You spend three months preparing as a team for the season. Anxious to get games underway, and in less then half a heartbeat, the regular season is over! Bring in the playoffs. There is probably nothing as exciting, or nerve challenging with the exception of tryouts then each playoff game you enter, and the Harrisburg Lunatic organization is well represented.

After the home and away series against the Richmond Robins, the Lunatics Pro and Ragin Lunatic Minor team have both clinched the playoffs. They also have both secured a first place finish in regular season in their respective divisions! The Screamin Lunatics Minor team was also a playoff contender up until April 12. Nearly to the last week of the regular season and they earned a good deal of respect in the league this season. This all speaks volumes for the Harrisburg Lunatics entire organization. What does regular season first place mean aside from making playoffs? To the Lunatics it means all the games throughout divisional playoffs will be held at home, in the Susquehanna Sports Center! Arguably one of the most unforgiving, unrelenting, and most loyal of hockey crowds in PIHA. Loud, screaming, cowbell wielding Lunatic fans always do their best to rile the opponents and let them know who's house they are in! I expect that will be the case again on Saturday May 3 when the Lunatics host Mason/Dixon division fourth place team Potomac Mavericks at 7:30pm in a best of three games series held that evening! The Ragin Lunatics will be playing a fourth place team to be determined as of this writing (currently it is the Chantilly Mavericks Minors) at 6pm that same evening. That is six games of hockey for four teams looking to get to the next round and the Division Championship held the weekend of May 10 and 11. The Mavericks pro team has played the Lunatics 4 games this season, 2 at home in which the Lunatics won both, and two away that the Mavericks stole one. Lunatics are 3-1 against them.

But lets take a look at what the Lunatic Pro team has accomplished this regular season.
In 32 regular season games for 2008 (please keep in mind that not all teams in the league have yet finished their 32 games as of this writing) the Lunatics record was a most impressive 27 wins 5 losses and no ties or OT losses. In those games the Lunatics accounted for 195 goals, the most goals scored by any team (there are 42 teams) in PIHA. That will probably stand. In comparison, the Phoenix Dragons are closest with 179. On the other side of that coin, the Tics goaltending and defense has been outstanding as they only allowed 79 goals scored against. That is 3rd in the league overall. The teams win percentage was .834 and 5th overall in PIHA. Lunatic Goalie Jason Rohrbach leads the league in wins with 19 wins, and playing 22 games. That is more games than any pro keeper played in PIHA 2008. His goals against was 1.95 GA per game. 5th in PIHA overall, but still, he has played more games. Very good considering this is the high scoring sport of roller hockey. 

Now here are a few stats that the PIHA website doesn't put in order for your viewing pleasure. The Lunatics were the least penalized team in the Mason Dixon division with only 150 total minutes in penalties. 5th in PIHA in that category. As a result of staying out of the penalty box, the penalty killing unit for the Tics saw 65 powerplays this season, and they allowed only 15 goals against during them. That is a 77% kill ratio. Wow! During the penalty killing the Tics managed to score shorthanded 11 times, second in PIHA in that regard. 

Putting the Lunatics on the powerplay this season has been a deadly mistake for the opponents as well. Again the Lunatics received 65 powerplay opportunities and cashed in on 41 of them! Scoring on 63% of those chances! Over 70% of those powerplay goals have been scored within the first 45 seconds, many less than 30 seconds. 41 powerplay goals is also a league leading total for the season. 

But what is most impressive about the Lunatics this year, and is often never reflected, is not the total numbers necessarily but how the team worked together as they achieved them. As a team! The scoring is definitely high, that is obvious, but it wasn't 2 or 3 players that were doing the work. Follow along if you can. 

10 players on the regular pro squad, and two goalies. All ten players saw double digit points. 9 of the 10 saw double digit goals. And double digit assists. 9 players had over 20 pts. 4 of those nine had more assists than goals. 6 players scored over 30 pts, 5 over 40 pts, and 4 players reached the 50 plus points mark. All four of which had a near even split of goals and assists. 

But the Lunatics this season took the opportunity to use their minor league players in games occasionally and they too chipped in and did their part. Having two minor teams in this organization, 8 total players were "called up" to play in at least 2 games. 4 from the Ragin Lunatics, 4 from the Screamin Lunatics. Of those 8 "call ups" seven of them scored at least a point. For a total of 9pts. 4 goals, 5 assists. Also a near even split! It shows that the organizations system is effective in team play. 

The Ragin Lunatics have had a whirlwind of a season this year and nearly emulates the Pro squad. 23 wins, 6 losses, and 3 OT losses, is the best season in minors history for the Harrisburg organization. They have been consistent and steady throughout the season and a burr in most teams sides. Their goaltending is above and beyond the rest of the league this year in minors. Brad Keller has a league leading 1.20 GAA (goals against average) and also a league leading .929 save percentage! Brian Sheffield also is among the leagues top goalies with his stats as well. The tandem is daunting. As they had 9 team shutouts and 10 games that they only allowed opponents 1 goal scored. Zack Rohrbach lead this team in points again this season with 36, and rookie Randy Shutt had 29 making him a most valuable addition to the organization. But it doesn't end there. The team has 12 skaters, and 11 of them are in double digit points, and like the pros that I mentioned above, the split between goals and assists was very close. 

The Screamin Lunatics minor team also was greatly improved from seasons past. A new look in personnel and some veteran players to show leadership, took this team a long way! They were playoff contenders throughout the season up until the last week or two.
10 wins, 20 losses, and 2 OT losses was 520% better than the previous season. The won against all of the divisions top teams including a game against their organizational brother Ragin Tics. Andy McKechnie lead the team with 29 pts, and rookie Billy Robinson with 24 pts along with long time Tic vet Adam Roush with his 23 pts, helped to give Screamin Tic opponents fits. Each year this team gets stronger and more impressive.

The entire organization has made this GM very proud and appreciative to their hard work, dedication and team play. I hope that all Lunatic fans will come to the playoff games at home on May 3 at 6pm to catch all the action. The place will be loud and the playoff spirit will consume the building as it has all year. A packed house and a party atmosphere will go a long way in helping the Lunatics teams to push forward in playoffs!
The fans have been the finest I have witnessed in any venue this season. Lunatic fans have often outnumbered the opponent's fans in away rinks! No other organization has this kind of support and the Lunatic fans have become a member of our team…

Thank you all. See you at the playoffs!