Puckers competing for French National Trophée Loisir championship after beating Francais Volants in shootout!

Photo by Boshua



21 May 2016

The Puckers will be playing in the championship game tomorrow afternoon against Meudon and will have a chance to take the Trophée Loisir France title home with them to Luxembourg. To get there, the Puckers beat a much younger Francais Volants team (average age Puckers: 42, average age Francais Volants: 29) in yet another thriller comeback game.



Matthias Rainer was back between the pipes for the Puckers after playing a fantastic game against Wasquehal 24 hours earlier. Nick Aubin, nursing a should injury, still suited up and it turned out to be a crucial decision.

In the first period, like the night before, the Puckers had trouble finding their mojo, but they kept the game fairly even for most of the seven first minutes. Then Mike Mekhaeel took a holding penalty and the Volants from Paris Bercy established themselves in the Puckers zone. After almost killing off the penalty, Rainer had to fish the puck out of the net after all and the Volants went up 1-0 just under the 8 minute mark. Three minutes later a defensive miscue allowed a Volant to be wide open in the slot and get the local team up by two. Down, but not beaten, the Puckers headed to the lockers for the first intermission and, to make it worse, they lost top line player David Donzel to injury halfway through the period.



As always, the game plan was based on the oldest team in the league’s resilience and knack for coming back into games. But the Francais Volants gave them a bit more of a challenge by scoring on the first shift and putting them in a 0-3 hole with a bit less than 40 minutes to play. But the never-die Puckers found a way back into the game when “Chuck” Charles Vallée finally put his scoring instincts into overdrive and scored two quick goals within a minute of each other at the mid-point of the game. He took passes from Bohus Kostohryz and Miikka Heinonen on the first and from “Momo” Mladen Lutov on the second. The “black” line did it again after having carried the team for most of the season with a combined 45 goals and 95 points so far. Then less than 4 minutes later, it was the captain Yves Barthels that scored the tying goal. First he deflected the shot from the point by Kostohryz and then Mike Mekhaeel picked it up behind the net and fed it back to him perfectly in the slot. The puck grazed the post and went in, the Puckers were back in the game, but it wasn’t over yet. On the next shift, the Volants came back and took the lead again. At least the period was decided in favour of the Puckers by a score of 3-2, but they lost Miikka Heinonen for the game with a shoulder injury.



It set the game up for a thriller ending with both teams feeling the pain of playing 3 games in 3 days. The first half of the third period was an exchange of scoring opportunities on both sides. And it was again the Francais Volants that got the chance to put the game away with less than 10 minutes to play when they scored the 5-3. What seemed like an impossible feat became real: with seven minutes to play, Momo Lutov used his speed to get a breakaway and put the puck past the Parisian goaltender to cut the lead to one. Just over a minute later, the Puckers own “Maurice” Nick Aubin tied the game and this game would need to go to the shootout to determine the Finals opponent against Meudon.



The Puckers captain won the coin toss and decided that his team would shoot first. Chuck Vallée’s blockers side shot was saved. Then the first French shooter beat Matthias Rainer to give the advantage – again – to the Volants. But Nick Aubin had none of it and he beat the goalie blocker side to tie the shootout score. The next Volants’ shooter again beat Rainer and Lutov would need to score while Rainer needed to make the save to keep the Puckers alive. Momo went five-hole and scored. Rainer made a fantastic pad save and the shootout would go into extra – sudden death rounds. The same Volants shooter that scored the first goal shot it wide this time and the captain decided to put the miracle kid and top scorer of the team with 25 goals, Nick Aubin back on the ice for what would be the game-deciding goal. Nick changed his move and went backhand catcher side. The goaltender caught it but fell backwards into the net and the puck just trickled over the line. The game was over, the Puckers stormed the ice to celebrate an unbelievable comeback game against the mighty Francais Volants. The Puckers are headed to the Final against local team Meudon.



Man of the match is the team. It was a team effort to get to this tournament and it was a team effort to get to the Final of the tournament. Nick Aubin deserves extra credit for scoring another 3 goals (two of which in the shootout) with a bruised shoulder, but the Puckers won with heart, resilience and a fantastic team spirit.