The Bogart Tweedsmuir Flyers stared elimination in the face Saturday, March 4, but elimination blinked first as the Flyers dumped on the 9's Taxi Team 6-4 to stay alive.

Bogart found themselves in unfamiliar territory, just one loss away from being beaten out in their second playoff game, but a three-goal effort from veteran winger Robert Thurston sparked the Flyers to their best performance in recent weeks as they downed the Taxi Team in Tweed Saturday Night Hockey League ‘B’ Pool round-robin action.

After two games Bogart sits at 1-and-1 and the former power-house Flyers will now have to wait, with their fingers crossed, for the result of this coming Saturday’s matchup between 9's Taxi and the Rosebush Fuels Devils to learn their post-season fate. If the Devils win, both Rosebush and Bogart will advance to the quarter-finals with 9's hitting the golf course. If the Taxi squad beats the Devils, however, all three teams will own identical records, so a goals-for-and-against count will determine who hangs ‘em up and who continues on.  In the GF&A department Rosebush currently sits at +2, Bogart is even and 9's is -2.

In ‘A’ pool action the Bush Furniture Panthers dropped their second straight game losing 11-7 to the Trudeau Park Rangers who improved to 1-and-1, while the streaking Thomasburg Toros improved to 2-and-0 with a 6-2 pounding of the Tweed IGA Senators.

The four clubs in the ‘A’ pool are playing for a pair of byes straight to the semi-finals, thus avoiding having to take part in the quarter-finals against the two ‘B’ pool survivors, and although Bush Furniture has lost two in a row they could still win one of those byes. A Panther’ win over IGA this coming weekend coupled with a Trudeau Park loss to Thomasburg would leave the Toros with a perfect 3-and-0 record and the other three teams with 1-and-2 marks. A goals-for-and-against scenario would once again play itself out to determine who would get the second bye. If the Senators beat Bush’s, though, and Trudeau’s hands Thomasburg a loss, then IGA, the Park Rangers and the Toros would find themselves using the goal-differential scheme at the top end of the playoff standings. A Panther win as well as a Trudeau victory, however, would simply see the Rangers and Toros receiving quarter-final byes with IGA and Bush’s dropping back to the quarters against the ‘B’ winners.  Thomasburg has the best GF&A in the 'A' at +5 with the Senators coming next at +1.  Trudeau Park is next at -1 with the Panthers coming in at -5.

Times for Saturday’s games are as follows: Rosebush and 9's hook up at 6:30 in the determining ‘B’ pool matchup; then the final two ‘A’ pool games take place at 7:30 and 8:30 between IGA and Bush Furniture then Trudeau Park and Thomasburg, respectively.

timely hattrick...

With his team’s collective back against the elimination wall Robert Thurston couldn’t have picked a better time to snap on the leadership hat, a hat he used to wear on a regular basis for Bogart in past years.

The one-time league scoring champion scored his team’s first two goals then potted the eventual winner to help the Flyers avoid their worst finish in team history. After 9's Taxi took a 1-0 lead early in the game Thurston’s first goal drew Bogart even then he gave the Flyers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way with his second marker.

Bogart came out of the first period trapped in a precarious 1-1 deadlock, but two unanswered goals in the second set followed by another pair early in the third period gave them a comfortable 5-1 lead. The Taxi Team then sprung to life in the dying minutes with three goals of their own but the Flyers hung on for the 6-4 win.

Ian Hunt, Matt Elson and Mike Vance had one apiece for the winners with Leon Clement chipping in with three assists. Rob Reynolds replied with a solid playoff effort for the cabbies, sniping a hattrick, with Adrian Morton rounding out their scoring.

four points...

Thomasburg got three goals and an assist from Rory Wilson and four helpers from Curtis Spicer as they humbled the defending champion Senators 6-2. The Toros controlled the play from the outset holding period leads of 2-1 and 5-2 as they cruised to the easy victory.

As for IGA’s performance the loss was definitely a team effort. They couldn’t seem to clear their zone when they had to, although many peg them as owning the ‘best damn defense’ in the league, and their offence (second in the circuit behind only Bush’s) lacked its usual luster and was evident only in spurts. The Sens paid for a particularly sluggish second period that saw Thomasburg turn a 2-1 lead into a commanding 5-1 advantage.

Barry Tebo, Joel Fisher and Brian Harrison also scored for the Toros with Dan Cassidy and Andy Gunning answering back for IGA.

scoring leader...

Regular season scoring champion Bill Marlin took over the playoff points lead with two goals and five assists as Trudeau’s pumped Bush 11-7.

Matt Robinson was also instrumental in the victory as he scored twice and assisted on three while Chris Newlands, Jesse Cassidy and Casey Trudeau had two goals and assisted once apiece. Chris Bateman also scored for the Rangers with Paul Buchanan and Joe Erwin leading the way for the Panthers with two goals and assist each. Dave Baker scored once and picked up three helpers with Kirt Prevost and Charlie Spratt notching a goal apiece.