One year ago, the visiting Massachusetts Pirates delivered a season-ending roundhouse kick to the 2024 Green Bay Blizzard campaign, bouncing the Blizz in the Eastern Conference Championship game. Friday night at the Resch Center, the Blizzard returned the favor, sort of. Though the context differs, the end result is the same: one team is moving on, while the other begins looking ahead to next year.
Green Bay exploded for 35 second-half points en route to a 56-27 drubbing of Massachusetts, securing a post-season berth and slamming shut the door on Massachusetts’ hopes of seeing the second season. It was a battle of two IFL leading teams, the Blizzard boasting the best points-per-game average in the League (51.7), while the Pirates entered play allowing the fewest yards per game (196.2). Something had to give. In the end, the former prevailed. Though as impressive as the offense proved to be, Green Bay’s defense was the story, holding Massachusetts to just 5 of 11 on third down and a mere 10 second-half tallies.
With a post-season appointment booked, Green Bay got to sit back and watch the rest of the playoff picture fill in. By the end of the weekend, the Blizzard had not only locked up a spot, but had secured no worse than the #2 seed. There is still a chance that the Blizz (10-5) could emerge as the top dog in the Eastern Conference with a victory at Jacksonville (9-6) and a Quad Cities (11-4) loss to Tulsa (9-6) on Saturday.
The Blizzard and Sharks kick off at 6:05 pm Saturday.
