Doubled, Luminous, Quiet: one assist, two hits, one fight. O'Brien fought twice and scored nothing. Montréal leave Perth with the lead.

Series: Montréal leads 1–0.

Both road teams won tonight. Both series lead going into Game 2 on the other team's ice. The Semi-Finals have decided, in the space of one evening, that home ice means less than anyone expected. MarchettiRW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Clumsy, Magnetic's hat-trick will be remembered regardless of how this series ends. CôtéLW · MTL · ●●○○○ · Wandering, Echo, Clumsy, Foggy's shootout winner will be felt for some time at The Red FurnacePerth Pyres · 16,849 capacity · Melt. Game 2 comes tomorrow—the buildings flip, and the pressure doubles. Les séries sont à sens unique, pour l'instant.

—JM Laflèche, Voice of HockayA sport no one asked for but everyone needed.

Le CouncilThe governing body of Hockay and Unexplained Ice Phenomena. acknowledges that Semi-Final Matchday 1 occurred. Both road teams won. Le Council notes that this is, statistically, less common than the alternative, and has updated its models accordingly. Davide MarchettiRW · RIM · ●●○○○ · Clumsy, Magnetic scored three goals in the second period of a game that the Rimini RinklersRimini did not win. Le Council acknowledges this is the kind of fact that resists categorization. Simon CôtéLW · MTL · ●●○○○ · Wandering, Echo, Clumsy, Foggy won a shootout in Perth. Le Council has placed this alongside the other Montréal entries. The Semi-Final round is underway. The record has been updated.