What Would Gary Roberts Blog: Dusters' Busted; WWGRD Wins One for the Traceys

WWGRD came into their first round matchup with heavy hearts, as they would be hitting the ice without their Vezina winning goaltender and their assistant captain. WWGRD took the season series 1-0 against the Dusters, with Johnny Tracey shutting 'em out in a 3-0 victory. Hunter Bushnell was putting his undefeated record on the line, looking to stretch his personal winning streak to 3 games. With their season on the line, WWGRD came out flying early.

One of WWGRD's biggest goal threats during the regular season, Michael Nantau continued his impressive pace in the first playoff game. With his linemates Seaner Michelli and Stefan Branov all over the competition, it was only a matter of time until they found the back of the net. Nantau showed off his impressive finese by deflecting home a beauty saucer feed in by the bearded wonder Branov. This line wasn't done for the shift, as they would find the back of the net again before they hit the bench for a swig of water. Seaner went forward off the draw and sent a backhander towards the net, and Branov was all over the reeb, pouncing like a fucking Puma to double the lead.

With the score already 2-0, WWGRD was not gunna take their foot off the pedal. Flying out of their own zone, Brandon Pancerny carried the puck up on a 2-on-1 with Cappy Marc Berthiaume. With the defender taking away the pass as the entered the offensive zone, Pancerny ripped a low hard shot that the duster tendy turned aside, but kicked a juicy rebound right out into the slot. Cappy Marc Berthiaume pounced all over it and put rubber to twine to stretch the lead to 3. With their season on the line, this wouldn't be enough for WWGRD to rest on. While keeping the dusters hemmed in their own zone, the puck made its way back to the point to Dan DiCarlo, who is known for having a Fulton-Reed like slapper from the point. He ripped a beauty that Seaner Micelli got his twig on and deflected the shot through the tendy and into the back of the net.

As time was ticking down in the first half, Eric Bauer picked up a loose puck and his own zone and decided it was to show off his inner-Douggie Lambier. He weaved in and out of the Duster defender, losing the puck only momentarily but it was quickly returned to him by McNasty McNaughton. Bauer carried it in wide around the defenders and quickly cut back out front before sliding it along the ice and past the tendy, clinking the back iron before the buzzer went. However, since the refs apparently don't like Bauer or Matt Mc, it was ruled no goal, and WWGRD was forced to go into half with only a 4-0 lead. A lead that was in no small part due to the play of Hunter Bushnell in net. Bushnell turned aside everything in the first half, never giving the Dusters a chance to get back into the game.

With the Dusters picking up the pressure in the second half, WWGRD was looking for a response to restore the dominance, Brandon Pancerny stepped to the plate. After blocking a shot at the point, Pancerny was in clean from the redline. He made no mistake as he faked a shot and went to his forehand to open up the tendy before sliding it through the gaping five hole to kill any comeback hopes the Dusters had. There was only two things left for this game: Hunters shutout to be ruined, and for WWGRD to flex their poweplay muscles.

Douggie Lambier was once again in hero-mode with his girlfriend in attendance, but tonight Steph would see something that would not impress her. Despite dangling the first two forecheckers, Douggie couldn't get past the third guy, resulting in a brutes turnover that left the Dusters alone in the slot, leaving Hunter with no chance and putting the Dusters on the board in the 5-1 game.

After Captain Marc Berthiaume drew a high sticking penalty, the WWGRD powerplay went to fucking work. Passing the puck around the zone and showing off just how tired the dusters were at this point, every member of WWGRD touched the puck before it found the back of the net. Douggie Lambier passed it down to the corner to Pancerny, who sent a pass into the slot to be deflected through the legs of the tendy by Dylan Berthiaume to make it a 6-1 final.

"I played unreal," Josh Covelli said before any member of the media even approached him to ask any questions. "The boys got robbed a big one on that blown call, what the fuck was the ref thinking on that one. That Norris throphy really pushed me to perform to the best of my game for the boys tonight, showing 'em they made the right choice voting for me." In a less self-centered point of view, Captain Marc Berthiaume also spoke to the media. "You know we just played what may have been our best game of the season. We went out and wanted to win one for the Traceys. They couldn't be here and we wanted to make sure they got at least one more chance to play this year." He then added, "I don't know when we'll play next, but I do know we'll be ready to make Gary fucking proud once again". As Berthiaume alluded too, WWGRD has to await the results of other games before they find out when they will play their second round matchup.