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View Full Version : Giants Rally For Comeback In Game Three



Kassian
03-30-2005, 12:46 PM
From: http://www.vancouvergiants.com

The Vancouver Giants pulled off a thrilling comeback halfway through their game versus the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday and after a 4-3 win the G-Men are halfway to wrapping up the series. Though extremely far from over at this point, the Giants won almost every battle in Game 3 and appear poised to triumph in the best-of-seven war.

Kelowna jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but couldn't stave off the surging, physical Giants, who got timely goals from Paul Albers and Mitch Bartley, one almost out of nowhere from Cam Cunning and the winner off the stick of Andrej Meszaros. Albers capably quarterbacked the powerplay in Game 3 and pounced on a chance from the faceoff dot to the right of Rockets' goalie Derek Yeomans at 9:42 of the middle frame. Bartley's goal was the culmination of a monster shift alongside familiar linemates Gilbert Brule and Tim Kraus, who both laid out multiple hits en route to setting up a diving Bartley at 10:57. Cunning converted a nifty cross-ice feed from Adam Courchaine at 19:23 of the second period before Meszaros slammed home a long point shot at 9:33 of the final frame, the Giants' second powerplay tally of the night.

“We looked a little tight early in the game and when you get down 3-0 – we really stuck with it and that was the key,” Vancouver 's bench boss, Don Hay, said. “Brule really led us with some physical play and some finished checks. That line really turned it around for all of us, when he started playing physical and creating some turnovers. When you get down 3-0 and make a comeback like that, you're really happy with your hockey team.”

The G-Men stormed back in Game 2 in Kelowna , forcing overtime after trailing 3-1 entering the third period. They couldn't wait that long tonight, but have been building momentum since splitting a home-and-home finish to the regular season with these same Rockets.

“When we were down we really went at them,” Hay said. “We didn't back off, we didn't start to play individually, we just really stuck together as a team. That really gave us a chance, but obviously the confidence from last game, coming back from being down 3-1 just gave us a lot of hope.”

Marek Schwarz shoved out 25 of the 28 shots Kelowna sent his way and didn't have much chance to stop any of the three goals that snuck by him. Full of confidence with solid play for the past month, Schwarz surrendered markers to Chris Ray and Justin Keller (2) and is mirroring his teammates up front and along the blueline.

“Our confidence is really high right now,” Hay allowed. “We really feel that if we can stick with and just continue to play our game – try to play ‘Giant Hockey' – we're going to keep on moving ahead.”

Though the Giants trailed on Tuesday, they never really appeared out of the contest and stepped up the physical commitment literally halfway through the game. The Brule-Bartley-Kraus line, re-united after weeks playing apart, jumped over the boards and hit everything in sight to get their club back within a goal.

“It was just a hard-fought shift down low,” Bartley smiled, describing his important goal. “I was hitting, Gilbert was hitting and Kraus was hitting, so that's what may have caused the turnover. And Tim, from where he got the puck at the blueline, just let it go on net and we were driving and got lucky enough to put it in.”

The Rockets aren't exactly grounded, trailing just 2-1with much of this first round series to play, but they better check the fuel guage before Game 4 on Wednesday night. Albers' PP goal may have gotten Vancouver on the board, but Bartley's marker established the tone for the remainder of the night.

“A shift like that one really can (conceivably) change the series,” Bartley said. “Any time that you have your top end players playing at their best, it gets everybody else on the team motivated to do better.”

Game 4 is Wednesday at the Pacific Coliseum, where a franchise-record 12,883 fans showed up for Game 3, even though the series is being carried on television by Shaw Cable.