Kassian
03-27-2005, 02:57 PM
From: http://www.vancouvergiants.com
Mitch Bartley (left) and the rest of the Vancouver Giants battled gallantly on Saturday, coming back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime in Kelowna. Down 3-1 to start the third period, the G-Men scored early and late in Game 2, only to see the Rockets tie the series 1-1 with a late marker of their own in the extra session for a 4-3 win.
Vancouver opened the scoring detail when Adam Courchaine counted his second goal in as many games on the powerplay at 3:11 of the opening period. Kelowna had a monster middle frame when the resilient club registered three goals in rapid succession. Cue the comeback in the third however, as Mitch Bartley and Mark Fistric sent the game to OT. Bartley got his first of the playoffs on a second-chance rebound at 2:15 after Matt Robinson gained the Rockets' zone with a speedy powerplay rush. Fistric tied the match when he let loose a rocket shot from just inside the Kelowna blueline that fooled netminder Derek Yeomans at 15:53.
We battled hard in a tough building to get the tie to take it to overtime, Assistant Coach and Assistant General Manager Craig Bonner said. We got a goal, probably Yeomans would like back, from Mark Fistric. It was a good, hard shot and it went in. In overtime I counted eight good chances and not by people you want get those chances (for Kelowna ). They got a chance, they scored and it's going to be a heck of a series.
Marek Schwarz made 34 saves in over 77 minutes of frantic action, but fell victim to a determined Kelowna bunch in a short span at the start of the second period. Justin Keller scored on a powerplay at 3:25, as did Tyler Spurgeon at 5:08. Spurgeon scored again, this time at even strength, at 5:32. The Rockets' finished 2/10 with the man-advantage a lofty total for a playoff game including a couple of 5-on-3 opportunities and four consecutive PPs at the midway point of the final frame.
To battle through the third period like we did with average refereeing, was great to see, Bonner said. We killed a ton of penalties in the third and the thing I'm most frustrated with is the refereeing. For Gilbert Brule one of the top five leading scorers in the league he goes in alone, two minutes left and gets hauled down and there's no call after we just killed off six or seven minors or whatever it was. Other than (that), it was a heck of a hockey game.
Brent Howarth, who scored a pair of goals in Game 1, won the game for Kelowna at 17:35 of overtime, making their 38 th shot count. Yeomans faced 28 Vancouver shots and made 25 saves, helping to change this Western Conference quarter-final series into a best-of-five affair as it heads to the Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It's great hockey and it's physical, it's rough, it's tough, there's lots of shots it's good hockey, Bonner stated. That overtime was very exciting and I don't see any reason why people wouldn't want to come out and watch this. It's a great series and we're up against a great hockey team the defending champs. We've got a long haul ahead of us here, but we're battling hard and we're going to give ourselves a chance.
It took until the final 20 minutes of regulation time for the Giants to assert themselves physically and it paid off, continuing a trend. Just 1-6-1 versus the Rockets' during the regular season, the G-Men have two wins and a tie in their last five games against Kelowna , including a Game 1 victory at Prospera Place on Friday.
Mitch Bartley (left) and the rest of the Vancouver Giants battled gallantly on Saturday, coming back from a two-goal deficit to force overtime in Kelowna. Down 3-1 to start the third period, the G-Men scored early and late in Game 2, only to see the Rockets tie the series 1-1 with a late marker of their own in the extra session for a 4-3 win.
Vancouver opened the scoring detail when Adam Courchaine counted his second goal in as many games on the powerplay at 3:11 of the opening period. Kelowna had a monster middle frame when the resilient club registered three goals in rapid succession. Cue the comeback in the third however, as Mitch Bartley and Mark Fistric sent the game to OT. Bartley got his first of the playoffs on a second-chance rebound at 2:15 after Matt Robinson gained the Rockets' zone with a speedy powerplay rush. Fistric tied the match when he let loose a rocket shot from just inside the Kelowna blueline that fooled netminder Derek Yeomans at 15:53.
We battled hard in a tough building to get the tie to take it to overtime, Assistant Coach and Assistant General Manager Craig Bonner said. We got a goal, probably Yeomans would like back, from Mark Fistric. It was a good, hard shot and it went in. In overtime I counted eight good chances and not by people you want get those chances (for Kelowna ). They got a chance, they scored and it's going to be a heck of a series.
Marek Schwarz made 34 saves in over 77 minutes of frantic action, but fell victim to a determined Kelowna bunch in a short span at the start of the second period. Justin Keller scored on a powerplay at 3:25, as did Tyler Spurgeon at 5:08. Spurgeon scored again, this time at even strength, at 5:32. The Rockets' finished 2/10 with the man-advantage a lofty total for a playoff game including a couple of 5-on-3 opportunities and four consecutive PPs at the midway point of the final frame.
To battle through the third period like we did with average refereeing, was great to see, Bonner said. We killed a ton of penalties in the third and the thing I'm most frustrated with is the refereeing. For Gilbert Brule one of the top five leading scorers in the league he goes in alone, two minutes left and gets hauled down and there's no call after we just killed off six or seven minors or whatever it was. Other than (that), it was a heck of a hockey game.
Brent Howarth, who scored a pair of goals in Game 1, won the game for Kelowna at 17:35 of overtime, making their 38 th shot count. Yeomans faced 28 Vancouver shots and made 25 saves, helping to change this Western Conference quarter-final series into a best-of-five affair as it heads to the Pacific Coliseum on Tuesday and Wednesday.
It's great hockey and it's physical, it's rough, it's tough, there's lots of shots it's good hockey, Bonner stated. That overtime was very exciting and I don't see any reason why people wouldn't want to come out and watch this. It's a great series and we're up against a great hockey team the defending champs. We've got a long haul ahead of us here, but we're battling hard and we're going to give ourselves a chance.
It took until the final 20 minutes of regulation time for the Giants to assert themselves physically and it paid off, continuing a trend. Just 1-6-1 versus the Rockets' during the regular season, the G-Men have two wins and a tie in their last five games against Kelowna , including a Game 1 victory at Prospera Place on Friday.