Kassian
04-02-2005, 01:47 AM
From: http://www.vancouvergiants.com
Adam Courchaine and the Vancouver Giants put up a good fight on Friday, but lost 3-2 in Kelowna and trail their first round Western Conference playoff series by the same margin 3-2. The G-Men took a 2-1 lead a few minutes into the second period, only to see the Rockets score twice in 65 seconds to gain the momentum they needed to eke out the win.
Courchaine opened the scoring for Vancouver when he converted his own rebound at 13:39 of the opening frame for his fourth goal of the playoffs. The dominant 20-year-old centre also set up Paul Albers, on a powerplay, at 3:10 of the second to give the Giants the one-goal bulge. Cam Cunning collected two assists, skating alongside Courchaine and Mitch Bartley, who boasted one helper.
I thought Adam Courchaine was outstanding tonight again for the third game in a row, Giants' Head Coach Don Hay stated. I hope our fans get to see that kind of performance from him tomorrow night in Vancouver because he's been our best player in the series. He's really taken charge of this hockey team right now. He really wants to change the culture of the team and when I say change the culture he wants to be the guy that's known for leading this team past a Memorial Cup team.
Marek Schwarz stopped 22 of 25 Rockets' shots, but gave up the winning goal when Kelowna captain Bret Palin broke in and scored at 13:14 of the middle stanza. 1:05 earlier scoring hero Lauris Darzins connected on a powerplay to tie the contest. Darzins, from Latvia , also helped Palin set up Blake Comeau on a PP at 9:59 of the first period, one game after scoring the overtime winner that tied the series 2-2.
The Giants came out determined to pile up their shots totals on Kelowna netminder Derek Yeomans. Mission accomplished in the opening period, but Yeomans got a bit of a free pass for the remainder of the night, making 21 stops.
We had a great first period when we had 13 shots, but then we only had ten the rest of the way, Hay reported. We didn't generate as much offense as we would have liked. I thought their powerplay was better than our powerplay tonight, so obviously their penalty killing was better than our penalty killing. They won the battle of the special teams for sure even though it was a pretty close, intense game.
Vancouver went 1/6 with the man advantage and never put sustained offensive pressure on the Rockets. The physical style the club has exhibited to this point in the post-season continued, however Kelowna didn't appeared fazed in any way.
They play well and they didn't get frantic, Hay said of the Rockets. We (even) had a five minute spell at one point where we got a little bit running around and they were really putting the pressure on us. They're pretty poised, pretty composed and we weren't really able to create much off the forecheck. We scored the first goal off a really good forecheck and a turnover where we pressured them into a mistake and Adam was able to score on the rebound though.
Every superlative in the book can be used to describe the Giants' plight heading into Game 6 at the Pacific Coliseum at 7PM on Saturday. Facing elimination with their backs against the wall, its gut-check time when they'll need to score early and often and leave everything out on the ice to stay alive in the playoffs.
If you want to beat the Memorial Cup champs you've got to be way better than them, said Hay, who won a pair of Cups as Head Coach of the Kamloops Blazers. We have more to give and we're going to be a lot better tomorrow. It's a great experience for the guys to go through a series like this. It would be even better to go through a seven-game series because that way you really see what guys are made out of and you really see if they can stomach the battle. A lot of guys can rise up to the occasion because it's a huge challenge for them and a lot of guys will back off. You really see what type of players you have and what type of character your team has.
Adam Courchaine and the Vancouver Giants put up a good fight on Friday, but lost 3-2 in Kelowna and trail their first round Western Conference playoff series by the same margin 3-2. The G-Men took a 2-1 lead a few minutes into the second period, only to see the Rockets score twice in 65 seconds to gain the momentum they needed to eke out the win.
Courchaine opened the scoring for Vancouver when he converted his own rebound at 13:39 of the opening frame for his fourth goal of the playoffs. The dominant 20-year-old centre also set up Paul Albers, on a powerplay, at 3:10 of the second to give the Giants the one-goal bulge. Cam Cunning collected two assists, skating alongside Courchaine and Mitch Bartley, who boasted one helper.
I thought Adam Courchaine was outstanding tonight again for the third game in a row, Giants' Head Coach Don Hay stated. I hope our fans get to see that kind of performance from him tomorrow night in Vancouver because he's been our best player in the series. He's really taken charge of this hockey team right now. He really wants to change the culture of the team and when I say change the culture he wants to be the guy that's known for leading this team past a Memorial Cup team.
Marek Schwarz stopped 22 of 25 Rockets' shots, but gave up the winning goal when Kelowna captain Bret Palin broke in and scored at 13:14 of the middle stanza. 1:05 earlier scoring hero Lauris Darzins connected on a powerplay to tie the contest. Darzins, from Latvia , also helped Palin set up Blake Comeau on a PP at 9:59 of the first period, one game after scoring the overtime winner that tied the series 2-2.
The Giants came out determined to pile up their shots totals on Kelowna netminder Derek Yeomans. Mission accomplished in the opening period, but Yeomans got a bit of a free pass for the remainder of the night, making 21 stops.
We had a great first period when we had 13 shots, but then we only had ten the rest of the way, Hay reported. We didn't generate as much offense as we would have liked. I thought their powerplay was better than our powerplay tonight, so obviously their penalty killing was better than our penalty killing. They won the battle of the special teams for sure even though it was a pretty close, intense game.
Vancouver went 1/6 with the man advantage and never put sustained offensive pressure on the Rockets. The physical style the club has exhibited to this point in the post-season continued, however Kelowna didn't appeared fazed in any way.
They play well and they didn't get frantic, Hay said of the Rockets. We (even) had a five minute spell at one point where we got a little bit running around and they were really putting the pressure on us. They're pretty poised, pretty composed and we weren't really able to create much off the forecheck. We scored the first goal off a really good forecheck and a turnover where we pressured them into a mistake and Adam was able to score on the rebound though.
Every superlative in the book can be used to describe the Giants' plight heading into Game 6 at the Pacific Coliseum at 7PM on Saturday. Facing elimination with their backs against the wall, its gut-check time when they'll need to score early and often and leave everything out on the ice to stay alive in the playoffs.
If you want to beat the Memorial Cup champs you've got to be way better than them, said Hay, who won a pair of Cups as Head Coach of the Kamloops Blazers. We have more to give and we're going to be a lot better tomorrow. It's a great experience for the guys to go through a series like this. It would be even better to go through a seven-game series because that way you really see what guys are made out of and you really see if they can stomach the battle. A lot of guys can rise up to the occasion because it's a huge challenge for them and a lot of guys will back off. You really see what type of players you have and what type of character your team has.