Kassian
04-03-2005, 02:32 PM
From: http://www.vancouvergiants.com
The Vancouver Giants gave it their all on Saturday against Kelowna, but bowed out to the defending Memorial Cup champions in six hotly contested games. The Rockets, a goal better all season long against the G-Men, managed yet another close victory in the deciding match that finished up 3-2. Not many would have expected Vancouver to force a long series against their BC Division counterpart and after splitting the first four games, all they're left with is disappointment.
Mitch Bartley, a big-time scorer in the second half of the regular season and into the playoffs, got his first of two goals in Game 6 while the Giants were killing a penalty at 7:36 of the first period. The burly 19-year-old winger later tied the contest 2-2 with another marker at 3:43 of the third. Hulking defenseman Mark Fistric spotted Bartley breaking across the neutral zone for the shorthanded tally before Gilbert Brule sent a nifty cross-ice pass to him and Bartley put a shot from the top of the slot along the ice to beat Kelowna goalie Derek Yeomans.
“I think it was a heck of a series,” Giants' Head Coach Don Hay surmised. “Both teams battled very hard and if we had gotten a couple of breaks in overtime, we win some of those close games. It's hard to win in the playoffs and it's even harder to beat the defending Memorial Cup champs. They seemed to respond whenever they got pushed and scored at the right times and took advantage of their opportunities.”
Kelowna got goals from three prominent performers and despite super goaltending by Vancouver 's Marek Schwarz in the final two games especially, the Rockets took advantage of any chance they could get. Justin Keller tied the game 1-1 on a powerplay with his fifth goal of the series at 8:24 of the opening frame and Tyler Spurgeon scored his third of the post-season to put Kelowna up 2-1 at 13:51 of the second. Lauris
Darzins, a scoring machine in the series' final three contests, made his third goal of the playoffs stand up as the clincher at 10:14 of the final stanza.
“We had some lulls in our game,” Hay admitted. “Every game we seemed to have a little bit of a lull and that lull kind of hurt us. I think we're still learning what it takes to compete hard for 60 minutes and to be a real solid team. We've come a long way since the start of the year, the guys have shown a lot of character and maturity and I was really proud of the effort we put forth.”
Game 6 marked the final stop for three Giants' 20-year-olds, now too old to come back for next year in the Western Hockey League. Defenseman Conlan Seder helped on special teams and in the wake of two devastating jaw injuries to Fistric after coming over from Kamloops during the season. Captain Triston Grant also took up some leadership slack when Fistric got hurt, and chipped in 20 goals in his final junior campaign. Adam Courchaine leaves as the Giants' all-time leading scorer and had 50 assists during the regular season and led the club in post-season scoring.
“It was fun but it's tough to lose and you never think of what it will feel like after your last game and it sucks,” a tearful Courchaine said after it was all over. “It's weird – it's really tough, but life goes on and the time here I had was awesome.”
Courchaine is property of the Minnesota Wild and Grant was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in last summer's National Hockey League draft. The rough and tumble Grant, perhaps the toughest player in the WHL this season, may be headed to the American Hockey League to finish the season with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Heading into their playoffs, the Phantoms would be lucky to have him.
“That was, by far, the toughest series I've been involved with,” Grant said. “It was physical shift in and shift out, and a well fought battle by both teams. A couple breaks here and there, I think, decided it but I'm proud of the guys and I thought we just put up a great battle with no regrets.”
Bartley and the rest of his mates left everything out on the ice in the deciding game, without a care for Game 7 had they even gotten that far.
“If we don't do it now, what do we have to save it for?” Bartley queried. “In the third period our guys went out there and gave it all they could, but unfortunately for us it was just a little too late.”
Hay took a team tabbed for a breakout campaign through a long journey that finally ended on Saturday. The regular season had its ups and downs, but there's no doubt the physically-charged G-Men followed their behind-the-bench leader into the playoff trenches with honour.
“Both teams seemed to play as hard as they could tonight,” Hay said. “Not only does (physical play) take a toll on the other team but it's going to take its toll on you. We had bigger, weightier guys and we tried to be physical and finish our checks off. That's the way we felt we could compete with them because they're a very hard working hockey team and if you're not prepared to play every shift as hard as possible you're going to have breakdowns.”
The fans sure appreciated the 2004/05 Giants, turning out in record numbers for three playoff games. Over 12, 000 patrons attended Game 3, with 13,000+ coming through the turnstiles for Game 4. Game 6 was over the top as a British Columbia all-time junior hockey attendance record was set when 16,183 fans came out to cheer on their team.
The Vancouver Giants gave it their all on Saturday against Kelowna, but bowed out to the defending Memorial Cup champions in six hotly contested games. The Rockets, a goal better all season long against the G-Men, managed yet another close victory in the deciding match that finished up 3-2. Not many would have expected Vancouver to force a long series against their BC Division counterpart and after splitting the first four games, all they're left with is disappointment.
Mitch Bartley, a big-time scorer in the second half of the regular season and into the playoffs, got his first of two goals in Game 6 while the Giants were killing a penalty at 7:36 of the first period. The burly 19-year-old winger later tied the contest 2-2 with another marker at 3:43 of the third. Hulking defenseman Mark Fistric spotted Bartley breaking across the neutral zone for the shorthanded tally before Gilbert Brule sent a nifty cross-ice pass to him and Bartley put a shot from the top of the slot along the ice to beat Kelowna goalie Derek Yeomans.
“I think it was a heck of a series,” Giants' Head Coach Don Hay surmised. “Both teams battled very hard and if we had gotten a couple of breaks in overtime, we win some of those close games. It's hard to win in the playoffs and it's even harder to beat the defending Memorial Cup champs. They seemed to respond whenever they got pushed and scored at the right times and took advantage of their opportunities.”
Kelowna got goals from three prominent performers and despite super goaltending by Vancouver 's Marek Schwarz in the final two games especially, the Rockets took advantage of any chance they could get. Justin Keller tied the game 1-1 on a powerplay with his fifth goal of the series at 8:24 of the opening frame and Tyler Spurgeon scored his third of the post-season to put Kelowna up 2-1 at 13:51 of the second. Lauris
Darzins, a scoring machine in the series' final three contests, made his third goal of the playoffs stand up as the clincher at 10:14 of the final stanza.
“We had some lulls in our game,” Hay admitted. “Every game we seemed to have a little bit of a lull and that lull kind of hurt us. I think we're still learning what it takes to compete hard for 60 minutes and to be a real solid team. We've come a long way since the start of the year, the guys have shown a lot of character and maturity and I was really proud of the effort we put forth.”
Game 6 marked the final stop for three Giants' 20-year-olds, now too old to come back for next year in the Western Hockey League. Defenseman Conlan Seder helped on special teams and in the wake of two devastating jaw injuries to Fistric after coming over from Kamloops during the season. Captain Triston Grant also took up some leadership slack when Fistric got hurt, and chipped in 20 goals in his final junior campaign. Adam Courchaine leaves as the Giants' all-time leading scorer and had 50 assists during the regular season and led the club in post-season scoring.
“It was fun but it's tough to lose and you never think of what it will feel like after your last game and it sucks,” a tearful Courchaine said after it was all over. “It's weird – it's really tough, but life goes on and the time here I had was awesome.”
Courchaine is property of the Minnesota Wild and Grant was selected by the Philadelphia Flyers in last summer's National Hockey League draft. The rough and tumble Grant, perhaps the toughest player in the WHL this season, may be headed to the American Hockey League to finish the season with the Philadelphia Phantoms. Heading into their playoffs, the Phantoms would be lucky to have him.
“That was, by far, the toughest series I've been involved with,” Grant said. “It was physical shift in and shift out, and a well fought battle by both teams. A couple breaks here and there, I think, decided it but I'm proud of the guys and I thought we just put up a great battle with no regrets.”
Bartley and the rest of his mates left everything out on the ice in the deciding game, without a care for Game 7 had they even gotten that far.
“If we don't do it now, what do we have to save it for?” Bartley queried. “In the third period our guys went out there and gave it all they could, but unfortunately for us it was just a little too late.”
Hay took a team tabbed for a breakout campaign through a long journey that finally ended on Saturday. The regular season had its ups and downs, but there's no doubt the physically-charged G-Men followed their behind-the-bench leader into the playoff trenches with honour.
“Both teams seemed to play as hard as they could tonight,” Hay said. “Not only does (physical play) take a toll on the other team but it's going to take its toll on you. We had bigger, weightier guys and we tried to be physical and finish our checks off. That's the way we felt we could compete with them because they're a very hard working hockey team and if you're not prepared to play every shift as hard as possible you're going to have breakdowns.”
The fans sure appreciated the 2004/05 Giants, turning out in record numbers for three playoff games. Over 12, 000 patrons attended Game 3, with 13,000+ coming through the turnstiles for Game 4. Game 6 was over the top as a British Columbia all-time junior hockey attendance record was set when 16,183 fans came out to cheer on their team.