In their final series of the regular season the Hitmen traveled to Brewster, NY this past weekend with playoff implications looming. The Hitmen needed just a single win to secure the #2 overall seed in the Western Conference Playoffs, and they certainly made things interesting.

Despite outshooting their counterparts 41-36 on Sunday the Hitmen dropped a 3-1 decisions, thanks in large part to the outstanding efforts of Brewster goaltender Jordan Gluck. Brewster would strike first on the power play when Chris Doyle banged a rebound over the shoulder of Matt Braun at 13:39 of the first. Ryan Cotcamp extended the Brewster lead to 2-0 with 25 seconds left to play in the first and that would be enough to get the home team a victory.

Tim Clifton brought the Hitmen within one just over a minute and a half into the second when he riffled a wrist shot over the glove of Gluck. However, Nick Belger would kill the Hitmen momentum when he beat goaltender Matt Braun to the blocker side nearly halfway through the third to put the game on ice.

Through the first period of Monday nights contest things looked headed in a back direction for the Hitmen as sloppy play and a little bit of nerves put them on their heels. Alessandro Lopez opened the scoring for Brewster 3:41 into the game on a goal similar the one Belger scored just one night earlier. Despite being badly outplayed in the period Matt Braun kept his team in the game turning away 15 shots in the period.

Once the second period began it seemed the Hitmen were a different team. Playing once again with poise and confidence they slowly began to take control of the game. Tim Clifton would be the first to find the back of the net as he unleashed a laser over Gluck’s glove for the second straight day to tie the game up at one. Just over a minute later, with the Hitmen on the power play, Kenny Pilanski would net the game winner. After Connor Leen won a faceoff clean onto Pilanski’s tape he fired a puck at the net, but the shot was blocked by a Brewster defender. However, the puck would land immediately back on the stick of Pilanski who fired again beating Gluck to the short side.

With less than five minutes to play in the game and Brewster applying heaving pressure Mike Crampton would put the game away for the boys from Jersey. After accepting a touch pass from Colin MacDonald, Crampton went in a breakaway and beat Gluck with a move to his backhand before flipping it over the blocker of the Brewster goalie. Matt Braun made 38 saves to help the Hitmen enter the playoffs on a winning note.

Notes: The Hitmen will enter the Western Conference Playoffs this weekend as the #2 seed and will face #7 seed Pittsburgh in their first game (Friday 4:15pm). Tim Clifton (3^rd) and Connor Leen (12^th) both finished the year among the top 15 scorers in the league. Clifton finished the year with the league lead in assists while Leen was third in the same category. Starting goaltender Matt Braun would also finish an impressive regular season in which he finished 7^th overall in GAA, 4^th in save percentage, 4^th in minutes played, and tied for third in wins.