Every Game's a Playoff Game at the AJL

And the race for second place continues...

The Dieppe Commandos - who have seemingly been playoff hockey since around December - did their part, defeating Miramichi 6-2. It was pretty much as decisive a win as you could ask for... definitely one of those games where the shot total reflected how the play unfolded (53-28 Commandos, for the record). Six different goal scorers found the back of the twine for a Commandos team that essentially got the job done in all three zones.

First off, there was the play in the offensive zone. It seemed for prolonged stretches that every decision the Commandos made in Miramichi territory was the right one. They constantly worked the play to create clear passing and shooting lanes and their positioning around the net was as sound as it's been at any point this season. Going 3/6 with the man advantage never hurts either, as their distribution on the powerplay was both quick and accurate. They were persistent in their ability to force the T-Wolves into mistakes at their own blueline and the offensive distribution (five different players with two points) meant that there was a good chance for fireworks no matter who jumped over the boards. If not for the play of Julien Daigle in the T-Wolves cage, the score could've easily reached double digits.

Defensively, the Commandos have been a work in progress all season. However, that work is paying off as the regular season quickly comes to a close. Since the season began, it's obvious to see the oft-referred to "little things" that produces wins are being properly executed more and more by Dieppe in their own zone. Patience along the wall, effectively going stick on stick against opponents, closing the gaps, angling off oncoming foes and shutting opponents down at the defensive blueline... it's happening more and more consistently for the Commandos. Today, Dieppe forced the play to the outside and simply blocked off the lanes as best they could. At virtually no point in the game did they over-commit on a play in their own zone. At most turns, they forced Miramichi to play the game at a pace they simply can't play. The Commandos allowed the game to play directly into their hands, thereby dictating the flow of the game from start to finish. When required Conor Wilkinson was there, making a handful of key stops when the game was close during one of those tougher games in which he was overly tested.

Unfortunately, they couldn't totally avoid some stupid stuff.

For a game that as a whole was relatively tame in terms of physicality and extracurricular activity, there was one rematch stemming from the last tilt between the two teams. During that game, Alex Murray and T-Wolves forward Patrick Byrne were involved in a heated exchange. After being escorted off the ice, Byrne decided he wanted an impromptu tour of the Commandos dressing room and hurriedly made his way down the connecting hallway to make these arrangements with Murray... or something like that. That was just stupid... today's antics were both stupid and dangerous.

With about three and a half minutes gone in the first, Byrne and Murray found themselves on the ice at the same time. Once again, they started to mix it up. Unlike last time however, the gloves actually came off... well, Byrne's did at least. A couple sucker punches and some general cementhead behavior later and Murray was being helped off the ice, headed to the hospital for precautionary reasons while Byrne was the proud new owner of 19 minutes in penalties including an aggressor minor and game misconduct. The Commandos - awarded a rare seven minute powerplay - would essentially feed off this series of events, scoring twice on the extended man advantage and not looking back.

Simply put, there's something there when it comes to Patrick Byrne and the Commandos. The T-Wolves rookie has 95 penalty minutes on the season... and a staggering 56 have come in three games against Dieppe (not including the 17 he piled up against the Commandos in an exhibition game). If all this kid wants to do is go around acting like some snot nosed punk and put his team at a disadvantage, the Wolves might as well trade him as soon as possible while the getting is still good - preferably to a non-Meek Division team where the "big, bad Commandos" won't stick in his craw so often. It would be of great benefit to Dieppe as well, since they would probably appreciate not having to play some kid solely looking to wreak havoc against their top players quite as much.

Expect Byrne to be called to the carpet once again by league officials - his third such foray as a result of an incident against the Commandos.

Moving on to more important topics, Dieppe plays their penultimate game on Tuesday night at home against Woodstock. Not to be outdone by the performance at the AJL this afternoon, the Slammers kept pace with a 4-1 win at home against Cambellton. The gap between second and third remains three points in favor of Woodstock. Dieppe wins on Tuesday and they stay in the race for home ice. Lose, and the Commandos start their first round series with Woodstock at the Carleton County Civic Center - a building they haven't won in since the 2008-2009 season. To anyone who has read and enjoyed this blog over the last few months - if you have not made your way to a game at the AJL this season and have an interest in doing so, this would be a good time to make the trip. These are two clubs that almost always put on a great show no matter where they play. Allow yourself to be introduced to this exciting young team in our back yard as they take on the defending national finalists in a preview of what should be an outstanding playoff series. If you appreciate good, clean, exciting hockey and you have nothing else to do Tuesday night, go to this game. You will thank yourself.