nivek_wahs
03-26-2007, 03:24 AM
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=5977e6ae-df3b-4328-8b85-68f4000cd22d
Rowat shoulders blame for loss
Pats suffer power outage on Saturday night
Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Monday, March 26, 2007
Linden Rowat's eyes were glued to the floor, his voice barely audible, but his words hit the mark with striking clarity.
"I made a mistake," whispered the Regina Pats goaltender, "and I cost us the game."
Rowat was a man of few words in the wake of Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Swift Current Broncos, but his sombre expression spoke volumes.
One brief lapse in judgment. One ill-timed miscue. That's all it took to spoil an otherwise poised effort by the young netminder, who got a little too aggressive on a clearing attempt and literally handed Kyle Bortis the game-winner 1:07 into overtime.
As a result, the Broncos tied their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at one game apiece. The series is now headed up the road to Swift Current for Game 3 on Tuesday.
"We came in here wanting to split," said Bortis, whose team lost 4-0 in Game 1. "They really handed it to us (Friday) night. We just wanted to respond and play like we can."
A little luck didn't hurt.
Regina had nearly killed off a power play early in OT when Rowat charged out of his crease to play a loose puck. His clearing attempt went off defenceman Nick Ross and landed right on the stick of Bortis, who found the empty net before Rowat could get back.
"It was definitely a shock," Bortis said of his good fortune. "I guess they all count. Usually the goals in overtime aren't very pretty. It's just something that happens, a mental mistake late in the game and we capitalized on it."
Pats centre Kyle Ross had a front-row seat for the horror show. He was about to step out of the penalty box when Bortis rolled the credits.
"I think it was a miscommunication," said Ross. "It's unfortunate, but we lost 4-3, not 1-0, so it's not anybody's fault."
While Rowat willingly accepted the blame, his teammates were having none of it. The Pats stood behind their dejected goaltender, who just 24 hours earlier had experienced the biggest high of his WHL career when he shut out the Broncos in his first WHL playoff game.
"We're a team," explained head coach Curtis Hunt. "When we win, we're all together. When we lose, we're all together. We have full confidence in him. In a lot of ways, we let him down by not getting there as a group and picking him up. That's the responsibility of every teammate."
Although the late-game miscue garnered most of the attention, Regina was ultimately done in by an 0-for-9 showing on the power play, including a pair of squandered two-man advantages.
Some of the credit also goes to Broncos goalie Kyle Moir, who kicked out 26 of 29 shots, including a breakaway effort by Jared Jagow early in the first period.
Troy Ofukany would eventually solve Moir twice, including the first goal of the game at the six-minute mark of the opening period. That marker was a turning point for the home team -- and not in a good way.
"We scored that first goal and somewhere in the back of our minds we thought it was going to be an easy series," noted Hunt, whose team gave up two power-play goals on six chances. "A very valuable lesson was learned. We didn't think we'd go unbeaten, at least as a staff. We know there's going to be adversity. It's what we do with our next game that's important."
Jeremy Schenderling, Geordie Wudrick and Ryan Molle had the other goals for the Broncos, who had virtually silenced a gathering of 5,541 at the Brandt Centre until Michael MacAngus tied it up with 3:37 left in regulation.
Unfortunately for the Pats, the celebration ended rather abruptly in overtime.
"The next game is going to have to be my best game," added Rowat, who made 19 saves. "It's definitely redemption time when we go up to Swift Current."
Rowat shoulders blame for loss
Pats suffer power outage on Saturday night
Greg Harder, The Leader-Post
Published: Monday, March 26, 2007
Linden Rowat's eyes were glued to the floor, his voice barely audible, but his words hit the mark with striking clarity.
"I made a mistake," whispered the Regina Pats goaltender, "and I cost us the game."
Rowat was a man of few words in the wake of Saturday's 4-3 overtime loss to the Swift Current Broncos, but his sombre expression spoke volumes.
One brief lapse in judgment. One ill-timed miscue. That's all it took to spoil an otherwise poised effort by the young netminder, who got a little too aggressive on a clearing attempt and literally handed Kyle Bortis the game-winner 1:07 into overtime.
As a result, the Broncos tied their best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinal at one game apiece. The series is now headed up the road to Swift Current for Game 3 on Tuesday.
"We came in here wanting to split," said Bortis, whose team lost 4-0 in Game 1. "They really handed it to us (Friday) night. We just wanted to respond and play like we can."
A little luck didn't hurt.
Regina had nearly killed off a power play early in OT when Rowat charged out of his crease to play a loose puck. His clearing attempt went off defenceman Nick Ross and landed right on the stick of Bortis, who found the empty net before Rowat could get back.
"It was definitely a shock," Bortis said of his good fortune. "I guess they all count. Usually the goals in overtime aren't very pretty. It's just something that happens, a mental mistake late in the game and we capitalized on it."
Pats centre Kyle Ross had a front-row seat for the horror show. He was about to step out of the penalty box when Bortis rolled the credits.
"I think it was a miscommunication," said Ross. "It's unfortunate, but we lost 4-3, not 1-0, so it's not anybody's fault."
While Rowat willingly accepted the blame, his teammates were having none of it. The Pats stood behind their dejected goaltender, who just 24 hours earlier had experienced the biggest high of his WHL career when he shut out the Broncos in his first WHL playoff game.
"We're a team," explained head coach Curtis Hunt. "When we win, we're all together. When we lose, we're all together. We have full confidence in him. In a lot of ways, we let him down by not getting there as a group and picking him up. That's the responsibility of every teammate."
Although the late-game miscue garnered most of the attention, Regina was ultimately done in by an 0-for-9 showing on the power play, including a pair of squandered two-man advantages.
Some of the credit also goes to Broncos goalie Kyle Moir, who kicked out 26 of 29 shots, including a breakaway effort by Jared Jagow early in the first period.
Troy Ofukany would eventually solve Moir twice, including the first goal of the game at the six-minute mark of the opening period. That marker was a turning point for the home team -- and not in a good way.
"We scored that first goal and somewhere in the back of our minds we thought it was going to be an easy series," noted Hunt, whose team gave up two power-play goals on six chances. "A very valuable lesson was learned. We didn't think we'd go unbeaten, at least as a staff. We know there's going to be adversity. It's what we do with our next game that's important."
Jeremy Schenderling, Geordie Wudrick and Ryan Molle had the other goals for the Broncos, who had virtually silenced a gathering of 5,541 at the Brandt Centre until Michael MacAngus tied it up with 3:37 left in regulation.
Unfortunately for the Pats, the celebration ended rather abruptly in overtime.
"The next game is going to have to be my best game," added Rowat, who made 19 saves. "It's definitely redemption time when we go up to Swift Current."