Rockets rub out Giants
By Doyle Potenteau
It‘s been four years since the Kelowna Rockets last hoisted a banner. On Monday night, the Rockets added a new one: 2009 Western Conference champions.
Mikael Backlund scored a hat trick for Kelowna, including the game-winning goal in overtime, as the Rockets rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to defeat the Vancouver Giants 5-4 in WHL playoff action. With the win, Kelowna claimed its first Western Conference championship since 2005, and third in franchise history, winning the best-of-seven series 4-2.
Kelowna will now meet the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL final. That series is tentatively scheduled to start in Calgary with Games 1 and 2 this Friday and Saturday at the Pengrowth Saddledome.
Backlund‘s game-winning goal came four minutes into overtime, as he deflected a shot from Tysen Dowzak at the left blue-line boards. Dowzak‘s shot appeared to go off Backlund‘s raised arms before deflecting past Giants goaltender Tysen Sexsmith. The Giants called for an immediate review, a process which took approximately five minutes before it was called a goal.
"It went off my stick," said Backlund, a Calgary Flames draft pick. "Or, I thought it went off my stick. I don‘t know; I‘ll have to take a closer look at it. But this was an unbelievable win.
"We were down, but the team kept coming back. We dominated them in the second period and we were all over them. Now we play Calgary, and I‘m happy for that. When they won the (Eastern Conference), I was happy because I wanted to play them in the final. I love going there, I love the city because it‘s unbelievable and I love the rink there. I have good memories there, and I can‘t wait to go there."
Meanwhile, Giants goaltender Tyson Sexsmith said the goal should have been studied closer.
"What I saw is he went up with both hands in the air – I‘d say neck-high– and the blade could have been at crossbar height," Sexsmith said of Backlund‘s game-winning deflection. "But where the puck made contact was below his top hand, and that was definitely above the crossbar.
"I don‘t know what the rule is clearly enough, so, obviously, part of his stick was under the crossbar, if that is the rule. But it definitely did make contact with his stick."
"We looked at it and we can‘t really tell," added Giants general manager Scott Bonner. "It‘s all in the past now, and good for Kelowna because they deserved to win the series. They‘ll be a good competitor for Calgary."
Evander Kane, with two goals, Jon Blum and James Henry scored for Vancouver, which raced out to leads of 1-0 and 3-1 before the first period was over. Jamie Benn and Cody Almond, with goals 33 seconds apart late in the third, also scored for Kelowna, which outshot Vancouver 32-17, including 18-6 in the third.
Mark Guggenberger made 13 saves for the Rockets, while Sexsmith stopped 27 shots for the Giants. On Sunday, Vancouver listed Sexsmith as a possible scratch, saying he wasn‘t 100 per cent and might be sick with the flu.
After Kelowna narrowly missed scoring in the opening 30 seconds, with a shot rolling through Vancouver‘s crease, Blum scored the game‘s first goal at 4:11, knifing home a high power-play slapshot from the blue-line. Backlund levelled the score six minutes later, going five-hole after dangling in the slot. The Giants, however, regained their lead, then added to it before the frame ended, with Kane wristing in a rebound on the power play at 16:27, then Henry going high glove side on a breakaway at 18:58 to make it 3-1.
In the second, Backlund drew Kelowna to within one at 17:19 with a highlight-reel goal. With the Rockets on the power play, Backlund ragged the puck across the Giants‘ blue-line, cut through two defenders, then, while falling, loosed a hard, top-shelf shot just before a third Giant came in to help defend.
In the third, the Rockets lost top defenceman Tyler Myers for boarding when he crushed Giants defenceman Craig Schira into Vancouver‘s end boards. Schira was cut on the hit – he required 10 stitches, also suffered a concussion plus a broken hand – and Myers was hit for a major and a game misconduct.
"It‘s unfortunate because I thought Myers was the best player in the series," said Bonner. "It‘s just two guys and it‘s unfortunate the way it happened."
Ten seconds into their five-minute power play, Kane banged in a rebound to make it 4-2 Giants. But in the dying minutes of the period, the Rockets rallied and began throwing waves of offence at Vancouver, and, at 15:55, Benn made it 4-3 with a power-play goal. Then, at 16:28, Almond made it 4-3 with a screened wrister from the slot to force overtime.
"We scored really quick on the power play, then we burned up four-and-a-half minutes of nothing," said Bonner. "We had to get that finishing goal there, and I was sitting with Pat (Quinn) and we were worried that when we didn‘t get that goal, they would build momentum off it instead of us. And they did."
"They‘re a good team, and anytime you give a good team a chance to score, they‘re going to," said Sexsmith. "I don‘t think you can get comfortable. We‘re up 3-1, they make it 3-2, then we‘re able to make it 4-2. It‘s a game where one team is fighting for its life and the other is fighting to move on. Neither team is going to give up, and they had that killer instinct, where they were able to push and push until they were able to tie it up."
After the game, Myers was named the Western Conference series‘ MVP.
"This is an unbelievable feeling," said Myers, a 6-foot-8 blue-liner from DeWinton, Alta., and Buffalo Sabres first-round draft pick. "I can‘t say enough about the guys and how they battled back. It was tough to watch (in my street clothes) after I took that penalty, but the guys played so well. Now there‘s one more series to go, and we‘re looking forward to playing Calgary."
ICE CHIPS: Kelowna‘s scratches were RW Shane McColgan, RW Spencer Main and D Kyle Verdino. Vancouver‘s scratches were D Neil Manning, RW Brendan Gallagher, LW J.T. Barnett, C Todd Kennedy and D Bronson Maschmeyer... Kelowna was 2-for-4 on the power play; Vancouver was 3-for-5... The three stars were Backlund, Kane and Benn. Casey Pierro-Zabotel finished the game with a +/- of -3.
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Originally Posted by 1978giantsfan
