An off-ice dispute between playoff rivals the South Muskoka Shield and the Bradford Rattlers was averted in a last-minute negotiation of scheduling for game two of the playoffs.

The playoff fight between the two teams extended beyond the ice on Monday after management warred over Bradford’s proposal to play the second game on their turf in the middle of the afternoon on Wednesday.

Shield general manager Gord Carey was livid with a 1 p.m. game time and threatened to forfeit the match for fears the Shield could not field a team because of players’ commitments to school and work. He said the same goes for members of the Shield’s coaching staff who have full-time jobs, adding the safety of the players is a priority.

The conflict was resolved Monday afternoon when both parties agreed to hold game two Tuesday night at a neighbouring arena in Shelburne.

“I feel like we’re fighting the empire,” Carey said in an interview on Monday, in reference to Greater Metro Hockey League (GMHL) executives, who also co-own the Rattlers, the Innisfil Lakers and the Elliot Lake Bobcats. “I refused to play them during the day and gave them the option of playing the game up here. They claim they can’t get any ice time, even though we have 12 days to play this series.”

Shield majority owner John Klinck said “they heard us” after speaking to GMHL officials, and agreed to reschedule the game for Tuesday night.

Carey was also disappointed in the style of play that ensued in game one Sunday night in Bradford. The Rattlers beat the Shield in overtime by a score of 5-4. About 50 Shield fans made it to the game, he said.

“They were running us right off the bat,” Carey said. “(Bradford) had six players thrown out of the game for spearing and fighting. They were going after our strongest players Leigh, Sontag and Saltz, but none of our kids reacted.”

Carey said the Shield led the game 4-3 with a couple minutes to play in the third period when the referee “called back” one of the Shield’s goals.

“Everyone in the rink saw it, but the ref was at centre ice and didn’t see it and the goalie swept it out,” he said.

Seconds later when play infiltrated the Shield’s end, the Rattlers were granted a penalty shot on goalie Ryan Coté, blaming the Shield for intentionally knocking the net off the crease.

Scoring on the penalty shot, the Rattlers tied the game 4-4 and were the first to score in a five-on-five, sudden-death overtime to win the game.

“We keep getting the nine of hearts,” Carey said, referring to an earlier match against Bradford where South Muskoka lost in a shootout when a Shield goal was called back by the officials.

Goal scorers for the Shield included forwards Chad Meagher, Dylan Sontag, Nick Leigh and captain Chris Vandertas.

As a spectator at the game, Klinck said you can’t always point the finger at the referees.

“We had a couple of calls against us that were questionable, but that’s the nature of the game. You get some calls that go your way and sometimes you don’t,” he said. “The refs are human. They may have made a couple mistakes. I think they missed a goal for us and if they don’t see it, they can’t call it a goal.”

Despite the officiating, Klinck said Bradford is going to have to take the South Muskoka Shield pretty seriously.

“In overtime somebody’s got to win, and somebody’s got to lose and one play can make the difference,” Klinck said. “I felt we could have won and we should have won, but to Bradford’s credit they scored the last goal, so they win.”

As of Monday Bradford had a 1-0 lead in the series, after sweeping the Toronto Canada Moose in four straight games during the first round of GMHL playoffs.

After Tuesday night’s game in Shelburne, the best-of-seven series comes to Gravenhurst Centennial Centre Friday at 7:30 p.m. Game four will be held here on Saturday starting at 8:30 p.m.

If necessary, the fifth game will be held in Bradford on March 9 at 7:30 p.m., game six will return to Gravenhurst March 10, and game seven will be back in Bradford March 11.