Eagles and Blades face off for Asia League Championship

22 Mar 2013 | Matthew Cross

Halla swept, Cranes put up little fight

The Semi-finals offered few surprises. The Eagles continued to steamroll the opposition and Blades got by the Cranes without too much trouble.

Eagles vs Halla

The series saw the penalties very lop-sided in favour of the Eagles. Even discounting the numerous misconducts Halla received, they also took several times more minor penalties than the Eagles did. In the first two games they were also out shot by a healthy margin and did little to impact the Eagles. The closest Halla could get was to take the game to overtime in game 2, but an impending high stick sealed the deal on that game as the Eagles took it. It is interesting to note that a late boarding by Eagles in game 1 where they were up 5 to 2 with only seconds to go was bad enough to generate two misconducts for Halla, but not even a major penalty to the offender on the Eagles team.
Halla continued to play musical goalies in the series, starting Eum for game 1 and 3 and Son for game 2, the only game that showed any promise for them. Despite that promise, they changed the goalie for game 3 again. For their part the Eagles started Narisawa for all 3 games who started about half the season for them.

Blades vs Cranes

Despite their hot battle for second place, their play-off series was not as close. Penalties were about even in the team, but the blades pretty handily ran away with it. The Cranes managed a single win in game 2, but couldn't really get past the combination of Hashimoto and Hata in net for the Blades.
In the regular season the Blades managed 2 wins against the Eagles. Halla had 1 and could barely dent them, but the play-offs are often full of surprises and momentum might carry them through. While the Eagles are heavily favoured, an upset by the Blades is not impossible. It is also the Blades' first real trip to the finals. Despite being Champions, they haven't actually played in a final series yet, so we don't really know what to expect from them.
The series starts March 23 in Tomakomai