The Suffolk Sharks elite and minor teams kicked off their first postseason as an organization in style. The major team clinched home rink in the first round with a 2nd place finish in the New England division and would face the Boston Swamp Rats for the first round of the playoffs. The minor team came a tie breaker short of finishing 2nd as well and staying home with the elites. They did end up having to travel up to Holbrook, Massachusetts though for a tough series against the Beantown Bees.

The minors best of three series would take all three games to declare a winner, as a rivalry grew from their trip to Massachusetts. In the first game the Sharks came out ready to play, ready to prove their worth against the Bees. Scoring two goals within the first three and a half minutes in the game. Trey Hartwell kicked off the scoring with an assist from Mikey Mannino and Tommy Harwood added the second goal just over a minute later as he tipped a shot by Phil Russo from the point. The Bees would score a minute and a half later in an effort to gain some momentum back and the Sharks would take a one goal lead into the intermission. Beantown had the next two and went up 3-2. Chris Vassallo would bury a shot after a pass from Adam Koziol with three and a half minutes left to tie the game and send it to overtime. The Bees would score with about four minutes left to go in the first overtime period to win the game and take a 1-0 lead over the Sharks in the series.

The second game of the series would be a close one as well. The Sharks were now using desperation to their advantage and started to match the physical game the Bees played the first game with. Although the Bees got out to a quick lead with a goal within the first minute, Charlie Nack would tie the game and the first period would end 1-1. Chris Vassallo and Charlie Nack would add two goals 45 seconds apart in the second and it was looking good for the Sharks as they took a 3-1 lead. The Bees then scored two quick goals toe tie it at three and it looked as though another game would be going to overtime. Chris Vassallo would step into the clutch and score a goal with just 35 seconds left in the game with assists from Phil Russo and Adam Koziol to tie the series at one game apiece.

The third period started with some gritty play. The Sharks and Bees went back and forth for a better part of the period. Brian Wish would break the ice with scoring a goal on a pass from Johnny Hartwell. The Sharks would continue the offensive play as Tommy Harwood fought off a defender and passed the puck to Mikey Mannino in front and he would bury the puck upstairs to give the Sharks a 2-0 lead. Harwood and Mannino would break back into the offensive zone with a pass from Phil Russo. From behind the net Mikey Mannino made the goalie and defenders think he was passing in front and would put the puck off the goalie in the net, scoring 2 goals in just 11 seconds. Beantown would score one in an attempt to mount a comeback, but a bad penalty would put the sharks on the power play. Mikey Mannino, Brian Wish, Trey Hartwell and Johnny Hartwell would work the puck on the power play and Jonny Hartwell would fake a pass and put a no-look backhanded shot just past the goalie’s elbow for a 4-1 lead. The Bees would score another goal with eight seconds left in the period to make it 4-2 after the first period. The Bees came out for blood in the second though, throwing their bodies around playing their physical game. Charlie Nack and Mikey Mannino would score two goals a minute apart to put the Sharks up 6-2. The Bees would get one more before the game began to wind down and make it 6-3. They pulled their goalie early to try and give them a chance at the three goals they needed for a chance in overtime. They would get their three goals, but anchored on some great goaltending from Greg Braska, who made about 6 point blank saves in the last two minutes, and two empty net goals: one from Brian Wish, and one from Phil Russo the Sharks would leave Massachusetts victorious and ready to take on the best minor team in the nation in the Holbrook Swamp Donkeys.

The elite team’s series would be a little different. It would only take two games to decide a winner in this series. The two teams would get right out of the gate with goals from Rob LoPinto and Mike Hunt for a 1-1 tie within the first two minutes. From then on it was all the Sharks for the rest of the game. Darren Guerriere, Tommy Cartwright, Johnny Lechmanski, and Mike Prainito would all add goals to give the Sharks a decisive 5-1 lead after the first period. Rob LoPinto would score the first goal again in the seond period, and other than two minor bumps in the road it would be smooth sailing for the Sharks for the rest of the game. Johnny Lechmanski, Rob LoPinto and Darren Guerriere would all score again to give the Sharks a 9-3 lead. Johnny Lechmanski would finish with 2 goals and 3 assists in the game, Rob LoPinto would close it out with 3 goals and 1 assists, and Tommy Cartwright would finish with 1 goal and 4 assists to give the Sharks a quick one series nothing lead over the Swamp Rats.

The second game of this series would be a much closer contest. Michael Hunt scored just over a minute into the game and the Swamp Rats would jump out to an early 1-0 lead. The Sharks would score the next three goals of the contest on goals from Thomas Cartwright, Johnny Lechmanski and Rob Mannino. Eric Rieger would assist on two of these goals as Johnny Lechmanski’s came unassisted on the penalty kill. Boston would put one more past goaltender Sal Capito, but would only get the two by him despite having 18 shots in the period. The Sharks lead 3-2 after one, and looked to be controlling the game and their destiny into the second round. Boston proved to be a little more resilient though, and scored two goals in the first four minutes of the second period taking a 4-3 lead. The Sharks would get two Power Play goals from Darren Guerriere and Rob Mannino, but in between Brian Ingram would slip one in to even the game back up at 5. Johnny Lechmanski would break the tie with about four and a half minutes to go and things were looking good for the Sharks again. Brian Ingram would get his fourth point of the contest though with a goal to tie the game 6-6. It looked like there was going to be an overtime period necessary to determine the winner of game 2, but Rob LoPinto scored with 15 seconds to go to bring the Sharks to victory. Eric Reiger would come away from the contest with 3 assists while Rob Mannino would finish with 2 goals and 1 assist. Johnny Lechmanski would also add 3 points with 2 goals and an assists to help lead the Sharks to the second round against the Long Island 495ers.

The Sharks minor team will travel back up to Holbrook, Massachusetts to face the Holbrook Swamp Donkeys for what will hopefully be their second playoff upset. Games will start in Massachusetts at 3 PM. The elite team will only have to go to Bethpage to take on the 495ers in what should prove to be a great battle of the hometown rivals. Games will start at 3 PM for this series as well.