Baby Beefs qualify for the playoffs again!

Friday saw the Baby Beefs make the playoffs for the 5th time in 5 seasons of the 606HL proving themselves once again as one of the leagues best regular season teams. This will not be enough for GM Homer however who is still awaiting the team to bring back a playoff trophy despite winning the regular season title 2 years running. A third straight regular season title is proving to be a tough battle with the Baby Beefs currently sitting 3rd, 5 points back of the Leprechauns and tied on points with the Dinosaurs.

However GM Homer isn't worried about that. With two of the teams best players from last season being promoted to the pro league the team was looking for a new leader, Step up Mr Jeff Skinner. Skinner has been a revelation for the Baby Beefs sitting on a mammoth 96 points in just 69 games, good for 1st in the individual standings. He hasn't been alone however with Stanley Cupp, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Austin Watson and Jamie Benn all putting up over a point per game. With a tremendous amount of offensive punch the team has proven they are still one of the leagues best and even with the Beefs early season goalie shuffle, the Baby Beefs have stayed competitive no matter who was playing there. Carey Price however took hold of the role from Howie Hole after the young superstar was called up to help the struggling pro team. Price has played the bulk of the games putting up a 36-13-1 record including 4 shutouts. With 13 games to go the Baby Beefs are hoping they can close that gap to take the top spot but will not be going all out for that as their main aim is to finally overcome their struggles in the playoffs.

In pro news, the Beefs have also had a very strong season. Early season expectations were mixed and the Beefs were aiming at simply making the playoffs but now find themselves locked in a season long battle with the rival Bearded Badgers for the top spot in the division. As we stand now the Beefs are just 2 points back with a game in hand and give the way the season has gone, this could come down to the final game of the season where the two teams could well face off for the division title. While the team has sights on the division title they also cannot afford to get complacent as the Buttercups are just 7 points back with 3 games in hand.

Carrying the weight for the Beefs is the usual trio of Heatley Krejci and Eriksson with all 3 over a point per game. Krejci is in the top ten goal scorers in the league with 40 to his name this season while Heatley has turned into a top ten playmaker with 53 assists. Rookie Oscar Moller has also been pulling his weight in his first pro season putting up a phenomenal 68 points in 69 games and on the back end Rundblad has looked equally impressive in his first season putting up 31 points and a +14 rating. The real big surprise for this season has been rookie Howie Hole. At the start of the year Moller and Rundblad both had pretty high expectations being given prime minutes while the goalie position was locked down by 2 time all star Deslauriers with former cup winner Kiprusoff as the backup. After a shaky start the goalie position was one that had a lot of question marks over it. Both goalies were struggling to find their form which opened the door for a call up of Howie Hole. The rookie seized the opportunity and didn't look back. Hole now sits with a 34-17-3 record and is sporting a solid 2.60 GAA with a .907 sv%. He has also managed to earn 3 shutouts and even had a hand in some offence managing 2 assists.

The Beefs have had a shaky few days however losing 5-2 to the rival Badgers and a 4-0 drumming at the hands of the Steves. The loss to the Badgers was especially troubling as the Beeds dominated the game for the most part outshooting the Badgers 42-24 including 21-3 in the first period! However Pavelec stood strong and kept the Beefs to just a 2-1 lead going into the third where it all broke down with the Badgers scoring 4 goals in 8 minutes chasing Hole from the game.

The Beefs will need to rebound quickly to keep their division title chase on track.