Well, it’s the end of Round 4 and things are shaping up very interestingly. Not sure what the stats mean, but compared to this time last year the league has seen a significant drop in both goals and penalty minutes. Stronger goaltending seems to be the culprit for the reduced goals. Penalty minutes -who knows? We’re all kindler and gentler this year? Naaaaah.

Early Game – Slovenia vs Italy

Slovenia and Italy come into this came trending differently. Slovenia is the hottest team in the league right now, undefeated in round 4 punctuated by a 9-0 CRUSHING of Scotland last week. Italy, on the other hand, went undefeated last round, but is 0-3 in round 4.

All quiet for the first 5 minutes until Slovenia turns on the afterburners and scores FOUR GOALS IN 3 MINUTES. WOW. Bob King picks up the first two while Dave Vincelli gets a pair. 4-0 Slovenia halfway through the first period.

Italy wins the rest of the period 3-1, with goals from Fred Raidl and two from Dave Wodar but they start the second period in a 5-3 hole.

The Italians make it a game again when Steve Davis bulges the twine half way through the second period, but Slovenia answers with another flurry of goals – THREE in 1 MINUTE (Vincelli and Woodside) to make it 8-4 after two periods.

A somewhat listless third period with Italy’s Chris Johnson and Slovenia’s Jim Maguire trading goals in the waning minutes to end this one 9-5 for Slovenia. An undefeated round for the black team who appear to be making a run at the cup and are peaking at the right time.

Slovenia’s Player of the Game goes to Dave Vincelli while Fred Raidl makes a case for his Italian squad.

Late Game – Scotland vs Portugal

Scotland and Portugal led the league earlier this season, but Portugal has only one win this round and Scotland is coming off perhaps the most epic ass-kicking in PCOHL history, a 9-0 loss to Slovenia. Both teams come into this one looking for a little redemption.

Both goalies looked sharp early on with lots of shots. It wasn’t until midway through the opening frame when Slim Tim Randa finally beat Portugal’s substitute goalie, Tomi Nieminen, with a little angle-changing triple lutz that showed him a yard of twine. Portugal’s Neil Kelly responded with a filthy tip that absolutely handcuffed Henderson in the Scottish net, but Scotland poured it on with two goals from Brad Stoll before the period ended. 3-1 Scotland after one.

Dave Skingley and Scott Wilson paired up midway through period 2 with a pair of goals to tie this one at 3, but Stoll decided this would be a convenient time to complete his hat-trick. 4-3 for Scotland going into period three. The kilts were fluttering in the stands. Bagpipes warming up. Haggis coming out of the oven in droves.

Things got even greasier for the 1st place Portuguese when league icon Leo Brideau buried one halfway through the third period to give his Scottish squad a two-goal cushion. You could see this goal coming with Nieminen turning away a flurry of Scottish chances and giving his substitute squad a glimpse of hope. It felt like it was just a matter of time.

But Portugal wasn’t giving up. With 10 minutes to go Dave Skingley found himself in a two-on-one with teammate Joe Peacock. A nifty backhand pass followed by a Peacock one-timer into the twine and it was back to a one-goal-game.

The Scottish juggernaut seemed to ramp up at this point and, but for some miraculous goaltending by Nieminen, would have blown this one wide open. And 5-4 looked like it would be the final score until with a minute left Portugal tapped in some loose change to tie things up. And then less than 15 seconds later, rookie Alex Baluta slid a nifty pass to a teammate in the slot who got enough one-time wood on it to get over Henderson’s shoulder and JUST LIKE THAT — Portugal stole victory from the jaws of defeat.

Scotland Player of the Game goes to a bamboozled Brad Stoll whose hat-trick was in vain. Portugal POG goes to Robin Flumerfelt.

And so the final round starts this Friday. First place Portugal has the bye while Slovenia faces off against Ireland and Italy takes on the Scots.

Six short weeks until the playoffs begin!