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Thread: Americans Advance Past Bruins With 4-1 Win

  1. #1
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    Default Americans Advance Past Bruins With 4-1 Win

    http://www.amshockey.com/news/article.src?ID=4019

    March 28, 2010

    Dan Mulhausen Tri-City Americans


    Photo courtesy of Jenna Hauck, Chilliwack Progress
    CHILLIWACK, BC - There would be no late-game heroics in Game 6. A solid game plan and a full team effort was all that the Tri-City Americans needed to finally put away the pesky Chilliwack Bruins.

    Drew Owsley stopped 33 of the 34 shots he faced while four different players scored to lead the Tri-City Americans (4-1-1, 8 pts) to a 4-1 victory over the Chilliwack Bruins (2-3-1, 4 pts) in front of 3,787 fans at the Prospera Centre. The loss ends a franchise-best year for the Bruins, who set new highs for regular season wins, points and playoff wins. Meanwhile, the Americans won their second straight game at Prospera Centre and advance to the Western Conference Semi-Finals for the third straight year. The Americans will now prepare to take on either the Vancouver Giants or Kelowna Rockets in the next round, which is tentatively set to start on Friday, April 2nd at the Toyota Center.

    On Sunday, Game 6 once again saw the Americans dominate the play in the first period. Tri-City launched 18 shots on Bruins' netminder Lucas Gore, compared to just eight by Chilliwack. And, midway through the period, the Americans struck first. Justin Feser set up Jarrett Toll in the right circle. Toll then stepped in and fired a shot on Gore. Gore, however, gave up a rebound that went straight to Patrick Holland, who then notched his second goal of the series. But, despite the discrepancy in shots, the Bruins managed to stay within one headed into the second period.

    Then, at the 8:27 mark of the second, and on the power play, Brandon Manning sent a stretch pass out to Dylen McKinlay, who carried the puck behind the Americans' net. From there, McKinlay fired a pass off the pad of Owsley and the ricochet went right to Roman Horak. Horak then buried it in a near empty-net, tying the game at 1-apiece.

    But, it proved to be the lone blemish on an otherwise stellar night for Owsley, as he and the Tri-City defense held off the desperate Bruins the rest of the way.

    Four and a half minutes after Horak tied the game, Jordan Messier tallied the eventual game-winning goal. After he kept in a Chilliwack clearing pass, Eric Mestery followed it up with a blast from the point that was redirected on net by Mason Wilgosh. Again, Gore came up with the stop, but had the rebound go straight to an Americans' player. This time, Messier swept a backhander past the sprawling netminder, putting Tri-City on top 2-1.

    After a quick flurry of shots to start the third, the Americans made it 3-1 only 1:31 into the period. Just seconds after he fired a shot off the post, Sergei Drozd made good on a second attempt to collect his second goal of the series. Then, with 3:25 remaining in regulation, and on the power play, Brooks Macek fired a wrist shot top shelf on Gore to wrap up the scoring in the contest.

    Gore, who faced 228 shots in the series, stopped 32 of the 36 shots he faced in the loss. Meanwhile, Owsley picked up his fourth playoff win in his first post-season series. The Americans finished 1-for-6 on the power play, while the Bruins were 1-for-5 on the man-advantage.

    Applebee's 3 Stars:
    1, Drew Owsley, Tri-City
    2, Zachary Yuen, Tri-City
    3, Not listed

  2. #2
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    Default Ams finally finish off Bruins

    http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/0...ff-bruins.html

    By Annie Fowler, Herald staff writer
    CHILLIWACK, B.C. -- It took a little longer than they would have liked, but the Tri-City Americans finally put an end to their first-round Western Conference playoff series with Chilliwack.

    Drew Owsley finished with 33 saves and four different players scored goals as the Americans skated away with a 4-1 victory before an announced crowd of 3,757 on Sunday at Prospera Centre.

    "It was a good series," said Tri-City coach Jim Hiller. "It didn't surprise us it was as hard as it was. It was good hockey for six games. It has been an intense 10 days. Now it's time to take a breath and get ready for the next pressure cooker."

    Tri-City won the series 4-2 to advance to the Western Conference semifinals, which begin Friday at Toyota Center.

    The Americans, the top seed from the Western Conference, will have to wait until the completion of today's Everett-Kelowna series to find out who they will play in the second round.

    Should No. 5 seed Kelowna beat No. 3 Everett, the Americans would play the Rockets. If Everett should win, the Americans would play Vancouver, which swept Kamloops.

    Chilliwack needed to win to send the series to Game 7 but didn't have enough steam left to hold off the Americans.

    "This was a tough series," said Bruins coach Marc Habscheid. "You have to expend everything, and we left everything on the ice. It seemed like the guys were spent -- we didn't have that little extra bit. The last five games took a lot out of them physically and emotionally."

    Tri-City led 2-1 after the second period and took a 3-1 lead early in the third on a Sergei Drozd goal.

    But the Bruins, who had extended the series to six games after trailing in the series 2-0 and 3-1, still had plenty of fight.

    "Going into the series, we were the underdog," said Chilliwack defenseman Matt Delahey. "Going into the third, we still believed we could do it. This is not what we wanted to have happen."

    Unlike the last two games, the Americans did not allow the Bruins to sneak back in the game. Brooks Macek made sure of that, scoring a power-play goal with 3:25 remaining for a 4-1 lead.

    "It was a good one to seal the deal," Macek said. "It's nice to win this one. They put up a fight and it was competitive to the end."

    Chilliwack outshot Tri-City 18-12 in the third, but Owsley was there to turn them all away.

    "I was a little shaky the last couple of games, but today I felt good from the drop of the puck," Owsley said. "They are a good team and they played us tough. The first round is always the hardest to win."

    The Bruins got off to a fast start, outshooting the Americans 4-2 in the opening couple minutes. But Tri-City soon took control of the flow of the game, outshooting Chilliwack 16-2 the rest of the period and taking a 1-0 lead.

    Working along the wall to the right of Chilliwack goalie Lucas Gore, Justin Feser pulled the puck out of traffic and sent it across the ice to Jarrett Toll at the left point. Toll fired the puck at Gore, who got the initial stop. But the puck ended up in the slot where Patrick Holland put it in the net at 10:56.

    Trailing 1-0 after the first, the Bruins tied things up at 8:27 when Roman Horak picked up a rebound in front of Owsley and lifted the puck in the net for a power-play goal.

    The Americans came right back to take a 2-1 lead.

    Defenseman Eric Mestery blasted a shot from the point, but the puck got caught up in skates near the crease. Mason Wilgosh managed to slip the puck to Jordan Messier, who beat Gore backdoor at the right post at 12:55.

    "To be honest, I didn't know he was there," Wilgosh said of Messier. "I was just trying to get it to the net."



    Read more: http://www.tri-cityherald.com/2010/0...#ixzz0jaiLBlem

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