With only seven teams in Division II this season, the playoff format looked a little different than in recent years.  It had been 12 years since D-2 last had only seven teams at the completion of the regular season.  Using the 2010 playoffs as a reference, RIIL copied the basic format but made several modifications to accommodate its uncompromising rush to end the D-2 hockey season as early as it possible could.

 

The top two teams in the standings at the completion of the regular season, North Kingstown and Lincoln, received a bye for the quarterfinal round of the playoffs.  Teams three through six faced off in a standard playoff bracket with three, Portsmouth, playing six, North Smithfield, and teams three and four, RMR and PSW, meeting in the other game.  One of RIIL’s modifications to speed up the quarterfinal round was to make it a single game elimination event instead of a best of three series which had always been the standard in the league.  The league returned to the best of three series for the semifinal and final rounds of the playoffs.

 

Following is a recap of the Patriots performance in the post season.

 

 

PHS - 4 vs. NORTH SMITHFIELD - 0          D-2 Quarterfinals Game 1 (Single Elimination)

Tuesday, February 22             Portsmouth Abbey

 

Just two days after the completion of the regular season and finishing as the third seed, The Patriots hosted the sixth place Northmen at the Abbey for the third game between the two teams in seven days.  The teams had split the regular season series with each squad winning one game an tying the third.  Portsmouth played one of its best games of the season controlling the play the entire time.

 

Joey Levreault scored twice and Shane Temple added a power play goal to put the team up three to nothing.  As the end of the game approached, Parker West added an unassisted empty netter to cap the four-goal lead for his team.  Andrew Alvanas picked up two assists on Portsmouth’s goals, while Mac Dunn and Aidan Toner eached logged one.

 

Steve Dutra had a stellar game stopping all 31 shots by the Northmen.  Along the way he faced an onslaught of 14 shots in the third period alone to earn his third shutout of the season.

 

The win eliminated North Smithfield from the playoffs as the Patriots advanced to the semifinals against second seeded Lincoln.

 

 

PHS - 5 at LINCOLN - 0        D-2 Semifinals Game 1 (Best of Three Series)

Saturday, February 26             RTE 146 Rink

 

Portsmouth’s leading goal score, Aidan Toner, put the Patriots on the scoreboard just a minute and a half into the game.  Toner then added another sandwiched between two goals by Mac Dunn as the team rang up four tallies in the first period and never looked back.  Logan West capped the scoring with ta power play goal in the second period and the squad held on for the shutout.

 

Steve Dutra saw only 18 shots from the Lions and stopped them all for his second consecutive playoff shutout and his fourth of the year.

 

Joe Rocco had three assists in the game while Andrew Alvanas and Joey Levreault each had one.   

 

 

PHS - 0 at LINCOLN - 3        D-2 Semifinals Game 2 (Best of Three Series)

Sunday, February 27               Abbey

 

After holding its opponents scoreless in the first two playoff games and the first two periods of its third playoff game, Portsmouth’s luck finally ran out.  Facing elimination from the playoffs if they lost, the Lions broke the goalless game open midway through the third period with two tallies just one minute apart.

 

Lincoln’s goalie, Nathan Goff, playing, perhaps, his best game of the year, continued to thwart the Patriots’ efforts and earned his first shutout of the season. 

 

Lincoln’s final goal was into an empty net.

 

Despite being tagged with the loss, Portsmouth goalie, Steve Dutra, played exceptionally well.  He kept the team in the game and gave his teammates a chance to win.  But the squad was unable to solve his counterpart at the other end of the ice.

 

Until the first goal the Patriots allowed in the game Dutra had been a brick wall in front of the net for the equivalent of nine periods plus five minutes and five seconds; a streak of holding opponents scoreless that extended back to the final game of the regular season.  During that time, he made 71 saves, equal to an average of nearly 23 shots per game.  A most impressive run, especially while playing playoff hockey.

 

 

     

PHS - 2 at LINCOLN - 3        D-2 Semifinals Game 3 (Best of Three Series)

Tuesday, March 1       RTE 146 Rink

 

With the semifinal series tied at a game apiece, the Patriots and Lions faced off in the decisive Game 3 to with the trip to the championship series at stake.

 

All the scoring in the game took place in the first two periods.  Lincoln scored twice in the first session, but a tally by Shane Temple kept Portsmouth within a single goal of the lead.  Second period action saw the Lions go ahead by two goals before Aidan Toner made it a one goal game again before the end of the period.  The Patriots were unable to find the back of the Lincoln net in the final period despite an exceptional effort.

 

Just as in Game 2, the deciding factor in this game was the Lions’ goalie, Nathan Goff.  A netminder who ranked eighth of nine goalies in D-2 during the regular season, with a save percentage of only .870, he turned in his second consecutive outstanding performance to advance his team to the championship finals.  Portsmouth fired 35 shots at Goff throughout the game and he stopped all but two of them for an excellent .943 save percentage for the contest.

 

The Patriots defensive play limited Lincoln to just 19 shots in the game.  Steve Dutra had 16 saves.