Luck Be a Lady That Wasn’t on the Bomber Bench

Predators hand the organization a 1^st round loss and one-way ticket to the losers’ bracket

by Zippo Heltheescratz-Bomber beat reporter
 

Despite rolling two lines of forwards and D (once Lundeen-san said domo arrigato to his Japanese colleagues and BK strolled in), the storied Bomber franchise came up short in the 1^st game of the Fall/Winter 2013 Playoffs, falling to the Predators by a score of 5-3.

The effort was there, but fair and balanced officiating was nowhere to be found.  Calls were made when they shouldn't have been, and when they were, they were often erroneous and so bad they got nothing but laughter from the bench.

“I mean that was a beautiful hip check, right there on Lupe!” said Rober’ who brought some much needed motivation to the bench. “And of course, there was no call – just an offside whistle -- no one takes out our Mexican, unless it’s customs or border patrol!”

After dropping two goals in the first period, the Bombers quickly battled back with a goal from Hoyer, who brought the Bombers within one.  But luck never seemed to stay with the organization for long that night. The Predators went on to bump their lead to 2 with an unfortunate bounce that had the puck trickle past the Bombers’ back up net-minder for the evening, the Whalers' John Fallone – a horrible feeling as he clearly had the save. Could that have been Fallone's way of ensuring the Bombers wouldn't play the Whalers in the second round? We will never know.

But, as anyone who follows the play of the franchise knows, persistence pays off. Fresh off his goal from the previous match up against the Predators that ended his 10-game goal drought, Kappmeier was able to put a biscuit in the basket. 

“Sure felt good,” said Kappmeier. “Was afraid that drought would stay with me for a while and ship me down to the minors – going from drought to streak takes your confidence from zero to sixty.”

Following Kappmeier’s goal was one from JZ, who battled from behind the net to slide one past the goaltender to tie up the match.But the officials would have nothing of it. Despite being two full puck lengths behind the goal line, celebration by the Bombers and the unified look of failure on the Predators, Rossi claimed that he did not SEE and nullified the goal that evened up the match.

“There’s no question it was in!” shouted JZ when skating to the bench.  “I was staring right at it!”

And that would be the story of the game for most of the 2^nd and 3^rd period.  The organization just couldn't buy a goal. Junior was denied on what was a beautiful attempt and an even more impressive save by the Predators goalie who obviously was in much better form that his last showing.

However, with about 1:30 seconds left in the match, Hoyer was able to score his second of the game which gave the Bombers much needed motivation and brought them within one of tying the match. 

"We can do this boys!" shouted Hoyer as the Bombers lined up for the face-off at center ice. "Skate hard for the next 90 seconds and crash the net!"

Throwing six skaters on the ice, the Bombers gave it everything they had, but they just couldn't get the puck cleanly into the Predators’ zone, and when they did, they were quick to clear.  The icing on the cake came from an empty netter.

The Bombers’ next playoff showing will be April 1^st at 9:25 PM against the 8^th seed Puck Pimps.  Hope still remains for the franchise to ride the losers’ bracket and go deep in the playoffs – but it’s now do or die! Get out there and cheer for your Bombers just like the kid below!