Sput
04-16-2007, 02:33 AM
from: www.princegeorgecitizen.com
Cats pull off stunning upset
JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
(Sports) Sunday, 15 April 2007, 23:14 PST
Zach Hamill's pass through the crease eludes his Everett Silvertips linemate, Moises Gutierrez, as Prince George Cougars goaltender Real Cyr stretches out the pads. (Everett Herald photo by Jennifer Buchanan) EVERETT, Wash. - These Cats don’t know when they’re licked.
It’s Saturday night, and the Cougars are down 3-0 to the Everett Silvertips after two periods in the hostile confines of the Everett Events Center. Given that unwelcome situation, the Cougars could have accepted the fate of a long bus ride back to Prince George and a possible season-ending game tonight at CN Centre.
But they didn’t accept it. Instead, they stunned the Silvertips with four unanswered goals in the third period and produced a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the WHL Western Conference semifinal series. Now, the Cougars have a 3-2 series lead and the chance to knock the Silvertips - the top-ranked team in the CHL - out of the playoffs tonight (7 p.m. start).
Cougars coach Drew Schoneck said nothing his team does surprises him anymore.
“These guys have never quit all year since I’ve been here,” Schoneck said. “They’ve battled through everything and they’ve battled through a lot of criticism. It’s nice to see the hard work pay off, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Chris Durand was the hero on Saturday night for the Cats. The 20-year-old forward scored two goals, including the winner at the 12:29 mark of the third, and also added an assist. Durand’s final goal, the one that sent the Silvertips to their first home-ice playoff loss in six outings this spring, was a power-play marker that he zipped over the glove hand of Everett goaltender Leland Irving and into the top corner of the net.
Durand was also the man who accounted for the tying goal, at 8:19. The markers were his first two of the playoffs and could not have been more timely. (See other story for more on Durand.)
“I think I’ve been snakebitten all playoffs, and to get two big ones (Saturday), it’s a great feeling,” said Durand, who had contributed eight assists to the Cougars’ post-season cause heading into the game. “The guys are pumped. We’re going back to P.G. and playing (tonight) and we want to wrap this up and move on.”
If they do win tonight, the Cougars will meet the Vancouver Giants in the Western Conference final. The Giants, hosts of this year’s Memorial Cup tournament, would face the Cougars Friday night at the Pacific Coliseum.
The first two Prince George goals on Saturday came from - surprise, surprise - Devin Setoguchi and from Nick Drazenovic. Durand connected for the tying goal just 41 seconds after Drazenovic had scored, and you could almost hear the air come out of the Silvertips and the 7,739 hyped-up fans in the seats. The eventual Prince George victory was even more shocking because the Silvertips were almost untouchable on home ice all season. During the regular schedule, they posted an impressive 31-4-0-1 record at the EEC. They were 35-0-0-0 this season when leading after two periods.
“I think if there’s any team in the league that can come back like that, it’s ours,” said Drazenovic, who assisted on the winning goal and now has 13 playoff points (seven goals, six assists) in nine games. “We have the explosiveness to do that, and as you can see, we did do it.”
The first period was played relatively evenly, each team getting its share of chances. The Silvertips got on the board first when, at 18:58, Kyle Beach snapped home a puck from the right side of the Cougars’ net after accepting a pass from former Cat Dan Gendur.
In the second, the Silvertips took total control. They outshot the Cougars 21-4 and got power-play goals from Zack Dailey and Moises Gutierrez to move into what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. Maybe they thought their work was done, because Everett coach Kevin Constantine admitted his players did back off from the Cougars in the third and left Irving to try to answer the Prince George charge.
“We relaxed a little bit,” Constantine said. “That’s our fault in front of (Irving).”
Constantine refused to classify the loss as demoralizing, considering the shell-shocked Silvertips must now try to stay alive tonight in what should be a packed and unfriendly CN Centre.
“I can’t speak for everybody in the locker-room,” he said. “No one likes to lose, but we don’t really operate here with ‘what happened last night and what’s going to happen the next night?’ We just look at every game and say, ‘why did we lose, where were we good, what do we need to do better?’ We’ll just take the same approach we have every game.
“(The Cougars) have guys that can score - you can’t give a lot of room to their talented guys,” Constantine added.
One aspect of Saturday’s win that cannot be overlooked is the play of Real Cyr in the Prince George net. Cyr, as he has been so many times in these playoffs, was brilliant. In the second period he robbed Zach Hamill and Beach of sure goals, and in the third he prevented any more damage to help key the comeback. Cyr’s best stop of the final frame came after the Cougars had taken the lead, when he turned back forward Jesse Smyke, who had danced all the way through the Prince George defence for a point-blank opportunity.
Cyr, who is an NHL free agent, now has a 7-1 record in the playoffs, his lone loss a 3-2 overtime setback in Game 2 of this series.
“Every game that he’s had up to this date, he has made big saves,” Schoneck said of the 19-year-old Cyr. “I think their goaltending has been fantastic too. (Irving) has made some big saves for them. That’s what you need - you need your goaltenders to make those saves and give your team an opportunity to win.”
The hit of the night, no question, was an open-ice crunch on Evan Fuller by Jesse Zetariuk. The Prince George forward and the Everett blueliner met with thunderous force at the centre ice red line 5:39 into the second period. After the hit, Kyle Klym of the Cougars jumped in to fight Zetariuk and took the worst of the blows, much to the delight of the Everett faithful. Zetariuk was handed charging and fighting penalties, and Klym got a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a misconduct. Schoneck saw the incident as a turning point in favour of the Silvertips, who scored their two second-period goals a short time later.
“They seemed to really lift from that, and I thought it put us on our heels,” Schoneck said. “We proceeded to take three or four more penalties and they got some power-play goals to really go after it. It’s nice to see (Klym) sticking up for (his) teammates but I thought it was some bad timing.”
KITTY LITTER: The Silvertips outshot the Cougars 39-23 ... Gendur, traded from Prince George to Everett in November, had two assists in the game to push his playoff totals to eight points in 11 games (four goals, four assists)... If the Silvertips force a Game 7, it will be played Wednesday night back in Everett... The Cougars are planning a tailgate party in front of CN Centre starting at 5 p.m. today and everybody is invited. Face-painting, a live band, and a hot dog barbecue should help get people in the mood for the game. As of Sunday evening, the Cats had sold 5,599 of the 5,995 tickets available.
Cats pull off stunning upset
JASON PETERS
Citizen staff
(Sports) Sunday, 15 April 2007, 23:14 PST
Zach Hamill's pass through the crease eludes his Everett Silvertips linemate, Moises Gutierrez, as Prince George Cougars goaltender Real Cyr stretches out the pads. (Everett Herald photo by Jennifer Buchanan) EVERETT, Wash. - These Cats don’t know when they’re licked.
It’s Saturday night, and the Cougars are down 3-0 to the Everett Silvertips after two periods in the hostile confines of the Everett Events Center. Given that unwelcome situation, the Cougars could have accepted the fate of a long bus ride back to Prince George and a possible season-ending game tonight at CN Centre.
But they didn’t accept it. Instead, they stunned the Silvertips with four unanswered goals in the third period and produced a 4-3 victory in Game 5 of the WHL Western Conference semifinal series. Now, the Cougars have a 3-2 series lead and the chance to knock the Silvertips - the top-ranked team in the CHL - out of the playoffs tonight (7 p.m. start).
Cougars coach Drew Schoneck said nothing his team does surprises him anymore.
“These guys have never quit all year since I’ve been here,” Schoneck said. “They’ve battled through everything and they’ve battled through a lot of criticism. It’s nice to see the hard work pay off, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Chris Durand was the hero on Saturday night for the Cats. The 20-year-old forward scored two goals, including the winner at the 12:29 mark of the third, and also added an assist. Durand’s final goal, the one that sent the Silvertips to their first home-ice playoff loss in six outings this spring, was a power-play marker that he zipped over the glove hand of Everett goaltender Leland Irving and into the top corner of the net.
Durand was also the man who accounted for the tying goal, at 8:19. The markers were his first two of the playoffs and could not have been more timely. (See other story for more on Durand.)
“I think I’ve been snakebitten all playoffs, and to get two big ones (Saturday), it’s a great feeling,” said Durand, who had contributed eight assists to the Cougars’ post-season cause heading into the game. “The guys are pumped. We’re going back to P.G. and playing (tonight) and we want to wrap this up and move on.”
If they do win tonight, the Cougars will meet the Vancouver Giants in the Western Conference final. The Giants, hosts of this year’s Memorial Cup tournament, would face the Cougars Friday night at the Pacific Coliseum.
The first two Prince George goals on Saturday came from - surprise, surprise - Devin Setoguchi and from Nick Drazenovic. Durand connected for the tying goal just 41 seconds after Drazenovic had scored, and you could almost hear the air come out of the Silvertips and the 7,739 hyped-up fans in the seats. The eventual Prince George victory was even more shocking because the Silvertips were almost untouchable on home ice all season. During the regular schedule, they posted an impressive 31-4-0-1 record at the EEC. They were 35-0-0-0 this season when leading after two periods.
“I think if there’s any team in the league that can come back like that, it’s ours,” said Drazenovic, who assisted on the winning goal and now has 13 playoff points (seven goals, six assists) in nine games. “We have the explosiveness to do that, and as you can see, we did do it.”
The first period was played relatively evenly, each team getting its share of chances. The Silvertips got on the board first when, at 18:58, Kyle Beach snapped home a puck from the right side of the Cougars’ net after accepting a pass from former Cat Dan Gendur.
In the second, the Silvertips took total control. They outshot the Cougars 21-4 and got power-play goals from Zack Dailey and Moises Gutierrez to move into what appeared to be an insurmountable lead. Maybe they thought their work was done, because Everett coach Kevin Constantine admitted his players did back off from the Cougars in the third and left Irving to try to answer the Prince George charge.
“We relaxed a little bit,” Constantine said. “That’s our fault in front of (Irving).”
Constantine refused to classify the loss as demoralizing, considering the shell-shocked Silvertips must now try to stay alive tonight in what should be a packed and unfriendly CN Centre.
“I can’t speak for everybody in the locker-room,” he said. “No one likes to lose, but we don’t really operate here with ‘what happened last night and what’s going to happen the next night?’ We just look at every game and say, ‘why did we lose, where were we good, what do we need to do better?’ We’ll just take the same approach we have every game.
“(The Cougars) have guys that can score - you can’t give a lot of room to their talented guys,” Constantine added.
One aspect of Saturday’s win that cannot be overlooked is the play of Real Cyr in the Prince George net. Cyr, as he has been so many times in these playoffs, was brilliant. In the second period he robbed Zach Hamill and Beach of sure goals, and in the third he prevented any more damage to help key the comeback. Cyr’s best stop of the final frame came after the Cougars had taken the lead, when he turned back forward Jesse Smyke, who had danced all the way through the Prince George defence for a point-blank opportunity.
Cyr, who is an NHL free agent, now has a 7-1 record in the playoffs, his lone loss a 3-2 overtime setback in Game 2 of this series.
“Every game that he’s had up to this date, he has made big saves,” Schoneck said of the 19-year-old Cyr. “I think their goaltending has been fantastic too. (Irving) has made some big saves for them. That’s what you need - you need your goaltenders to make those saves and give your team an opportunity to win.”
The hit of the night, no question, was an open-ice crunch on Evan Fuller by Jesse Zetariuk. The Prince George forward and the Everett blueliner met with thunderous force at the centre ice red line 5:39 into the second period. After the hit, Kyle Klym of the Cougars jumped in to fight Zetariuk and took the worst of the blows, much to the delight of the Everett faithful. Zetariuk was handed charging and fighting penalties, and Klym got a minor for instigating, a major for fighting and a misconduct. Schoneck saw the incident as a turning point in favour of the Silvertips, who scored their two second-period goals a short time later.
“They seemed to really lift from that, and I thought it put us on our heels,” Schoneck said. “We proceeded to take three or four more penalties and they got some power-play goals to really go after it. It’s nice to see (Klym) sticking up for (his) teammates but I thought it was some bad timing.”
KITTY LITTER: The Silvertips outshot the Cougars 39-23 ... Gendur, traded from Prince George to Everett in November, had two assists in the game to push his playoff totals to eight points in 11 games (four goals, four assists)... If the Silvertips force a Game 7, it will be played Wednesday night back in Everett... The Cougars are planning a tailgate party in front of CN Centre starting at 5 p.m. today and everybody is invited. Face-painting, a live band, and a hot dog barbecue should help get people in the mood for the game. As of Sunday evening, the Cats had sold 5,599 of the 5,995 tickets available.