Playoff Recap: S01P05

Game 2 in the Semi-Finals and the buildings are different—the road teams from last night are the home teams tonight. Perth and Rimini, both down one in their series, needed to find answers in buildings they hadn't been expected to win in. They did. Both of them. Which means every series goes to a deciding Game 3 tomorrow, and whoever wants to be in The Final is going to have to earn it in a single game on hostile ice. C'est à ça que ressemblent les demi-finales.

MTL 1 — PER 2 (OT)

Twenty-one seconds. That's how long The Oldest RinkMontréal Maples · 31,272 capacity · Syrup had to feel good about itself before Jack MitchellLW · PER · ●●●●○ · Echo, Luminous scored—Nate HargroveD · PER · ●●●○○ · Brittle, Heavy, Echo with the setup—and Perth had the lead before most of the building had finished finding its seat. The Maples had stolen Game 1 in Perth. Perth came to Montréal and answered in twenty-one seconds. Voilà.

The opening strike didn't break Montréal. The second period saw Amélie BouchardRW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Foggy, Clumsy, Doubled, Luminous, Quiet level it at 5:51—Alexandre PaquetteD · MTL · ●●●○○ · Sharp, Echo, Wandering, Brittle, Heavy, Quiet, Foggy, Luminous, Translated threading the pass—and The Oldest RinkMontréal Maples · 31,272 capacity · Syrup believed. Catherine LavoieLW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Magnetic, Awake, Ancient, Quiet, Burning delivered four hits on the night, Sarah-Maude FortinD · MTL · ●●●●● · Wandering, Quiet, Ancient, Awake two more. The game stayed tied through a tense, physical second and a third period that featured two penalties but no goals—and one important detail: Dmitri VolkovD · MTL · ●●●●○ · Translated, Awake, Clumsy, Magnetic, Foggy, Heavy, Magnetic took a penalty at 13:56 of the third, and had thirteen seconds remaining on it when overtime began.

Nate HargroveD · PER · ●●●○○ · Brittle, Heavy, Echo converted that power play forty-seven seconds into overtime. Liam O'BrienRW · PER · ●●●●○ · Burning, Brittle, Clumsy with the assist. The Oldest RinkMontréal Maples · 31,272 capacity · Syrup, which had hosted Montréal all season as a sanctuary, was silenced by a team that arrived down one in the series and knew exactly what they needed to do. Hargrove finishes with a goal and an assist. MitchellLW · PER · ●●●●○ · Echo, Luminous with the opening goal. BouchardRW · MTL · ●●●○○ · Foggy, Clumsy, Doubled, Luminous, Quiet: a goal, two hits, a fight in Game 1 that probably mattered more than anyone said. Perth level the series.

Series: Tied 1–1. Deciding Game 3 in Perth.

RIM 3 — TOK 2 (SO)

Sixteen seconds. Giulia BianchiC · RIM · ●●●●● · Ancient scored sixteen seconds into the game at The Coastal PavilionRimini Rinklers · 3,214 capacity · Riviera—Valentina ColomboD · RIM · ●●●●○ · Heavy with the instant assist—and the building erupted before Tokyo's skaters had drawn a breath. Then Ren InoueC · TOK · ●●●○○ · Doubled, Foggy, Tidal answered at 1:07, Aoi YamamotoLW · TOK · ●●●○○ · Tidal, Wandering, Luminous, Brittle feeding him. One minute and seven seconds. Two goals. Rimini lead, Tokyo answer, and the crowd doesn't know whether to stand or sit.

Yūma HayashiD · TOK · ●●●●○ · Wandering, Hollow, Echo put Tokyo ahead at 9:10—Haruto NakamuraRW · TOK · ●●●○○ · Ancient, Echo, Burning, Heavy, Quiet with the pass—and Riku MoriD · TOK · ●●●○○ · Quiet, Luminous, Ancient, Hollow and Elena MorettiLW · RIM · ●●●○○ · Quiet, Foggy fought at 9:43, both earning five minutes. Rimini were down and rattled, and the second period didn't help them. Tokyo pressed, hitting relentlessly—Nakamura into ContiC · RIM · ●●●○○ · Translated, Burning, InoueC · TOK · ●●●○○ · Doubled, Foggy, Tidal into De LucaD · RIM · ●●○○○ · Magnetic, Foggy, Inoue and De Luca then fighting at 10:05 and departing together. Eight combined hits, no goals. Rimini still trailing.

The third period is why Rimini are in this Semi-Final. ColomboD · RIM · ●●●●○ · Heavy scored at 8:44—BianchiC · RIM · ●●●●● · Ancient returning the assist—and The Coastal PavilionRimini Rinklers · 3,214 capacity · Riviera found its voice again. Overtime produced nothing. And then the shootout: BianchiRW · ●●○○○ at 4:31, the same player who'd scored in the first sixteen seconds, now finishing the game with the same composure she'd started it. Bianchi: a goal, an assist, the shootout winner. Colombo: a goal, an assist, a hit—the structural spine of this Rimini team made visible in a single game. The Coastal Pavilion will host a deciding game tomorrow.

Series: Tied 1–1. Deciding Game 3 in Tokyo.

Both series are level. Tomorrow the buildings flip again—Game 3 in Perth, Game 3 in Tokyo. One game each. Winner goes to The Final. The road teams won Game 1. The home teams won Game 2. The deciding games will be played on home ice for the teams that needed home ice most. Whether that matters is what tomorrow answers.

On verra. Game 3.

—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 2 occurred and that both series are now tied at one game apiece. Le Council notes that the Perth PyresPerth scored forty-seven seconds into overtime at The Oldest RinkMontréal Maples · 31,272 capacity · Syrup, a building Le Council is accustomed to watching produce different results. Le Council further notes that the Rimini RinklersRimini won a shootout in which Giulia BianchiC · RIM · ●●●●● · Ancient scored both the opening goal of the game and the shootout winner, which Le Council considers either thematically significant or coincidental and is not prepared to commit to either position. Deciding games will be played tomorrow. The record has been updated.