The Texas Tornadoes began their playoff run in Chesterfield Missouri this past weekend against the defending champions St. Louis Bandits.  Friday night the game was tied 2-2 shortly before the second intermission when JD Howard slapped one in to make the score 3-2.  This was his second of the game.  The Tornadoes went on to win that game and take A 1-0 lead in the series.  On Saturday night, JD Howard wasn't done scoring jut yet.  He scored his third goal of playoffs with 8:16 into the second period.  Shane Sooth also scored for the Tornadoes in the 3-1 victory.  Dan Sullivan, who recently was named the top goalie of the NAHL according to Goalies World Magazine, stopped 76 of 79 shots from going into the net over the weekend.  This is a huge boost for the Tornadoes, considering they have lost 5 straight to the Bandits prior to the playoffs beginning.  They will return home this Wednesday and Thursday to play games 3 and 4 and hopefully be

moving on to the second round. 

With the playoffs upon the horizon, the Tornadoes will be entering on a losing streak.  They dropped three in a row last week, and now have lost two more this past weekend to St. Louis.  With goalie Dan Sullivan on the bench the St Louis Bandits scored 7 un-answered goals on 36 shots.   It didnt get any better on Saturday as they dropped yet another one to St Louis 5-2. They have now lost 5 in a row to St. Louis.   The Tornadoes will open the 2010 playoffs against the Bandist on Friday April 2st and Saturday April 3nd in St Louis.  They will return home on Wednesday April 7th and Thursday April 8th for games 3 and 4.  Hopefully they can start off with a bang, and get the momemtum back in their favor.   

Even though the Tornadoes have clinched a playoff spot, they need to play every game like its their last.  On Friday night, the Tornadoes came into a weekend where they have been dominating on crashing the net, and playing strong defense.  They were out shot 33-15 and could not score on 4 power play opportunities.  They lost that match up 5-0, and four of those goals were scored in the third period by St Louis.  On Saturday night they did show a little more effort and crashed the net more effectively.  Tyler Underhill started off the scoring for Texas in the First period, but the second period was all St. Louis as they scored the next three, and went on to win 5-2.  On Sunday, things did not appear to get any better as they lost their third straight game 4-2.   Jack Prince and Tyler Underhill scored for the Tornadoes in the loss.   The problem seems to be the missed power play opportunities.  In the losses, they were 1-17 in the power play so that is the one thing that should be addressed.   On Saturday night, they had eight chances on the power play and came up empty.  Goalie Dan Sullivan is doing everything in his power to stop those pucks, but he sees alot of them, and one is bound to go in.  He stopped 71 in the combined three games.  Hopefully they can go into the playoffs with some momentum.   They will be closing out the season with  a rematch with St. Louis this weekend, who only trails Topeka by two points in the South division.  This will be a good chance for them to enter the playoffs with some momentum and on a winning streak.

The past weekend the tornadoes continue to edge their way to the post season with strong goals and crashing the net.  On Friday night the Tornadoes captain Scott Deur started it off with a power play on a pass from Ralf Freibergs and JD Howard.  Axel Boyer of the Tornadoes also scored early in the first period to make it a 2-0 game, but later on in the second period Springfield scored to make it 2-1.  The Tornadoes scored the next two goals from Nick Taurence to put the game away 4-1.  Dan Sullivan stopped 35-36 goals in another impressive performance.  On Saturday night, The Springfield Blues started the night scoring one in the first and another in the second.  In the third period, after the Tornadoes pulled goalie Dan Sullivan in hopes of a comeback.  They could only manage one goal on Ralfs Freibergs goal with ten minutes to go in the game.  That was Freibergs first goal as a Tornado, but it wasn't enough as they they lost 3-1 and snapped their 4 game winning streak.  Dan Sullivan stopped 29 of 32 in Saturdays loss.  On Sunday the game went into its 3rd shootout in the past six games.  Joe Adams scored the first goal for the Tornadoes, but Jack Prince scored the final goal in a sudden death overtime to make it a 2-1 win and their fifth win in six games.  All against the Springfield Blues.  The Tornadoes now have 55 points and a 25-23 record.  The Tornadoes have already clinched a playoff spot, and will now take on the second place St. Bandits for a three game series this weekend.  Its good they are balancing the work load and players are coming of no where and scoring goals.