Herald
Nightmare ending
Prince George's come-from-behind victory Saturday night carries over to Game 6 as the Cougars score early and often in an 8-2 mauling of the Silvertips Monday night.
By Nick Patterson
Herald Writer
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. - And just like that the Everett Silvertips are gone.
Not with a bang, but a whimper.
In the most disheartening fashion imaginable, the top-ranked team in the Canadian Hockey League saw its season come crashing to an end Monday night as the Silvertips were demolished 8-2 by Prince George in Game 6 of their second-round playoff series.
"No doubt, this was rough," Everett captain Jason Fransoo said. "We definitely expected to come in here and get a win, but obviously it was the last thing from that. I guess you could say we just failed under pressure as a team."
Everett was a team that had aspirations of winning the Memorial Cup this season. Instead, the Tips lost their final four games to lose the the best-of-seven series 4-2, bringing the season to an unexpected premature end.
"By no means did anybody in this organization want to be heading home this early," Everett right wing Moises Gutierrez said. "Nobody's in any position to point fingers. We just have to think about what we accomplished. I'm not going to sit here and say it's not disappointing to be going home, but hats off to Prince George, they played phenomenal."
This was a train wreck of a season finale if ever there was one. Everett trailed 3-0 after 14 minutes and 6-0 after 26. Goaltender Leland Irving lasted less than 12 minutes before being pulled, and replacement David Reekie didn't fare any better.
Meanwhile the Cougars, playing before a sellout crowd at the CN Centre for the first time in nine years, were at their very best while the Tips were at their very worst.
Nick Drazenovic and Richard Rapac scored two goals apiece for Prince George, which won the series 4-2 and advanced to face Vancouver in the Western Conference finals.
Devin Setoguchi, Greg Gardner, Ty Wishart and Jared Walker also scored and Real Cyr made 28 saves in goal for the Cougars, who have the appearance of a team being fitted for Cindarella's slipper.
After a pedestrian regular season, the Prince George boulder is rolling downhill and gaining speed.
"I thought that was probably our best game of the playoffs to date," Prince George coach Drew Schoneck said. "We knew we were going to have a good crowd, we had lots of energy and we just came right after them. We got some goals early, that really got us going and I think it kind of took some wind out of their sails."
Prince George dominated right from the opening faceoff as Everett looked like a team that never recovered from surrendering a 3-0 third-period lead in losing Game 5. Rapac and Setoguchi scored in the first 11:14 to give the Cougars a 2-0 lead and chase Irving, and it snowballed from there.
"It reminded me of Super Bowl games or NCAA championship football games, where if one team gets a lead, the other team gets desperate and tries to do too much and you open the game up," Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. "That kind of happened. We gave up a goal and then everybody wanted to make up for it, and that kind of compounded things and made it worse.
"They did a good job, we couldn't stop a couple of their key guys and that was the difference."
Irving, counted on to hold the fort as Everett tried to weather the early Prince George storm, wasn't up to the task, giving up two goals on seven shots. That continued a rough stretch for Irving, who gave up 15 goals in the final three-plus games of the series. Reekie gave up the final six goals on 23 shots.
Peter Mueller and Taylor Ellington scored consolation third-period goals for Everett, but by then it was far too late.
"I still think we're going to go back and watch video," Everett center Peter Mueller said. "But it's done. No one would ever have expected us to be out this early, so it's tough to swallow.
"It's tough, but we have a bunch of great guys in there who kept working to the end," Mueller added. "It shows character that we didn't quit. I love the boys in that room right now."
Prince George couldn't have scripted a better first period. It began at 5:01 when the Tips were unable to jam the puck out of the zone along the boards. Rapac latched onto the loose puck and fired a shot from the right circle that found the far-upper corner to give the Cougars a dream start.
It was quickly 2-0. Playing four-on-four Setoguchi controlled the puck in the left corner and whipped a shot toward the goal from a tight angle that beat Irving at 11:14. That goal sent Irving to the bench in favor of Reekie.
But Reekie couldn't change Everett's fortune. A turnover by Dan Gendur in the offensive zone sent Drazenovic on a breakaway at 13:47, and Drazenovic put a shot between Reekie's legs to make it 3-0.
Later it was a comedy of errors by Everett early in the second period that turned it into a laugher. Gutierrez took a double-minor for butt ending, and the Tips were called for too many men on the ice shortly after, giving the Cougars a full two minutes of five-on-three. Drazenovic scored on the five-on-three and Rapac scored on the five-on-four.
Then a giveaway behind the net by Reekie led to a goal by Gardner, and after a mere 5:16 the score had gone from 3-0 to 6-0 - and the Tips were headed for the offseason.
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Tipped Off