Shines vs. Stellar

In Game 8 of the AA division playoffs, first seed Shines and sixth seed Stellar also left the ice Thursday night with their antlers locked- calling it good with a 2-2 tie.  In the opening action, Russell Miller found the sweet spot of the cage, going left to right across the crease at 15:22 in the first, assisted by Seth Beausang, for the 1-0 Shines goal.  In the final :24 seconds of the first, Miller struck again for a 2-0 goal assisted by Doug Keller. Going late into the third period, Shines was on its way to 2-0 shutout until Stellar shot back with two goals of their own in the final minutes of the game.  In need of something big, Stellar stuntmen, Kevin Blanchette and Tyler Carnahan, revved up the sidecar and wheeled two game-saving goals. With 7:08 remaining in regulation, Carnahan wound up and dialed one home from long distance. Shine’s stopper Neff Anastasio would not accept the charges, but Blanchette was there to pick up on the second ring, for the 2-1 goal. With 2:20 to go, Carnahan again delivered Blanchette the feed who handled it from the neutral zone then finessed one in from the right circle, leveling the score 2-2.  Anastasio had 16 saves in the net for Shines while Chris Harrington had 15 saves for Stellar, continuing his AAA/AA triple header regime throughout the playoffs where he has also covered stopper duty for PIAS and his day job as defenseman with Garcias.