Second-Division French League Playoff Hockey: It's Fan-tastic!

ONLY A FEW of you will get the reference in the title of this post, but it came to mind because Patrick and I just returned from the second-leg of the quarter finals of the Ligue 2 French ice hockey playoffs. The game was right here in Nice (yes, there is a hockey team in Nice) and they won 7-1 to claim a 9-4 aggregate win which means they will play in the semi-finals beginning next week. Like many sports in Europe, playoffs are determined in a two-game aggregate score format where each team gets one game at home. Nice lost the away-leg 3-2 so had to win tonight-s game by at least 2 in order to advance. Midway through the 2nd period they were trailing 1-0 before score four straight goals in less than 5 minutes. As usual, Nice was led by their very talented Swedes (that's for you, mom). Nice signed 5 Swedes last year and they are really good. But I suppose I should mention that a French native (and the team capitain) scored 4 goals tonight!

I've been to 5 or 6 games this season and I'm still trying to decide how good this league is compared with talent in the US and Canada. I think I've decided that this league would be able to compete at the NCAA Division I level, but not with the big boys from New England, Michigan, and the Dakotas.

[Note: going to these games makes me really miss playing. My team -- I can't bring myself to say 'former team' yet -- from back in DC is doing quite well this season. Here are the latest standings for the Wheaton Caps.]
CJS