One of the biggest questions heading into this post-season was who, if anyone, could do the impossible and unseat the Portland Winterhawks.
Winners of four straight Gump Cups, the ‘Hawks quietly put together another great regular season and looked poised to keep their dynasty going. Their scorers were clicking. Their blueline was about as good as it’s ever been. And they had Martin Brodeur.
That all came crashing down this week as the Winterhawks were ousted in the first round by the Sawchuk Conference’s bottom seed, the Farmington Fighting Saints.
It took six games – but the Saints won twice in Portland and made Brodeur look fallible. The winningest goalie in GWMHL history finished the series with horrible numbers, including a 4.87 GAA and a save percentage of just .835. Farmington’s netminding was no great shakes, either – it was a high-scoring series – but they got it where it counted. Mikael Samuelsson led the way with 9 goals, including a hat trick in the deciding game.
The Fighting Saints now await the winner of the other Sawchuk semifinal, either Saint Louis or West Virginia. And the Winterhawks have a long, long off-season to think about what went wrong. For the first time since 2006, the GWMHL will crown a new champ.
Gump Worsley Memorial Hockey League 