Glades Clinch Playoff Birth with Weekend Sweep!!!!

The Green Mountain Glades came into the weekend series with the CD Selects needing to win both games to assure themselves a spot in this year’s playoffs.  They went into Saturday’s game 1 point behind the Valley Warriors for the final spot in the EJHL’s Northern Division. In Saturday’s game the Glades came out early and capitalized when Connor Anthoine attacked the net from behind the goal line and was able to beat the CD net minder for the early 1-0 lead with a power play goal. CD would answer about five minutes later with an even strength goal to tie things up before Zach Vit would send the Glades to the intermission with another one goal lead. In the second period it seemed as if the pressure of the playoff spot lingering was getting to the Glades. They were however able to once again use man advantage to take their first two goal lead of the game with a goal from Mark Grinhaus. CD would bounce back strong and end up tying the game heading into the final frame with another even strength goal and a power play goal. The third period is where the Glades hit their stride scoring just 17 seconds into the period when Andrew O’Leary used his speed through the neutral zone and was able to bury one for the 4-3 lead. Zach Vit would add to the lead just under a minute later when he came across the blue line and used the defenseman as a screen and wired a shot to the top corner. Chris Sandmeyer capped off the scoring once again on the power play for the Glades 6-3 win. Later that night Valley was able to beat the New England Huskies by a score of 5-1 to maintain a one point cushion over the Glades.

Sunday’s matchup proved to be a monumental one for the Glades, win and they would grab the last playoff spot or lose and have to play the Monarchs the next day in a makeup game to get the point they needed to buy themselves another weekend of hockey. The Glades took full advantage of their position and Nick Geraci got things started off half way through the first frame for the 1-0 lead. Five minutes later Andrew O’Leary made it 2-0 before CD would cut the lead in half going into the intermission. Green Mountain would come out in the third and score 6 goals with four of them coming from Zach Vit and the other two coming from DJ Nykaza giving the Glades an 8-2 lead after 2 periods. The Glades would trade a goal a piece with CD in the third with Thomas Forgione playing in his first EJHL league game registering the lone goal in the third for the Glades.

The win clinched the final spot in the North for the Glades and the power play was a big part of the stretch run. The Glades power play in the last 8 games has been at 35% as opposed to the 11% it was at in the 37 previous league games. The Glades will now face the Southern Division Champion South Shore Kings this coming weekend in Foxboro, MA. Saturday’s game takes place at 3:50PM and Sunday’s game is at 10:50AM.