By Kris Smith
Firstly, in America’s East Coast Hockey League, Anthony Beauregard has continued to lead the league in point scoring with 50 points from 44 appearances.
However, the Canadian was shutdown and his Wichita Thunder shutout, as the Kansas City Mavericks took two road points with a 1-0 in Kansas state on March 25.
The Mavericks claimed another two points 24 hours later as they were 6-4 victors away from home again but this time Beauregard contributed one assist.
The following night both teams were in Missouri and the Thunder bounced back with a 3-2 win, which saw Anthony have an involvement in all three of Wichita’s goals (1G, 2A).
The Canadian had another assist on March 28, as the two clubs ended their four-game series with a 3-0 shutout victory for the Thunder.
Last Friday saw Wichita continue their road trip with a visit to Rapid City Rush and provided another goal and assist in a 3-1 win before assisting again in Saturday’s 3-2 overtime win in Rapid City.
Over in Europe, Drydn Dow and HK Spisska Nova Ves have reached the Slovakian Second Division Playoff Final.
Over the last two weeks, they fought it out with HK VITAR Martin over six games before prevailing 4-2 in the series to advance to the season showpiece.
After a 6-2 win in Game 1, which was mentioned in the last article, Dow didn’t collect any points as Spisska lost 2-1 in overtime in Game 2 on March 25.
HK VITAR Martin also won Game 3 on March 28, which was a road game for them, giving them a 2-1 lead in the series but Drydn had assisted on his side’s only goal of the game.
Ho
wever, the series would be tied on March 29 with a 2-0 win for Spisska but Dow recorded no points and wouldn’t get a chance to record any in Game 5, as he was ejected from the match in the first period.
After his team secured a 2-0 victory on home ice, the Canadian defender returned for Game 6 last Saturday and helped his team to a 4-1 win, which secured their place in the Playoff Final.
The Final series begins tonight with Spisska visiting Zilina in Game One.
Whereas in Romania, Justin Maylan has finally made his playoff debut for SC Csikzereda and it was in Game 5 of the Erste League Playoff Final.
Two weeks ago, SC Csikzereda were leading their Semi-Finals Series 3-2 against FTC-Telecom and then won Game 6, 4-3 to advance to the Final.
League winners, Corona Brasov Wolves are their opponents and after splitting the first two games in Brasov on March 30 and 31, the two sides each won once again in Games 3 and 4.
Enter Maylan, in Game 5 on April 6, the Canadian forward assisted on one goal in a 4-2 road win and may feature again in Game 6 tonight to help clinch the title.
In Latvia, Egils Kalns and Liepaja’s season has now ended after they lost in the playoff semi-finals to HK Olimp.
Following a 2-0 defeat in Game 1, Liepaja ended up 2-0 down in the series on March 25, with Kalns recording one assist.
Another loss on March 27 put Liepaja on the brink of elimination and in the 5-3 defeat, the Latvian winger collected another assist.
Kalns then scored his first playoff goal of the season in Game 4 on March 29, and helped his hometown team to a 3-1 victory, which kept their playoff hopes alive.
However, their season was brought to an end on March 31, with a 4-2 road win for HK Olimp and that left Kalns with a season total of 38 games played, 17 goals and 15 assists for a total of 32 points, plus 36 penalty minutes.
Finally, over in Sweden, defenseman Shawn Boutin added another point to his tally in a 6-3 win against Tyringe on March 28.
However, since then Boutin and Boras have lost three straight, including a 6-1 defeat to Tyringe on March 31, a 3-1 loss to KRIF last Friday and a 4-2 defeat against Tranas last Sunday.
