By Mike Unterreiner

The Outlaws closed out a disappointing second half of their 2008-09 season with a solid 5-0 victory over the Eagles.  The Outlaws had begun the season with a 4-2-3 record in their first 9 games, placing them team solidly in playoff contention.  But the Outlaws lost their next game, to the Eagles, and began a 10-game winless streak. 

Their second-to-last game, a loss to the Shock, actually eliminated the Eagles from playoff contention, as the Eagles and Shock had been tied for third place with the Shock holding the tie-breaker. 

The Outlaws found every way to lose during the second half of the season.  The streak of futility began against the Eagles when, after scoring to tie the game 3-3 with a minute remaining, the Outlaws allowed the game-winning goal with 2 second to go.  They were sometimes dominated from start to finish, including losses to the Shock, IceDogs (twice) and Hornets.  They sometimes had early leads, but were unable to hold on through the second half of the game, including a 2-0 lead over the Hornets after the first period, which turned into a 6-3 loss, and a 3-1 lead over the Shock after two periods, which turned into a 7-4 loss.  The Outlaws also came out on the short end of see-saw battles with the Hornets and Shock.

They were only able to manage one point during that stretch, which was a tie against the Eagles.  For the season, the Outlaws split with the IceDogs (2-2-1), and had losing records to the other teams, including being dominated by the division winner, the Hornets (0-4-1). 

In the first half of the season, the team found every way to win.  They won come-from behind efforts, see-saw battles, and occasionally wire-to wire.

The bright spot for the Outlaws was the play of newcomers Joe Wallington and goalie Craig Schellenbach.  Wallington led the team with 30 points, including two game-winning and two game-tying goals.  His linemates, Ryan Kromann and Sean McCloskey, had 15 and 12 points respectively.  All others had less than 10 points.  Schellenbach was among the league-leaders in goals-against average midway through the season, before the team began its slide.

A key disappointment was the power play, as the Outlaws allowed roughly as many shorthanded goals against them as they scored power play goals.  At one point, Schellenbach suggested that the team consider “declining the penalty” against their opponents.

The HotShots HNA B3 Player of the Year is newcomer Pavel Nadin of the IceDogs.  He led his team in both goals and points, and was third in the division in goals and tied for fourth in the division in points.  Wallington was among the players statistically ahead of him in both categories.  But you get unpredictable results when you let Sarah and the staff at HotShots count the ballots.

In the opening game of the B3 playoffs, the IceDogs defeated the Shock 3-2, so they will next face the Hornets.  HNA playoffs consist of a three team double-elimination round-robin tournament, spread out over a month or more.  The loser of the Hornets-IceDogs game will play against the Shock, with the loser of that matchup eliminated.  The two remaining teams will then battle for the playoff championship, and the right to travel to Toronto for the national title.