The Dubai Mighty Camels Ice Hockey League playoff finished last week with Emirates CAE Flight Training (ECFT) hoisting the Dubai Mighty Camel Cup for the first time ever. The ECFT Canadians held the best record in the regular season 18-5-1 giving them a bye to the semi finals. In their opening round they played the red hot Al Mal Falcons ranked 6 th in the playoffs beat 3 rd ranked Snickers in the quarter final series. In a see-saw battle, the first game ended in a 5-5 tie. Offence was the name of the game on both sides. A late period goal by Phil Ridley (ECFT old timer) tied the game with only seconds left. The goal was assisted by Phil's 37 year old son who added the much needed youth on the ECFT team. Team Captain Ron Murphy added a pair. Long time ECFT defenseman, Dave Barette was quoted after the game “Al Mal just kept coming at us. It was a sea of blue. By the end, I couldn't see any red shirts just blue ones to pass to. They played like the 1967 Leafs.”

Game 2 was a different story. It was time for the ECFT defense to take over. The quartet of Dave Barette (Assistant Captain), Steve McSweeney, Brent Day and Kelly Jones got their act together in the play-offs. Over 147 years of hockey experience was on the ECFT blue line. Old time hockey was the order of the day. Stand up at the blue line, get the puck out of our end and hold the other team's blue line. The result was a 1-0 win for ECFT. Rob Gray stood guard between the pipes stopping all 25 shots and earning the shut out. The lone goal was scored by Pat Cain on a cross ice pass from Murphy and it was all that was needed.

The finals brought on the old rivals of Shred-it, who beat a pesky Bekaert Team and Defending Champions from 2007. Having lost to Shred-it twice during the regular season, ECFT knew they had their work cut out for them. The opening game was a much better played game than the score indicated. Both teams went up and down the ice in the first period. With 5 minutes left to play in the first period the ECFT offence caught fire. Leading the charge was rookie Pascal “Ti-Guy” Larouche. Better known as the flying Frenchman from Thailand , Ti-Guy netted the hat trick to lead all scorers in the game. Singles were added by 6 other players to complete the 9-0 rout. The second shut out in a row was earned by Goalie Gray. GG was quoted after the game saying, “It was the easiest game I ever played in. The ECFT defense was incredible. It would not have mattered if Wayne Gretzky was on the ice, nothing got through.” Murphy praised the play of his team afterwards. The wingers played great. The grinders were all over them in their end. Cornerman Johnny Chao could not be beat. Tough guy and ECFT policeman, Brian Bischoff battled all game long in the face off circles and took the hits for the team.

In the final game ECFT was ready to put it away but Shred-it had a different plan in the first period. Again, the game went back and forth until Shred-it broke away with a 2 goal lead at the end of the first. Dominate play by Jamie Nelson and defenseman Paul Hart put Shred-it ahead 3-1 at the end of the first. Unfortunately, a couple of penalties by Shred-it at the end of the period would not help their cause going into the second. It was time for Murphy to fire up the team. “Play like we played all season. We have to get the puck out of our zone. Headman the puck, shoot and go to the net.” Murphy was quoted as saying after he looked it up, “We need to back check, too.”

ECFT came out flying. Two quick goals at the start of the period tied the game and ECFT never looked back. A final of 7-3 won the first Dubai Mighty Camel Cup. Murphy ended the game with 5 goals. The league top scorer and point getter didn't miss all night. Steve McSweeney, ECFT offensive defenseman netted the winning goal on a howitzer in front of the net. McSweeney not known for a lot of talk in the dressing room afterwards just stated simply “I got the puck so I shot the puck”. Journeyman defenseman, Kelly Jones added that this was his fifth time to the finals finally winning a Cup and now will be able to get rid of his Buffalo Bills membership card. Brent Day summed it up. “We played Blue Chip hockey. Nothing exciting, we just did everything right.”