Favorites Mostly Behaved. Pogo Sisters Did Not.

The playoff board did what playoff boards like to do: it pretended to be orderly, then slipped one result under the door just to keep everyone honest.

Clutch survived the entry test against Red Spring, then immediately got fed to Flamingo. Semi Pro handled ICE. Eskimo got through Skitters in the kind of game that probably made both benches age a little. And Pogo Sisters, because apparently someone had to disturb the furniture, knocked off Cluster Pucks by one.

So yes, most of the higher seeds moved on. But the night still had teeth. Not dramatic movie teeth. Floorball teeth. The kind where one bad shift, one missed mark, or one late ball through traffic quietly ends your season while everyone pretends they saw it coming.

#8 Clutch 6, #9 Red Spring 4

Clutch opened the night by doing the job they had to do: beat Red Spring and earn the right to keep playing. A 6-4 win is not exactly a calm little stroll through the bracket, but it was enough.

Red Spring made them work, which matters. This was not a team rolling over just because the seed line said they should. They put up four, kept the game competitive, and made Clutch actually close the thing instead of just inheriting the next round.

For Clutch, the win was useful and probably exhausting. They got six goals, got through the play-in, and bought themselves a matchup with the top seed. That is the playoff equivalent of surviving a long Monday and being rewarded with another Monday wearing nicer shoes.

#1 Flamingo 9, #8 Clutch 1

Then Flamingo happened.

The top seed handled Clutch 9-1, and there is not much need to dress that up as some mysterious tactical puzzle. Flamingo came in as #1 and played like it. Clutch had already spent energy getting through Red Spring, but even with that context, a 9-1 scoreline says what it says.

Flamingo did not just advance. They removed the suspense early and kept removing it until there was nothing left but the final buzzer and some polite blinking.

For Clutch, the night was still not empty. They won their way into the main bracket and got farther than Red Spring. But against Flamingo, the gap was visible. Very visible. The scoreboard had a whole little presentation prepared.

#2 Semi Pro 6, #7 ICE 2

Semi Pro took care of ICE, 6-2, in one of those games where the favorite does not need to be spectacular because being steady is already enough.

ICE found two goals, so this was not a shutout or a complete disappearance. But Semi Pro kept the margin wide and the game under control. That is usually the difference between a scare and a result: the underdog can land a few punches, but the favorite decides whether those punches actually change the room.

Here, they did not. Semi Pro advanced cleanly, stayed on schedule, and kept themselves lined up for the deeper part of the bracket.

#3 Eskimo 7, #6 Skitters 5

Eskimo beat Skitters 7-5, which is both a win and a small warning label.

A two-goal playoff game with 12 total goals is not exactly a defensive brochure. Skitters made Eskimo work, and that matters. The #6 seed did not get pushed quietly out the door. They hung around, scored five, and forced Eskimo to keep answering.

But Eskimo did answer. That is the part that survives the night. It may not have been the cleanest path through, but clean paths are for teams with better hobbies. Eskimo got the result, moved on, and now gets a much heavier test.

#5 Pogo Sisters 4, #4 Cluster Pucks 3

And here was the bracket’s one proper little problem.

Pogo Sisters beat Cluster Pucks 4-3, taking down the #4 seed by a single goal. That is not a blowout. That is not a collapse. That is worse, honestly. One-goal playoff losses are where every missed chance gets to sit in your passenger seat on the drive home.

Cluster Pucks were the higher seed, but Pogo Sisters found the extra goal and made it stand. That is playoff floorball in its least sentimental form: close enough to hurt, simple enough to explain, impossible to undo.

For Pogo Sisters, this is the result that changes their season’s temperature. They are not just present anymore. They are through, and they took someone’s spot to get there.

Next Round Matchups

The next playoff round now lines up like this:

#1 Flamingo vs. #5 Pogo Sisters

#2 Semi Pro vs. #3 Eskimo

Flamingo gets the upset team, which is either a nice reward for being the top seed or a deeply annoying trap, depending on how much you believe in momentum. Semi Pro and Eskimo get the cleaner seed-line showdown, with both teams coming off wins that looked very different but counted the same.

The bracket mostly held. Pogo Sisters made sure it did not get smug about it.