JRHL 2019 Fall Final Preview

The JRHL 2019 Fall Finals are set to start this weekend. The Silver Snakes and the Blue Barracudas will meet for the first-ever League Final. The Silver Snakes will probably enter as favorites, but both teams appear well-matched — deep teams that can flip the game with offensive outbursts.

How They Got Here

Silver Snakes(8-2-0) finished the regular season with the best record in the JRHL. In the first round, they toppled the Green Monkeys 18-4 allowing them to take the foot off the gas and gave them the chance to enter the finals with some fresher legs.

Blue Barracudas(6-4-0) it wasn’t always smooth sailing for the Barracudas, especially when they dropped 3 games in a row. But they battled through the adversity and finished 3rd in the league. The Barracudas faced off against the Red Jaguars in the first round and the two-headed monster of Curtis and James was on full display as they defeated the Jaguars 13-7.

Goalies in the Spotlight

On the stat sheet both goalies matchup pretty similar in the GAA. Both goalies finished with 6 Wins with Bird being slightly favored with an 8.43GAA allowing 59 Goals in his 7 games he played to Pfiel’s 8.56GAA where he allowed 77 goals in his 9 games.

Previous Matchups

The two teams met for the first time on November 3rd, and it was the Snakes who came out on top 14-5. The Snakes where dominate in the game only allowing 1 goal after 2 periods of play.

The second time around the Blue Barracudas returned the favor, winning big with the final of 16-4. Although people could argue that this game was meaningless for the Snakes as they already clinched the top spot in the league. It did not matter because the Barracudas still came to play and forwards Russ Griffith and Brandon Curtis had a night to remember, which no doubt built some momentum for the team going forward.

Who To Watch

You can say that both teams have two-headed monsters that will be on display. With the Silver Snakes, you have Tim George and Nolan mock. Both players had over 50 points in the regular season and will no doubt look to continue that. And on the Barracudas Brandon Curtis who was right behind George in points and Nate James who didn’t have the best regular-season but his true talent was on display against the Jaguars when he scored 6 goals.

Expect there to be a lot of line matching and it could come down to secondary scoring to take either team over the edge.

A player to watch from the Silver Snakes could be Brian Terek. Terek had his season-high in goals in a single game when the teams met on November 3rd scoring 5 goals in their win. And on the Barracudas is Russ Griffith. Griffith finished the season with 22 goals and like Terek also had a big game in a previous matchup by scoring 7 goals.

With both teams have that much offensive firepower it can always come down to the Goaltenders. Either Bird or Pfiel might have to stand on their heads to carry their teams to victory.

Schedule

Best of 3

Game 1: Sunday at 5:15
Game 2: Sunday at 6:30
Game 3 (If Necessary): Sunday at 7:30