Rishabha 14, 2078, m249

The Moles and the Wildcards made history on Mars tonight playing the first match of the Martian Hockey finals!

It’s been hours since Vicky Li of the Moles smashed the puck into the right-corner of the net to win the game 1-0 for the Moles. But Europa is still abuzz with triumphant Moles’ fans and dejected supporters of the Wildcards.

The rink was packed to the roof tonight as the Moles and Wildcards faced off for the first game of the playoffs, where the champion will be decided by a best-of-3 series. Europa officials have coordinated with ISMO organizers to host up to three games as a finale to cap off the 12 weeks of exhibition games.

“ISMO is definitely milking this for all it’s worth, but who wouldn’t? I’m just glad I got a ticket to the second game!” said one excited fan.

Game 1 of the finale was a tense, drawn-out affair as the three regulation periods flew by without a single goal scored.

Samuel Marquez of the Wildcards made several breakaways down the ice, but each attempt was thwarted by Moles’ goalie Sam Bailey. Both goalies, Bailey and Arquette were on fire tonight as they shuffled, dived, and snatched pucks out of the air to defend their nets.

Moles forward, Bryan Taylor was sent to the box twice in second period for cross-checking. Vicky Li and Laura Hall really dominated as they took complete control of their zone to kill the two consecutive penalties. The dynamic duo played a tight defense—shutting down attempts by Harris and Lindberg to rush their offense during their powerplays.

“The Moles really wore us down physically. No one was injured, but when you’re taking multiple hits every period, it starts to show,” said Lindberg of the Wildcards.

Even so, the Wildcards gave a good as they got, with Lehmann and Lindberg hitting back hard during the longest overtime of ISMO’s history.

Unfortunately, the Wildcards were not able to kill their penalties as effectively as the Moles. With almost 4 minutes of powerplay in overtime, the Moles were able to wear down the Wildcard’s defense.

The one-man-advantage allowed Vicky Li to breakaway from the defense and slip the puck right between Halvorsen’s legs before flipping the puck past Arquette’s shoulder into the net for the deciding goal.

With game 1 of the finale wrapped-up, the results will be determined tomorrow. Should the Moles be able to snag another victory, the title of ‘champion’ will be theirs for the taking.