Kowloon Warriors and South China Sharks both won their best of three Semi-finals in two-straight weeks to put them head-to-head in the China Ice Hockey League Final.
The Warriors were dominant again in their match against CIHL League winners Macau Aces clocking up three goals in each three 12-minute periods of play. Kory Falite scored a hat-trick, Michael Yoshino and Eric McKenna scored twice, and Greg Smyth and Devin Welsh also got on the score sheet for the Warriors.
Jeff Griffin, Patrik Johansson and Yosef Natour scored for the Aces making the final result 9-3 to the Warriors.
In the earlier match, South China Sharks held a 3-1 lead over the Hong Kong Tycoons at the end of Period-1. Donald Chow opened the scoring for the Sharks and Jordon So scored twice in the first period, but Jacob Trost kept the Tycoons in touch with a goal after 8-minutes of play.
Determined, Tycoons played extra hard in Period-2 with frantic action in the Shark’s goal mouth, but So added a fourth goal (his second) early in the period to make the score 4-1 at the break. A goal each by Adam Maglio for Tycoons and So for Sharks in Period-3 made the final result 5-2 in favour of the jubilant Sharks.
The Final should be an exciting contest between two in-form teams. Top goal scorer for the League is Sharks’ Jordan So (39, including 9-goals in the Playoffs) and in second and third places are Gregory Smyth and Devin Welsh have scored a total of 21 and 18 goals, respectively.
Interestingly, goal scoring has been remarkably even by both teams, but Sharks had a +10 goal difference compared to Warriors +4 in the season’s matches. However, if the playoffs are taken into account, Sharks just lead Warriors 16-15 in goal difference totals overall.
CIHL Final
Kowloon Warriors vs South China Sharks at Mega Ice, 38 Wang Chiu Road, Kowloon Bay, on Saturday 8.00pm Mar 22. Free parking at Enterprise Square Three, inquire at MegaBox.
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