Bloomingdale Ousted from the Playoffs

For Coach MikeFalbo and his Bloomingdale hockey club, it was surely a must-win situation to stay alive.

The fans did not anticipate this would be the final game of such a fantastic season. Each coach would sing to the tune of "win and we're in," and each player wore it proudly on their sleeves.

Bloomingdale (11-7-0, 22 points, fifth place, Central Division) would not be able to pull out a rally to extend its  season over Plant (14-3-1, 29 points, second place, Central Division) in a 5-1 loss on Friday night.

Needing help from Manatee, in the form of a loss; the Ice Bulls also needed a win to secure the last and final spot among the top four teams in the Central Division. Manatee would go on to win against 8-7 in a shootout against River Ridge to secure the third-place seed in the Central Division.

Plant came out strong in the first period with two late goals to take an early 2-0 lead against Bloomingdale.

Plant would add another goal early in the second period at 12:43 to take a commanding 3-0 lead. But, just when it looked as though the Plant defense would shut down every scoring opportunity; Bloomingdale's Brian Buckner scored a beautiful, unassisted goal with 5:21 left closing the gap to 3-1.

Bloomingdale's defense would hold strong for much of the third period giving them scoring chances to mount a comeback in the game and keep their postseason hopes alive.

Just as the Ice Bulls defense tightened up, Plant would add two late goals, sealing the fate and the season of the Bloomingdale hockey club.

"The boys played well. We had number of factors that went against at the end of the season. We will, however, regroup and rebound. We will have a spring team and build on that," said Falbo.

The Florida High School Hockey Association playoffs will continue this Friday, Feb. 18,  in both Brandon and Oldsmar.