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Tiger Trauma
04-14-2007, 05:31 AM
-Medicine Hat News

Swept away

REGINA — Brennan Bosch has the look of a grizzled playoff veteran, missing tooth and all, and on Friday night the one-time baby face of the Medicine Hat Tigers played the part.
The speedy centre, who is in his 18-year-old season, scored twice, hit a post and set up another goal as his Medicine Hat Tigers completed a four-game sweep of the Regina Pats, winning 6-3 at the Brandt Centre.
The Tigers advance to the conference final for the third time in the last four years. They’ll have home ice advantage over either the Calgary Hitmen or Brandon Wheat Kings, who are still contesting the other Eastern Conference Semifinal series.
“We won it in four and that really helps us moving forward,” said Bosch, who lost a tooth two weeks ago when he was clipped by a stick in Game 6 at Red Deer during the first round.
For Bosch, who’s already made a name for himself with a penchant for scoring big goals, the dental work adds a certain something.
“That’s what I hear from people, but mom doesn’t like it much,” said Bosch, now sits with five goals and 12 points in 11 playoff games centring the duo of talent wingers Tyler Ennis (one goal Friday) and Daine Todd (three assists).
“Our line wanted make sure that we had a good one, we weren’t as good in Game 3 (a 2-1 overtime win),” said Bosch.
“He looks the part every year,” said head coach Willie Desjardins, who got two overtime game winners from Bosch in last year’s second round, one in triple overtime.
“He’s scored lot of goals for us last year, and he plays well in big games.”
In the Regina series, Desjardins felt the Pats were trying to overmatch the trio by pitting them against No. 1 centre Garrett Festerling.
“(In Game 3) we’d try to avoid it, but I told them, ‘I’m not going to avoid it, you guys have to do a job.’
“They were key tonight.”
With the Pats facing elimination after that Tigers win, overager Chris Stevens put them back on the hook early.
Stevens seemingly sucked the electricity out of the building just 37 seconds in when he slid a shot under Pats goaltender Linden Rowat, after Darren Helm dug the puck out of the corner and centred it in front.
Bosch scored on a similar play, and similar shot, at 9:04 of the frame, then on a late-period power play, he fired a high shot at Rowat, leaving a juicy rebound that Ennis tapped in.
In the second, Bosch sent Rowat’s water bottle flying with a high shot and Helm deposited a breakaway through the five-hole as the Tigers built a 5-0 lead after two periods.
The Pats found their spark again in the third as Pats leading scorer Garrett Festerling broke the shutout bid with a top-corner rocket at the 1:19 mark on the power play. Before the frame was five minutes old, Pat Kaspars Sauleitis was alone in front but fired the puck in the belly of a sprawled-out Matt Keetley.
Tigers captain Kris Russell seemingly let off the pressure with a power-play goal, but Pats Brett Leffler and Nick Ross scored down the stretch to make the final count a respectable 6-3.
“It was about pride,” said Regina’s Kyle Ross, who returned to the Pats this season after breaking his back in a car crash prior to the 2005-06 campaign.
“We showed that we didn’t give up.”
Another Regina overager, captain Kyle Deck felt similarly, but added “They got up 3-0 and we couldn’t come back.”
Regina bows out of the post-season after their first second-round appearance in nine years.
“They had a good team that played hard,” added Desjardins. “If they’d won the overtime (in Game 3), they might have come here tonight with a lot more life, and maybe it’d be tied.
“It’s so close, that when you get a break you have to take advantage and I thought we did in this series.”

nivek_wahs
04-14-2007, 07:23 AM
http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/sports/story.html?id=499bf978-3915-416d-804c-f8286183fed2

Tigers were too much

Greg Harder, Leader-Post
Published: Saturday, April 14, 2007

The cat-and-mouse game between the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Regina Pats reached an inevitable conclusion.

Medicine Hat put a quick, but not necessarily painless, end to the Pats' season on Friday night with a dominant 6-3 victory, completing a four-game sweep before 5,367 fans at the Brandt Centre.

The Tigers will move on to face the winner of the other Eastern Conference semifinal between the Brandon Wheat Kings and Calgary Hitmen.

The Pats? They'll say a few goodbyes before going their separate ways -- some for the last time.

"You have to give it to Med Hat, they're a great team," conceded Pats centre Garrett Festerling, who had a goal and an assist in his final WHL game. "We showed a lot of heart and a lot of determination. It just wasn't our series."

Regina entered the second-round matchup with momentum, coming off the team's first playoff triumph in nine years. However, the top-seeded Tigers proved to be an altogether different animal than the Swift Current Broncos.

Medicine Hat adopted a predator's mentality from the drop of the first puck, opening the series with two dominant home-ice wins -- by a combined score of 11-3. The Pats mounted their best effort in Game 3, but eventually succumbed 2-1 in overtime. The Tigers still needed one more win to finish it off, but the damage had already been done.

"That was a dagger in all of our hearts," captain Kyle Deck said of the OT backbreaker. "We needed that one."

Trailing three games to zip, the Pats needed a miracle to change the complexion of the series. They would have settled for a positive start in Game 4, but those hopes quickly faded when Chris Stevens scored just 37 seconds into the game.

"We wanted to come out strong and we didn't," added Deck. "That was the game right there. You can't come back on a team like that."

With the smell of blood in the air, Medicine Hat pounced on the fragile Pats. The visitors opened the flood gates by taking leads of 3-0 and 5-0 at the respective intermissions.

The third period was purely academic.

"Geez, they really skated us into the ground at times," offered Pats head coach Curtis Hunt. "Their support game and detail game was as good as anything I've seen this year at any level. That's a great hockey team. For us, hopefully we can look beyond the sweep. What's important is to have that taste, especially for the returning core of guys, and to understand how intense, how detailed, how disciplined you have to be to be a champion."

Martensville product Brennan Bosch potted two goals for the Tigers, who got singles from Tyler Ennis, Darren Helm and Kris Russell. Daine Todd and Kindersley product Derek Dorsett added three helpers apiece.

"We knew coming in that Regina was a real good team," offered Bosch, a native of Martensville. "They played us hard. We got breaks at different times in the series and just kept going after them. To finish it off in four, I think it's real big for us. We have some time to rest up. I think it'll really help us."

The season finale wasn't a total loss for the Pats, who salvaged some pride with a spirited third-period effort. Regina outshot the Tigers 15-4 in the final frame and outscored them 3-1.

It was the Pats' only victory of the series, even if it was a moral victory.

"The message was, 'Play for that guy beside you,' " said Hunt. "We've been through a lot as a group. I thought the guys did that. They salvaged something. That was important for the guys moving on (Festerling, Deck and Kyle Ross) and for the younger players to see that kind of leadership -- and of course for our fans, who've been just terrific all year."

Brett Leffler and Nick Ross rounded out the scoring for the Pats, who got 18 saves from Linden Rowat. Tigers netminder Matt Keetley picked up his fifth straight playoff victory with 23 stops.

EXTRAS: The Pats were without rookie LW Jordan Eberle, their leading goal scorer during the regular season. He missed the entire series due to a lingering virus ... Despite being outshot for the first time in the series (26-24), Medicine Hat finished with a 131-86 edge in the series ... Regina finished with an 0-8 record against Tigers this season (regular season and playoffs combined).




© The Leader-Post (Regina) 2007