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The Royal City Redshift were eliminated from the II.4 playoffs after a 2-1 series loss to Brutal Deluxe. While heavily the favourites to claim the season and playoff crown, in the end, there wasn't enough gas in the tank for the Reds.

"Brutal Deluxe played very well. We made a glaring mistake in the first game as a management team. We bounced back in game 2 then narrowly lost after blowing a lead at home in game 3, which is never a good thing" said canucks357. "Our boys were quite tired. We knew if we were to have any shot in the next round we would have had to win this round consuming as little of energy as possible. The risk with that is you may miss your shot entirely. But that's the name of the game. We put all our eggs into the National Cup and it has paid off. Add a regular season league title to that and I'm quite happy, even with a 3rd or 4th place finish in the league this season after playoffs."

Fans were not entirely upset about the loss. They know they'll be treated to some international hockey next season and will also be taking in competitive league games. The Reds could be hosting as many as 4 competitive games in a week given the National Cup. Thanks to the recent expansion of Veterans Memorial Arena, this means 14,000 fans will be able to view any game of their choice.

"We're happy with the year we've had. There's been lots of wins. Lots of heartache, but lots of excitement. And it all continues today!" said one young fan before entering the rink for the start of the 3rd place playoff against Incredible Foes.

"It was a tough loss to swallow, but we need to look at the big picture. It's been a fantastic year" said Teodor Vaverka who is filling in as Captain while Braden Debeau and others are away at a team-building training camp.

Vaverka is one of a couple stars who will be in management's spotlight in the coming days. Both Vaverka and susperstar goalie Tim Newton will be restricted free-agents (RFAs) in the coming months and could be seeing a substantial wage increase.

"RFAs are a tricky matter. In some instances, as was the case with Richards, we retained him for a small fee which was easily compensated by his small salary. On the other hand, we may have to fork out a lot of coin to keep some star players and then see their salary climb as well. The good thing is we can lock them in for three seasons. That's never a bad investment for a franchise" said canucks357.

That's all for now. This reporter is signing off to take in game 1 of Redshift vs. Foes. It's always a doozie between these two clubs, be it III.7, II.2, I.1 or now II.4.

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