A bloody but unbowed Merry waits for his stitches.

DOM-LAND, Middle-Earth—After last week's setback, the Dom-Land Caribou were determined to play their hearts out in front of their home crowd—and it worked. The Caribou beat the Ringwraiths 4-1.

The Mordor team began the game with their disciplined play from last week, but were frustrated by the tight 'Bou defence, and the score remained 0-0 at the end of the first.

"We knew we had to clamp down," said defence-elf Legolas. "Give up fewer chances."

"We had to hit them," concurred defence-dwarf Gimli.

The Ringwraiths' discipline fell apart in the second period, which became quite chippy. Despite the rough play that sent Merry, Strider and Legolas to the dressing room for stitches, the 'Bou retained their composure and powered past a Ringwraiths. Sam scored the opening goal off a phenomenal pass from Frodo, but the Wraiths quickly banged the puck past Gandalf to tie the game.

"I hope this doesn't leave a scar," said Legolas prodding his stitches.

Boromir put the 'Bou up 2-1 late in the second, and Frodo scored again as the clock ran out. Legolas scored another insurance goal midway through the third period. Gandalf made 32 saves in the win.

The crowd noise was deafening.

The Caribou have a chance to close out the series and hoist...Orlando's Bloomers next week...sometime...at the One Rink in Mordor.

Notes: The votes are in and the outcome has been decided. Keep watching.

Notes Ia: Bubbles will be attending a MEHA...thing for a good chunk of July. Apparently, the scheduling committee was led by wargs. The following three weeks of Dom Land updates will be a lot more like less on time. Bubbles usually updates late every Friday, Bubbles Standard Time (Saturday for pretty much the rest of the world). She will try her darndest to keep to that schedule, however, with limited internet access and Bubbles' inability to calculate time differences, the updates may be a day late or early. Thank you for your patience.

Notes II: Read about the aftermath of the Elfhead concert at the Merry-Go-Round...Rink...Thing Where a Penguin Plays a Banjo here.

Notes III: View all the Dom-Land pictures and how they came to be here.

Notes IV: If you sent me something, see it here.

Playoff Primer

1) Each round is a seven-game series. Basically, two teams play each other until one team wins four games. That team wins the series.

2) There are no ties. If a match is tied at the end of three periods, the teams will play 20-minute overtimes until one of them wins or they both drop dead. In the case of dropping dead, all members of both teams have to be completely dead. The game will then be temporarily postponed.

3) The teams who have qualified for this year's playoffs are:
The Dom-Land Caribou
The Ithilien Rangers
The Uruk-Hai
The Ringwraiths

Whoever wins the Caribou/Ranger series will go on to play the winner of the Uruk-Hai/Ringwraith series for the Orlando's Bloomers trophy. (Bubbles would like to remind everyone that the poll that chose the name of the championship trophy was really weird.)

4) Although there are traditions of throwing things onto the ice in the NHL during the playoffs, (i.e. the octopus in Detroit) the MEHA has strictly forbidden the flinging of cephalopods. This measure was taken to prevent the injury and/or death of anyone trying to capture The Watcher in the Water.

5) For more hockey terms and...stuff, click on Hockey Speak.

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