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04-28-2007, 07:16 AM
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Playoff ride ends
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JIM SWANSON,
Citizen Sports Editor
(Sports) Saturday, 28 April 2007, 03:00 PST
VANCOUVER -- This is the story that could run in two places in the newspaper - the sports section, and in the classifieds, as an obit.
The sheet was pulled over the playoff dream of the Prince George Cougars on Friday night at Pacific Coliseum, where the Vancouver Giants snuffed the life out of the Cats with a 5-1 victory.
With that, the Cougars’ entertaining run through the playoffs, which started with a satisfying sweep of the arch-rival Kamloops Blazers, followed by a stunning upset of the top-ranked Everett Silvertips, was halted with a five-game Western Conference final loss to the Giants.
A year earlier, the Giants also eliminated the Cougars in five games, the first step in winning the WHL championship. After dispatching Prince George this time around, Vancouver has but one series to play to capture another title.
The Cougars dressing room had a funeral atmosphere, the players drenched in equal parts sweat and tears.
“It’s upsetting, and it’s sad to know that this was the last time we’d all be together,” said Cougars centre Nick Drazenovic, tears flowing down his face into his scraggly playoff beard.
“We went to war with each other and we’re family, so it’s tough.”
What made it harder to swallow for Drazenovic, who had a breakout playoffs with nine goals and 19 points in 15 games, is that he may have just played his final junior game for his hometown team. It will not be a surprise if the St. Louis draft pick signs an NHL contract by June 1.
“The whole room got totally emotional after the game when (head coach Drew Schoneck) said Prince George was very proud of us,” said Drazenovic.
“That’s where I’m from, and Prince George is a hockey town. It means so much to me to see that building full again and the crowd out. We worked so hard and we ran out of gas. You can see in some guys’ eyes that they’re tired. We came back against Everett, the top team in the CHL, and we would’ve had to beat three of the top teams (to get to the WHL final).”
The Giants haven’t been pushed past five games by anyone the last two springs. They’ll now face the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL final, though both clubs have already booked space in the Memorial Cup since the Giants are hosting. The final series should start Friday in Medicine Hat.
Really, the better team won this Western final -- the more structured team, the more experienced team, the more deserving team. But more than the physical battle, the Giants prevailed in the area of psychological warfare. Admit it or not, few Cougars truly believed they could win this series going in, largely because the Giants can boast of beating the Cats 15 of the last 18 meetings.
Scott Bowles or Real Cyr in goal - it didn’t matter. In the first period, frankly, both could’ve been out there and nothing would have helped as the Giants built a 3-0 lead and outshot the Cats 17-3, and that was with Prince George skaters blocking at least a dozen shots. Bowles was left on his own most of the night in his last junior appearance, finishing with 41 saves, the same total he had in Wednesday’s stellar performance in a 3-2 overtime victory.
Kenndal McArdle, Wacey Rabbit and James Wright did the early damage for Vancouver. The Giants could’ve put a water bottle in net and won this one since Tyson Sexsmith faced just 10 shots, six of those in the first 40 minutes.
Unlike the memorable Game 5 comeback in the Everett series, there was no Cougars comeback on Friday. Milan Lucic and Michal Repik completed Vancouver’s scoring, and Greg Gardner popped the shutout bubble on Sexsmith.
“There wasn’t anything left - (the Giants) got that first goal, then got the second one (33 seconds later) and it was like a kick in the stomach,” said Schoneck. “It was tough to get up from that and things didn’t get any better.”
Time will tell if the influx of fans improves the attendance next fall in Prince George. The franchise fell to an all-time low of 2,967 per game this past season, half of what it was in stronger years.
“With all our guys put up with, criticism from around the league and even back home, I hope the fans are back on board,” said Schoneck.
“I want to thank the guys. They battled right to the end, and that’s all you can ask. We got beat by a pretty good hockey club and I hope the guys who are returning next year learned from it.”
KITTY LITTER: What will be interesting to watch now is if Cougars players Vladimir Mihalik, Setoguchi and Wishart, who are all signed to NHL contracts, get the call to their pro clubs’ AHL affiliates for whatever playoffs are left. All three are first-round NHL draft picks... Kyle Rehman, one of the referees in the game, tried to crack the three stars, but those were given to Rabbit, Repik and Lucic. Rabbit was named series MVP... The game was up against the televised Canucks playoff game in Anaheim, and drew a count of 6,912. The sellouts at CN Centre, 5,982 for the last two games, topped the Game 2 announced attendance at Pacific Coliseum (5,877)... Say goodbye to the Keystone Centre in Brandon. The home of the Wheat Kings is now called the Westman Communications Group Place, the team announced Friday.
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Playoff ride ends
(0)
JIM SWANSON,
Citizen Sports Editor
(Sports) Saturday, 28 April 2007, 03:00 PST
VANCOUVER -- This is the story that could run in two places in the newspaper - the sports section, and in the classifieds, as an obit.
The sheet was pulled over the playoff dream of the Prince George Cougars on Friday night at Pacific Coliseum, where the Vancouver Giants snuffed the life out of the Cats with a 5-1 victory.
With that, the Cougars’ entertaining run through the playoffs, which started with a satisfying sweep of the arch-rival Kamloops Blazers, followed by a stunning upset of the top-ranked Everett Silvertips, was halted with a five-game Western Conference final loss to the Giants.
A year earlier, the Giants also eliminated the Cougars in five games, the first step in winning the WHL championship. After dispatching Prince George this time around, Vancouver has but one series to play to capture another title.
The Cougars dressing room had a funeral atmosphere, the players drenched in equal parts sweat and tears.
“It’s upsetting, and it’s sad to know that this was the last time we’d all be together,” said Cougars centre Nick Drazenovic, tears flowing down his face into his scraggly playoff beard.
“We went to war with each other and we’re family, so it’s tough.”
What made it harder to swallow for Drazenovic, who had a breakout playoffs with nine goals and 19 points in 15 games, is that he may have just played his final junior game for his hometown team. It will not be a surprise if the St. Louis draft pick signs an NHL contract by June 1.
“The whole room got totally emotional after the game when (head coach Drew Schoneck) said Prince George was very proud of us,” said Drazenovic.
“That’s where I’m from, and Prince George is a hockey town. It means so much to me to see that building full again and the crowd out. We worked so hard and we ran out of gas. You can see in some guys’ eyes that they’re tired. We came back against Everett, the top team in the CHL, and we would’ve had to beat three of the top teams (to get to the WHL final).”
The Giants haven’t been pushed past five games by anyone the last two springs. They’ll now face the Medicine Hat Tigers in the WHL final, though both clubs have already booked space in the Memorial Cup since the Giants are hosting. The final series should start Friday in Medicine Hat.
Really, the better team won this Western final -- the more structured team, the more experienced team, the more deserving team. But more than the physical battle, the Giants prevailed in the area of psychological warfare. Admit it or not, few Cougars truly believed they could win this series going in, largely because the Giants can boast of beating the Cats 15 of the last 18 meetings.
Scott Bowles or Real Cyr in goal - it didn’t matter. In the first period, frankly, both could’ve been out there and nothing would have helped as the Giants built a 3-0 lead and outshot the Cats 17-3, and that was with Prince George skaters blocking at least a dozen shots. Bowles was left on his own most of the night in his last junior appearance, finishing with 41 saves, the same total he had in Wednesday’s stellar performance in a 3-2 overtime victory.
Kenndal McArdle, Wacey Rabbit and James Wright did the early damage for Vancouver. The Giants could’ve put a water bottle in net and won this one since Tyson Sexsmith faced just 10 shots, six of those in the first 40 minutes.
Unlike the memorable Game 5 comeback in the Everett series, there was no Cougars comeback on Friday. Milan Lucic and Michal Repik completed Vancouver’s scoring, and Greg Gardner popped the shutout bubble on Sexsmith.
“There wasn’t anything left - (the Giants) got that first goal, then got the second one (33 seconds later) and it was like a kick in the stomach,” said Schoneck. “It was tough to get up from that and things didn’t get any better.”
Time will tell if the influx of fans improves the attendance next fall in Prince George. The franchise fell to an all-time low of 2,967 per game this past season, half of what it was in stronger years.
“With all our guys put up with, criticism from around the league and even back home, I hope the fans are back on board,” said Schoneck.
“I want to thank the guys. They battled right to the end, and that’s all you can ask. We got beat by a pretty good hockey club and I hope the guys who are returning next year learned from it.”
KITTY LITTER: What will be interesting to watch now is if Cougars players Vladimir Mihalik, Setoguchi and Wishart, who are all signed to NHL contracts, get the call to their pro clubs’ AHL affiliates for whatever playoffs are left. All three are first-round NHL draft picks... Kyle Rehman, one of the referees in the game, tried to crack the three stars, but those were given to Rabbit, Repik and Lucic. Rabbit was named series MVP... The game was up against the televised Canucks playoff game in Anaheim, and drew a count of 6,912. The sellouts at CN Centre, 5,982 for the last two games, topped the Game 2 announced attendance at Pacific Coliseum (5,877)... Say goodbye to the Keystone Centre in Brandon. The home of the Wheat Kings is now called the Westman Communications Group Place, the team announced Friday.
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