| by the CMM.com Editorial Staff (posted 1/19) – The California Heat scored a late 3rd period goal in the last game of the CAHA 16AA 2008-09 regular season, securing a 3-2 victory over the California Stars Black. They finish tied with the Anaheim Jr Ducks at 28 points in the final standings, but claim the overall title since they won the head-to-head game, 3-1. The game also wrapped up a fantastic final weekend of hockey where multiple teams struggled to gain one of the coveted berths in next month’s CAHA play-down. CAHA 16AA must be a just universe because the teams that played the best hockey - the ones that managed to impose its will on its opponents all weekend, were the ones to advance. J-E-T-S, Jets-Jets-Jets The story of the weekend was hands-down, the Vacaville Jets. Overall it was a great week for Jets, in general. The CMM.com Preview only gave them a puncher’s chance of success but damn, they did it. Clubber Lang hit the canvas and the Jets are going to the playoffs. After opening the weekend set with an unbelievable fourth tie in five games, they ran off consecutive victories against the Saints, the #6 Stars Black and the #4 Jr Kings. The Jets vaulted from eleventh place in the standings to seventh, good for sixth seed in the play-down. They finish the season with a truly uncommon 6-5-5 record. Prognostication Purgatory The CMM.com think tank had very few hits this weekend to offset the many Preview prediction misses..... Hits: 1) Calling for a perfect weekend from the Gulls (4-0-0) and determining that the danger game was the first one against the Wild on Friday night (they barely held on and won 5-4) 2) Determining that the point lost by the Titans at Escondido would come back to haunt them (more on that later) 3) Figuring the Cougars would save on the airfare from Boston 4) Being a freaking genius and calling for the Jr Ducks to have a perfect weekend (things were so bad, we had to include this obvious hit so as not to look like total idiots). Misses: 1) The biggest one was going way out on a limb and predicting a perfect weekend by the Black (0-2-1) 2) Being a moron and looking for a possible perfect weekend by the 14th place Jr Ice Dogs (1-2-1) 3) Saying we didn’t think the Wave had it in them to right the ship and get things moving forward after a really tough weekend in Escondido – they did 4) Calling for the Heat to flex its muscles and get to 15-0-0 before dropping a game, they essentially lost to the teams we figured they’d handle easily and beat to the one we figured had their number 5) Assuming the OC needed to win more than two games to make the playoffs, it turns out they only needed one and a nice parting gift from the Titans 6) Figuring it wasn’t looking good for the Jets or the Lightning 92s 7) Thinking the Titans would win a game To be honest, many of our Preview Predictions were influenced by the grand hope that there would be a five team tie for 7th place at 15-points. Too bad, it would have been fun. How we predicted it Heat (30) 1. Jr Ducks (28) 2. Stars Black (25) 3. Jr Kings (24) 4. Wave (22) 5. Gulls (20) 6. OCHC (17) t-7. Titans (15) – 7 wins (beat JID) t-7. Wild (15) – 6 wins (beat JID, Titans) t-7. Jr Ice Dogs (15) – 6 wins 10. Jets (14) Motivation and the Lack Thereof You could tell the difference in the intensity teams brought to the rink this weekend. For the most part, the top teams had nothing to play for - they already know they’re headed for post-season action next month. You don’t get a banner for winning the regular season title. At the other end of the spectrum, the bottom teams only had the prospect of playing the spoiler as added motivation at CAHA IV. Only the eight Contenders had to look at Lakewood as a due or die situation. This more than anything probably explains the increased number of upsets this weekend. Weekend Winners It was interesting that in the CAHA IV Preview, we felt strongly that the final playoff berths would be decided by the three games played among the Wild (win and a tie), BCL93s (loss and a tie) and Titans (loss and a tie) and none of them ended up making it. Other teams, more hungry and focused, grabbed the proverbial bull by the horns and created their own history. We already mentioned what the Jets accomplished. The Lightning 92’s margin of destiny came from the point they squeezed out of the game with the 3rd Place Wave. In SoCal-Hockey’s Beat the Spread contest, only two players took the Lightning +1.5. Once making it to 16 points, the team relaxed and didn't have to sweat out the final games of the weekend, except perhaps wishing a bit of schadenfreude on certain mortal enemies. Among the Top 6 teams, first and second place, third and fourth, and fifth and sixth were all determined by head to head tie-breakers with the Heat, Wave and Gulls beating the Jr Ducks, Jr Kings and Stars Black respectively on the weekend of November 15-16 in San Jose. We knew at the time that the November CAHA II weekend was something special - this just confirms it. We'll take a look at how (or if) the tie-breakers affected the playdown seeding in our next Preview. And Finally….. As much as this weekend was about the rise of the Vacaville Jets, the more compelling story was the SoCal Titans and a meltdown of epic proportions. They entered the weekend in sole possession of 6th place with games against four teams all below them in the standings. They just had to win one of them to advance to the play-down. In the first game, they got steamrolled by the Gulls 8-1. San Diego is a legitimate Top 6 team of whom CMM.com predicted would win their last eight games and they ended up going 7-0-1. The Titans this season compiled a 0-12-0 record against the Top 6 so the result was no surprise. In the Saturday nightcap, they managed a 3-3 tie with the Wild and now only needed another tie in the final two games to seal the deal. On Sunday morning, the Titans built a 4-1 lead against the BCL93s and carried it into the 3rd period. But within the first five minutes, Lightning struck three times to tie the game. As to be expected with such a momentum swing, BCL ultimately punched in the winning goal. By the final buzzer, everyone felt the Titan season was over. They still had to play a final game against the 14th place Jr Sharks, but the writing was on the wall and sure enough, a 5-1 loss resulted. Remember that point in the standings the Titans lost by not killing the puck off the draw with 4.7 seconds remaining against the Jets in Escondido? It would have been enough to save the Titans from all this unwanted drama - consider them haunted. The beneficiary ended up being the OC Hockey Club. They left their “A” game in Yorba Linda and after a morning tie with the Ice Dogs, seemingly accepted the fact that they were not playoff bound. Then like manna from heaven, the Titans gift wrapped a late Christmas present – “They’re losing their minds….. and we’re reaping all the benefits…..” Going Forward Does it seem weird to anybody else that the season ended on Sunday night, but we still have two weekends of games remaining? Let's stick a fork in it already. Forgive us if we don’t dispatch reporters to cover them. Thanks to everybody who contributed to another great CAHA 16AA season. Happily for me, pitchers and catchers report in just under a month. |
| CAHA Tier II Weekend #4 - Recap |
| How it really came out Heat (28) 1. Jr Ducks (28) 2. Wave (25) 3. Jr Kings (25) 4. Gulls (20) 5. Stars Black (20) 6. Jets (17) 7. Lightning 92 (16) 8. OCHC (15) 9. Titans (14) 10. Wild (14) |
