X1HL Season 1 Premier Playoffs Recap

Joseph Espy, Reporter

The X1HL, a six on six virtual hockey league started in 2015, debuted its Premier League this October. The league was 50 dollars to buy in with a 400 dollar total pot. There were two six-team divisions with bring your own roster rules.

With only eight teams making the Premier League playoffs, it was setting up for a very intense postseason.

Round 1

#1 0bamacare vs. #4 The Krusty Parmesanz: With the Parmesanz just squeaking into the playoffs despite a 23 win 30 loss season, Commissioner WavyMoneyTeam’s squad appeared to be heavily favored. The two teams split the first two games backed by their goaltenders in Wavy and Badpr0digy21 for the Parmesanz. But despite a great effort by the Parmesanz, the high scoring ability of Darkmizike99 and two straight shutouts by Wavy propelled 0bamacare to the next round.

#2 EA Legends United vs. #3 Hounds: This East division matchup featured the offensive juggernaut that is the EA Legends United versus the Hounds who had a quiet but productive year. But early on in the series it was clear the Hounds defenders couldn’t handle the French Canadian forwards and their attack. EA Legends United forwards TQ NHL KING QC, G lR ii M x, and Q THE GOD finished with a combined 51 points en route to a 4-0 sweep.

#1 Harambe Shot First vs. #4 Clam Hammers: This series was a tough one for the Hammers as owner Fedorov91x and his squad never gave up. But the explosive line of PIZZA ROMO, Jive Turkey x91x, and xInsaneWombatx proved too deadly as Harambe won in five games.

#2 No Lookie Top Cookie vs. #3 Scissor Sisters: This series had no clear favorite as both teams had played each other evenly throughout the season. The two teams split the first two after the Scissor Sisters adjusted their style to stop No Lookie’s greaser hockey style of play. After a great next two games played by forward Impct GREED and goalies shutthegate and Wanderlust x623, the Scissor Sisters saw themselves go up in the series 3 games to 1. Perhaps the Scissor Sisters thought they had the series clinched, but No Lookie wouldn’t give up mounting two 3rd period comebacks to steal games 5 and 6. With everything on the line for game 7 both teams fired a large volume of shots but after three the score was 2-2. In overtime no quality chances were let up by the defenses until with 3 seconds left forward Bonillax18 performed a desperation wrap-around shot that beat the goalie as time expired. The Scissor Sisters moved on in incredible fashion.

Round 2

#1 0bamacare vs. #2 EA Legends United: Both of these teams split the first four as both high-powered offenses thrived in high-scoring games. But ultimately a forfeit by EA Legends United and a great performance by defenders Winterhawk1989 and NotYou197730 helped 0bamacare advance to the Premier Finals.

#1 Harambe Shot First vs. Scissor Sisters: This series was virtually unpredictable going in as both teams were heading into the series with great confidence. But the Scissor Sisters took care of Harambe in a shocking fashion, sweeping them impressively with great defense shutting down Harambe’s top line and getting deflections in front off one-timers by defenders.

Finals

#1 0bamacare vs. Scissor Sisters: The series for all the pot money brought great suspense leading up to the series. In games one and two the 0bamacare couldn’t solve the Scissor Sisters defense losing the first two games, both by the tight score of 2-1. Heading into games 3 and 4 Owner and Commissioner WavyMoneyTeam quit leaving his team to find a backup in Fedorov91x. But it felt 0bamacare just didn’t have the confidence anymore, dropping the next two giving the championship to the Scissor Sisters.