The C-league semifinals kept fans glued to the edges of their seats to the last minute. First-ranked Quailmen destroyed the No. 4 Crows Sunday night in a 7-2 game to maintain their unbeaten streak. The No. 2 Silver Falcons lost to the No. 3 Natural Noise Black in a game ultimately decided by a shootout. Spectacular saves by Chris Quirk ’09 kept NNB alive to the last minute, and propelled them into sudden death overtime, followed by the lone skaters on net. Quirk stopped three of four shoot-out attempts by the Silver Falcons.

In a well-matched final, the Quailmen kept a surprisingly low score against Natural Noise Black. Things looked fairly wrapped-up for the Quailmen entering the second half leading 2-1 and severely out-skating their opposition, but NNB rebounded, scoring two additional goals, including one in the final minute of play after a smart play by their coach to pull the goaltender for the extra skater. It wasn’t enough as the Quailmen added two goals shortly after the score leveled at 2-2, including a power-play goal, the only of the night, and the eventual game winner.

This was the Quailmen’s first C-league championship, who look forward to moving back up to the B-league next semester. After an interesting experiment to split up last semester’s Natural Noise team into Natural Noise Red and Black, rumors have been circulating that the group will only field one team next semester.

Monday night also was also host to the A-league finals, which pitted the Free Agents against the Pikes. The Free Agents took the lead seconds into the first, and never looked back. “As I was entering the offensive zone,” said senior Blake Huovie, “I saw my line mate, [senior] Andrew O’Keefe, in the corner with the puck. I called for a pass, and before the puck even touched my stick I knew it was going to the top right corner of the net. As soon as I scored it lit a fire and my team was then on a roll.” Leading 1-0 into the second, they would add four more tallies to the night, including an empty net goal. The completion of the game also saw the loss of the Free Agents’ star goaltender; however, the team looks forward to two former junior ‘A’ hockey playing freshman defenders to carry them for the next semester.

The B-league semifinals started off with an upset as fourth seed SigEp trounced top-ranked Delts in a staggering 6-2 victory. Following the game was a match-up between the Purple Badgers and Ski Lodge, which ended in a 4-1 win for the Badgers. Both winners progressed to the finals on Tuesday to play in the last intramural ice hockey game of the semester.

SigEp took an early 1-0 lead in the first period. Purple Badgers didn’t take long to answer it with a power play goal nine minutes into in the period. Things settled down in the second period, with rushes from both teams being shut down by solid defense. Second period ended in a 1-1 draw and the game went into overtime. One 10 minute overtime period was played in which both teams had plenty of scoring opportunities closed by solid goaltending. With both teams unable to capitalize on their chances, the game went to a shootout. Both goalies blocked shots for the first four attempts. On Purple Badgers fifth attempt, Kyle Smith ‘07 faked the goalie out to the left and then brought the puck back to the right for an open net and the game-winning goal. “I was inspired by Gordon Bombay from the Mighty Ducks and the triple deke,” he says with a grin on his face.

Next semester will see some changes to the league structure as C-league is broken up into C-and D-leagues to better accommodate the influx of players. For the past two semesters, C league has accommodated 12 teams: double that of B-league, and triple the number contained in A. This has led to intense play as top teams run up their goal differential in the case of a tie for one of the coveted playoff spots. However, checking will still only be allowed in A-and B-leagues.

“We appreciate all the assistance from the referees, supervisors, and assistant director of intramurals [Joe Campo],” said junior Humberto Maciel, who took over as Intramural coordinator at the beginning of the academic year.

“Intramurals are a great way for students to have fun,” said Campo. The Intramural department has been working hard to grow its program, and is working on adding more sports. With such competitive teams fielded this semester, intramural fans can look forward to several well-played matches at the start of the next school year.