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WestLEAFfan
10-30-2007, 06:56 AM
http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=101893&Itemid=564


Tartaglione sparkles for Cats
(Sports) Tuesday, 30 October 2007, 01:00 PST
TED CLARKE, Citizen staff
Tommy Tartagilone saw the open net and figured what the heck.

The way his night was going, with the fourth shutout of his WHL career signed, sealed and delivered, what better way for a goalie to end the evening than with a shot at making history.

As it turned out, the 19-year-old Prince George Cougars netminder fanned slightly on his shot at the unguarded Vancouver Giants’ net, but it didn’t matter. He’d already bagged the Cougars’ biggest win of the season so far, a 3-0 whitewash over the best team in the league.

“The team really came out in the first period and answered the bell, the guys really wanted to beat Vancouver as badly as I did, and right off the bat we really took control of the game,” said Tartaglione, who started his WHL career with the Giants two seasons ago.

“This definitely ranks up there as one of my better ice hockey moments, beating my former team and playing really well against them.”

The Cougars’ power-play worked with 100 per cent efficiency on its first three attempts, and that was all the offence they needed. Captain Greg Gardner got the Halloween party started 1:05 into the game when he had an open net after goalie Tyson Sexsmith turned aside two Cats shots from close range.

Ty Wishart did most of the work to make it 2-0, carrying the puck in deep on the left wing before he spun a backhand pass to Dana Tyrell in the slot. Sexsmith got a piece of Tyrell’s one-timer but not enough to stop it.

The excitement building among the crowd of 2,669 reached a frenzy when Tyrell picked Jesse Dudas’s long wrist shot out of thin air to beat Sexsmith cleanly, 18:45 into the period. Three Cougar goals on five shots was enough to convince Giants head coach Don Hay to remove Sexsmith from the game and backup Kraymer Barnstable got the call to start the second period.

The second period belonged to Tartaglione as the Giants stormed the net with 14 shots, while the Cats could muster just two on Barnstable. Tartaglione got caught out of position and had to be a magician to cover the net when his clearing attempt from behind the net took a bad hop, right on to the stick of Phil Gervais.

With four minutes left in the second, Tartaglione showed why goaltenders have to also be great skaters. The Harbor City, Calif., native won a footrace with James Wright and beat the Giant to a loose puck with a sprawling poke check. Vancouver was dominating puck possession and a goal at that point might have triggered a Vancouver landslide. Somehow, Tartaglione kept the mountainous lead from crumbling.

“Their goalie did an outstanding job and outworked our group of forwards, along with their defencemen, who kept us from getting a lot of second shots,” said Hay. “You need more quality shots to get it by good goalies.

“Obviously, taking a penalty early put us back on our heels and they capitalized on what I thought was a bit of a soft goal on our group’s behalf.”

The Giants came close to spoiling Tartaglione’s finest hour as a Cougar at the end of a Vancouver power play with four minutes left, but the Cats had their heads in the game and used them to keep the Giants at bay. Evander Kane got open in the slot and whistled a high labeled shot that connected squarely with defenceman Dudas’s helmet.

The Cougars, notoriously slow starters, had their coaches breathing a lot easier heading into the first intermission. They were coming off a 7-2 loss to Chilliwack on Saturday and started Monday’s game sporting the worst defensive record in the WHL.

“The difference between tonight and Saturday was we were able to capitalize on the power play and keep them off the scoresheet on the power play, whereas Chilliwack managed to get four by us,” said Cats head coach Drew Schoneck.

“We don’t give up a lot 5-on-5 and when we fall behind and give up an early goal we’re kind of scrambling. But we didn’t do that tonight. If you’re willing to work hard and stay out of the penalty box, good things will happen and it happened to us tonight.”

The Cats’ line of Gardner, Tyrell and Alex Poulter ate up the clock and kept the Giants pinned to the boards with goalie Barnstable on the bench for the extra skater. With six seconds left, Tartaglione took a shot at scoring his first WHL goal when he fired the puck down the ice at the open net, but he didn’t lift it high enough and the Giants were able to knock it down at centre.

The win allowed the Cougars (7-9-0-0) to leapfrog the Kamloops Blazers into third place in the B.C. Division. It was only the third regulation loss of the season for the Giants (11-3-1-2), who are still first-overall in the WHL with 25 points, one ahead of the Spokane Chiefs.

The Giants eliminated the Cougars from the playoffs last year in five games in the Western Conference final and went on to win the Memorial Cup. That history wasn’t lost on Cats defenceman Garrett Thiessen, who was virtually flawless in his first game back since missing two games with a concussion.

“We owed them for last year so we had to come out hard and it was good to get the win, especially at home to show the fans we’re right with these guys and we could be in first place in our conference,” said Thiessen, the 18-year-old Prince George native.

“We made sure (Tartaglione) was able to see the puck and he was able to make the first save for us, and sometimes the second and third saves. He was awesome tonight.”

Nice job Tommy T!! pbj

habsfan12
10-30-2007, 08:07 AM
Great game boys!! keep it up.

Sput
10-31-2007, 01:39 PM
It's been a while since I felt good leaving CNCenter, but monday night I did. It was good to beat the Giants. Better to have stopped their road-unbeaten streak, and awsome to have done it with a shutout.

During the first period a couple guys around me were saying they should get more shots on net. I had to point out to them, at the end of the first, that I'll take that shooting percentage anyday. 3 goals on 5 shots, with Tommy stopping 11 (or so, don't have the stats infront of me).

Overall I was impressed with the work ethic that night. I sure hope they can keep that effort going. I can live with losses, if the effort is there, unlike the Saturday night game against 'Wack. That was simply embarrassing in your own barn. Good rebound tho. Keep up the hard work boys!!