1981 PRINCE OF WALES CONFERENCE QUARTER FINAL #2

Chicago UndergroundMackinac Island Moose

CHICAGO vs. MACKINAC ISLAND
  The Moose host The Underground in game 1 of the Quarter Finals. Chicago was 30-40-10 in the regular season. Mackinac Island was 42-24-14. Head to head play saw Chicago win 3, lose 2 and tie 1.
GAME #1 With this being the first post season game in franchise history, all the celebrities were out in force. Dudley Do Right presented the colors for the national anthem, sung by Bob Seger. Ceremonial puck drop by Stevie Wonder. Fly over by Rocket J. Squirrel.

The action starts early when Foster and Engblom mix it up, giving us some 4 on 4 play. With the first zone entry, the Moose get a shot with Park passing the rebound to Propp who pokes one high into the net, giving the Moose an early 1-0 lead. A little later, Lorimar is called for holding, and the Moose use the advantage to find Smith open for a slapper into the net, makimg it 2-0 Moose, just under 8 minutes of play. And before another minute elapses, Bossy takes things into his own hands with a nifty wrap around to cut the lead in half, 2-1. With the adrenalin levels still high, Lorimer and Boutette mash up a draw matching 2 minute penalties, quickly followed by Gilles getting a 2 minute tripping penalty to make it a 4 on 3 for the Moose. It doesn’t last long as the Moose create a scrum in front of the net with Smith poking the puck in to put the Moose up 3-1. A little over 10 minutes to go. Both teams clean things up and the rest of the period bleeds away without penalties or goals. 3-1 Moose.

2nd period opens like the first. This time its Bossy and Smith hooking up and drawing 2 each. This time its Kurri finding an opening high in the net to make it 4-1 Moose. Chicago goes on the PK again, but this time are successful. Shortly after, the Underground get some offense going as Goring deflects a Brasar shot into the net to make it 4-2. 12 minutes to go. The Moose kill off a Kurri penalty and as the period winds down, Chicago sneaks another in from Stastny to crank up the pucker factor going into intermission. 4-3 Moose.

Lorimar and Propp do the honors in the 3rd, each getting 2 minutes in the box. No blood on the 4 on 4. Eaves and Dunlop follow suit minutes later, and it leads to a goal by Gillies, and the pucker factor is up to code red with a tie game, 13 minutes to go. Less than a minute later, with Chicago exerting full pressure, the Underground grab the puck in the neutral zone and its Stastny to Savard, BOOM!!!! Chicago has cone back from 3 down to flip it to 5-4 in Chicago’s favor. The lead is short lived as the Moose get a nice zone entry with Barber to Kurri into the net and all tied at 5. 10 minutes to go. Astrom stops a 3 on 1 at the 8 minute mark. The refs swallow their whistles the rest of the way. Both team with chances but no blood until the 3rd line sees Boutette to Boudreau to Stewart and the rink erupts with the tie breaker, 6-5 Moose. 2 minutes to go. The Moose are able to keep the puck in control in the Chicago zone the last 2 minutes and escape with the win.

1st star – Smith 2g 1a
2nd – Kurri 2g
3rd – Stastny 1g 2a

The Moose give up 4 goals unanswered, in 20 minutes, and are very fortunate to come away with a win. Game 2 will be here with the Moose up 1-0.

  Game 2 of the best of 7 quarterfinals being played at Frostbite Falls Memorial Arena on Mackinac Island. The Moose won game 1 in comeback fashion, 6-5. Chicago hopes to even the series up and get home ice advantage heading back to the Windy City.
GAME #2 Finally a period that does not open up with a fight. The teams play cleanly to open things up and the goalies (Astrom and Palmateer) take control. The Underground kill 2 penalties to 1 PK for the Moose, Astrom saves 20, while Palmateer saves 6, and in the end there is no damage on either side. 0-0 after 1.

The 2nd period is non-stop penalties. Russell (2) killed followed by Rautakallio (2) killed, immediately followed by Ferguson (4) killed, then Propp (2) killed. With 10 mintues down, almost 9 of it with somebody on the powerplay, the score holds at 0-0. Stastny continues the plague of penalties hooking (2) and this time the Moose take advantage as Kurri leads a breakaway which results in a rebound gathered by Barber, to Lysiak and back to Kurri who catches Astrom out of position for the score. 1-0 Moose. Stewart adds another penalty (2) to the list, but the Moose kill it off and the plague seems to end after 13 minutes of non stop power plays. Moose kill 4 of 4, and the Underground kill 1 of 2. Play continues with empty penalty boxes for a while, and the 4th line of the Moose surprise everybody when Ferguson fires one, deflected by Lever into the net to make it 2-0 with just under 3 minutes to go. Selling finishes off the period in the box, and his teammates hold the line to limit the damage to 2 for the period. 2-0 Moose.

3rd period sees a return to game 1 form, as Propp and Rautakallio scuffle early, earning each 2 minutes to bring their game totals up to 6 minutes each. The Chicago offense finds its legs and gets 14 shots on goal, to almost match their total of 15 for the first 2 periods. By this time however, Palmateer has his confidence and he stands tall in net, denying all attempts for the period. On the home team side, they send a total of 14 shots at Astrom, and he is not as lucky, letting shots in from Kurri and Propp. The final score is 4-0 Moose.

The Moose kill all 6, while Chicago kills 6 of 7.

1st star – Palmateer 29 save shutout
2nd – Kurri 2G
3rd – Lever 1G

  The Moose hold serve at home, winning both games. The big surprise being the stellar play of Palmateer in goal in game 2 with the shutout, while Meloche had a dicey performance in game 1, allowing 4 goals in 20 minutes before his mates scored 2 late goals to recover the lead. Kurri showing his worth as the team’s number one pick in the draft, scoring 4 goals in 2 games.
GAME #3 Game 3 moves the series to Chicago and the Underground hope to inflict some damage on the Moose, who lead the series 2-0.

The Moose are dominant again with a 54-26 SOG advantage. Meloche in goal denies all attempts by the Underground and keeps them out of the goal all night long. Kurri, Napier and Stewart get the goals for the visitors, 2 on power plays. The Moose PK is perfect killing off 4.

Final 3-0 Mackinac Island

1st star – Meloche 26 save shutout
2nd – Kurri 1G
3rd – Napier 1G

With another strong defensive performance, the Moose shut out the Underground and take a commanding 3-0 series lead.

GAME #4 Game 4 of the series between Chicago and Mackinac Island is in Chicago. The Moose hold a 3-0 series lead and look to close it out on the road. Chicago sends out Mike Veisor for his first game of the playoffs in an effort to shake things up. Mackinac Island sends out Mike Palmateer who pitched a shutout in game 2 hoping for a repeat performance.
  All hopes for a Palmateer shutout get blown away early when the Underground see Lorimar knock the puck away from Stewart, to Pichette, Foster, and finally Labraaten sends it up high over the glove and the Underground break the dry spell that has been going since late in game 1. New confidence on the Chicago bench with a 1-0 lead early. The penalty bug comes back to bite Chicago soon after, when a Dailey roughing penalty leads to an Engblom one-timer which ties it up at 1 with a little over 13 minutes left to play in the first. Before the clock burns past 13, another penalty, this time by Gillies (hooking) leads to a O’Connell to Kurri into the net for his 6th goal of the series and a 2-1 lead for the Moose. A couple of minutes later, Park and Foster have a little skirmish which leads to a 4 on 4, when evolves into a 4 on 3 when Lorimer gets called for cross checking. Ice looks really empty with the 4 on 3, but no damage while that is going on, but right after Park and Foster return to the ice, Dunlop makes a run at the crease and uses some nifty moves to get an open shot past Veisor to push the lead to 2 with just over 8 minutes remaining in the 1st. The 3rd consecutive power play goal for the Moose. The period plods forward until O’Connell is whistled for holding with just under 3 minutes to go. The Underground manage 2 shots that Palmateer easily handles and the period ends 3-1 Mackinac Island.

2nd period sees Chicago stay away from the penalty box, while the Moose spend one session on the PK which they are successful avoiding a goal by Chicago. About the middle of the period, a neutral zone face off develops into a spicy zone entry by the Moose, as Kurri to Lysiak to Barber finds an open corner of the net as Barber gets his first goal of the series. Score now 4-1 Moose. Penalties by Barber and Boutette open the door for Chicago, but the Underground continue to struggle with the advantage and the game continues on 4-1 Moose. Just as the fans are getting ready to head to the concession stands to load up for the 3rd period, Chicago suffers a defensive zone turnover, and the Moose find Dunlop close to the net, and he sends another one in, making the score 5-1 Moose. No more damage the final minute of play and the 2nd period ends 5-1 Moose.

O’Connell gets called for cross checking just one minute into the 3rd, and this time the Underground make the Moose pay, as Seiling and Goring play some back and forth ending with a slapper by Goring past Palmateer to make it 5-2 with 17 minutes to go. Chicago continues to control play. What had been a 10 SOG advantage by the Moose slowly dwindles down as the puck spends most of the time in the Moose zone. Palmateer continues to stand tall, but finally with just under 7 minutes left, Bossy digs the puck out from the boards and zips it to McNab who fires a rocket past a weary Palmateer to wake everybody up, closing the lead to 2, with plenty of time left. Play continues with Chicago dominating play, and shortly after a zone entry, the Underground send a barrage of shots with Gillies finding a rebound and an open section of net to cut the lead to 1 with 119 seconds left in the game. The Moose control the next 2 faceoffs and keep the puck in the Chicago zone until just under 1 minute left before the Underground get control, pull the goalie, and make send the troops to the Moose zone. After a Dailey slap shot, Bossy gets manhandled on the boards, with the Moose escaping with the puck, and the ensuing rush finds Smith with an open shot at the empty net for the backbreaker, making it 6-4 Moose. The subsequent face off finds Stewart wide open for the Moose, and he adds a meaningless goal to make the final 7-4. Much closer game than the score indicates.

1st star – Dunlop 2G
2nd – Kurri 1G2A
3rd – Lysiak 4A

With a 7-4 win, the Moose take the series 4-0.

Lysiak with 9 points, all assists, and Kurri with 8 pointsm(6 goals) led the Moose.

Congratulations to Stray Corrado and the Chicago Underground, just like the Moose, making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.