Playoff race for 8th spot too close to call
The AFHL's last week of regular season action is highlighted by the very tight race for the final spot in the playoffs.
| Rank | Team | W-L-T | Pct | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| *1. | Buffalo Phantoms | 153-59-28 | .696 | 334 | |
| *2. | Vancouver Heroes | 141-58-41 | .673 | 323 | |
| *3. | Hollywood Stars | 140-71-29 | .644 | 309 | |
| *4. | Oshawa City Leafs | 134-74-32 | .625 | 300 | |
| *5. | London Mustangs | 127-80-33 | .598 | 287 | |
| *6. | Manhattan Supermen | 118-80-42 | .579 | 278 | |
| *7. | Fort Drum Killers | 114-92-34 | .546 | 262 | |
| 8. | Deer Park Chiefs | 104-97-39 | .515 | 247 | |
| 9. | Lexington Leg Hounds | 98-102-40 | .492 | 236 | |
| 10. | St. John's Red Wings | 100-106-34 | .488 | 234 |
{In any given matchup, you compete to win 12 stat categories... each win counts for two points, each tie counts for one and each loss counts for none. The total of these points is used to determine standings and playoff seedings.}
Going into the final matchup of the regular season, there are still three teams vying for a post-season berth. Already clinching playoff spots are: Buffalo, Vancouver, Hollywood, Oshawa City, London, Manhattan, and Fort Drum.
13 points separate the Deer Park Chiefs (eighth place with 247 points) and the St. John's Red Wings (10th, 234 points) underscoring just how tight the playoff race is.
Week 21's schedule has the following matchups:
The Chiefs continue their playoff push as they try to defeat the Wolves for the first time this season.
Castlegar beat Deer Park 5-4 in Week 2 as Parise, Richards, and Dubinsky combvined for 11 points. Parise will not play in this matchup because he was traded a few weeks before the trade deadline last Thursday.
The Chiefs are coming off a 5-4 loss to the Hollywood Stars last week and will need to play better this week to make the playoffs.
"So now it's up to us to get ready, concentrate and focus on every game we have to play," Deer Park coach Mike Nellany said. "We have one matchup left, but if we play good and win then we should be in the playoffs."
Lexington plays Week 21 against the first place Phantoms, and they were shut out by them in their last meeting 11-0.
"As the season went on, we believe we got better, we improved, so I think we'll be ready this time" Lexington forward Derek Roy said following Monday morning's practice.
Despite losing to the Bruins 6-4 last week, Lexington has been playing very well, winning five of their last seven matchups.
Time is running out on the Red Wings.
With 234 points and just one matchup left, St. John's is in 10th place but only 13 points behind Deer Park and Lexington as they fight for the final playoff spot.
In their last matchup against London, they lost 9-2, but their roster looks completely different now.
After making a bunch of big trades a couple of months before the trade deadline, the Red Wings are loaded with several superstars including Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, M.A. Fleury, and Thomas Vokoun.
"Our chances are getting slimmer and slimmer, that's the bottom line," Red Wings forward Jonathan Toews said. "You start running out of matchups. Every matchup is big for us. This is the last one. There is no room for errors right now, we need a huge win."