Western Division Series (Anchorage wins, 3-0)
ANCHORAGE IGLOOS 3, SEATTLE SAILORS 1
When it comes to the SHL Western Division Series, the Anchorage Igloos can’t be beat. Literally. Last year, facing the heavily favored Michigan Gray Wolves, the Igloos dispatched them in a shocking three-game sweep. This year, facing a Seattle Sailors team making its first postseason appearance and riding high on the emotion of their impending move to Portland, the Igloos once again didn’t drop a single game. Today’s 3-1 victory in Game 3 completes another sweep, one that sends Anchorage to the SHL Finals for the third year in a row.
“We know how to play our best hockey at this time of year,” said Igloos C Jake Frost. “We’ve been here before, so we know what it takes to win. We don’t hesitate to step up our game, whether that’s pulling longer shifts or sacrificing our bodies to make plays. It’s second nature to us, because we’ve been here before.”
As has been typical for this series, the game was fast-paced and filled with offense. Both Anchorage’s Ty Worthington and Seattle’s Rocky Goldmire were under siege from the beginning, as the teams combined for 33 shots in the first period. Both goalies were up to the task, though, and only one shot made it through: a bouncer from Igloos RW Ben Summers that deflected off the stick of a Sailors defender and into the net, giving Anchorage a 1-0 lead at the midway point of the period.
Seattle struck back early in the second, as C Marco Venezio finished an 3-on-1 rush by putting the biscuit into a wide-open net. The crowd at Century 21 Arena roared its approval, and Igloos coach Sam Castor called time and admonished his team to tighten up on defense.
“I told my guys that there’s a difference between playing up-tempo and playing firewagon hockey,” said Castor after the game. “I felt like we were trading chances with those guys, and we’re better than that. I told them I didn’t want to see any more odd-man rushes.”
Heeding their coach’s instructions, Anchorage played a more disciplined game afterward, slowly suffocating Seattle’s chances. The Igloos’ work in the third period was particularly masterful, as they repeatedly frustrated the Sailors’ zone entries while maintaining offensive pressure of their own.
“The third was just a clinic by our guys,” said Castor. “It’s like we set up a brick wall at the blue line and wouldn’t let [the Sailors] in.”
The Igloos got the lead back just over four minutes into the final period. C Nile Bernard picked the pocket of Sailors RW Elliott Pepper as he crossed through center ice. Bernard then fired a perfect pass to LW Les Collins, who streaked past the Seattle defenders and beat Goldmire on the blocker side.
A couple minutes later, Sailors RW Vince Mango took a rare penalty for high-sticking on a failed lift check. On the ensuing power play, C Jake Frost collected the puck in the slot and put it past Goldmire, giving Anchorage a bit of insurance.
Things got a bit hairy for the Igloos in the final minute of the game, as they took a pair of penalties in quick succession and the Sailors pulled Goldmire for a 6-on-3 advantage. But the Igloos penalty kill and Worthington held strong, and the game ended with the lead intact.
The Igloos now await the winner of the Eastern playoff between Hamilton and Hershey. “I think we feel pretty confident against either of those teams,” said Frost. “They’re both strong teams, but neither one has the kind of experience we do.”
Sailors coach Harold Engellund expressed remorse at the sweep. “I really hoped we could at least win one for our fans here at home,” said Engellund. “Would have been a nice going-away present. But those guys, they’ve just got so many ways to beat you. I hope we can learn from the experience and come back stronger next year.”
W Final - Game 3, Anchorage @ Seattle, Century 21 Arena
1 2 3 OT F
Anchorage 1 0 2 3
Seattle 0 1 0 1
Anchorage G A PTS PIM +/- Seattle G A PTS PIM +/-
Koons LW 0 1 1 2 0 Argent LW 0 0 0 0 0
Keefe D 0 0 0 0 1 Lambert D 0 0 0 0 -1
Frost C 1 0 1 0 0 Beasley C 0 0 0 0 0
Martinsson D 0 0 0 0 1 Lidjya D 0 0 0 0 -1
Ericsson RW 0 1 1 2 0 Mango RW 0 0 0 2 0
Collins LW 1 0 1 0 2 Lane LW 0 0 0 2 1
Bernard C 0 2 2 0 2 Mortensen D 0 0 0 2 0
Frederick D 0 0 0 4 0 Derringer C 0 0 0 0 -2
Summers RW 1 0 1 2 2 Gatecliff D 0 0 0 2 0
Miranda LW 0 0 0 0 -1 Pepper RW 0 0 0 0 -2
Citrone D 0 0 0 2 0 Gaspard LW 0 0 0 0 -2
Theroux C 0 0 0 2 -1 Fairwood D 0 0 0 6 0
Calligan D 0 0 0 0 0 Venezio C 1 0 1 2 1
Fleury RW 0 0 0 0 -1 Durien RW 0 1 1 0 1
Kerasov D 0 1 1 0 0 Gallagher D 0 1 1 0 0
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
TOTALS 3 5 8 14 1 TOTALS 1 2 3 16 -1
Scratches:
ANC: Pomfret (DL), Kennedy, Zhlotkin
SEA: Snelling, Bacon, McElvern
Anchorage SH SV G Sv%
----------------------------------------
Worthington 40 39 1 0.975
Seattle SH SV G Sv%
----------------------------------------
Goldmire 38 35 3 0.921
First Period
------------
GOALS:
09:55 ANC Summers (Kerasov, Bernard)
PENALTIES:
02:31 ANC Koons 2:00 (Roughing)
04:01 ANC Frederick 2:00 (High-sticking)
05:53 SEA Fairwood 2:00 (Hooking)
06:19 SEA Venezio 2:00 (Diving)
12:05 SEA Fairwood 2:00 (Unsportsmanlike Conduct)
12:15 SEA Mortensen 2:00 (High-sticking)
Second Period
-------------
GOALS:
01:48 SEA Venezio (Durien, Gallagher)
PENALTIES:
02:16 SEA Fairwood 2:00 (Slashing)
09:29 SEA Lane 2:00 (Slashing)
10:46 ANC Ericsson 2:00 (Tripping)
Third Period
------------
GOALS:
04:08 ANC Collins (Bernard)
07:21 ANC Frost PP (Koons, Ericsson)
PENALTIES:
01:35 ANC Summers 2:00 (High-sticking)
04:14 ANC Citrone 2:00 (Diving)
06:41 SEA Mango 2:00 (High-sticking)
12:11 SEA Gatecliff 2:00 (Tripping)
19:15 ANC Frederick 2:00 (High-sticking)
19:22 ANC Theroux 2:00 (Diving)
SHOTS
------
1 2 3 OT F
Anchorage 14 10 14 38
Seattle 19 10 11 40
POWER PLAYS
-----------
Anchorage 1 for 8
Seattle 0 for 7
INJURIES
--------
None
Eastern Division Series (Hamilton leads, 2-1)
HAMILTON PISTOLS 5, HERSHEY BLISS 0
Coming into the postseason, the Hamilton Pistols felt that they had a secret weapon: their rowdy home crowds. The Gunpowder Armory is the league’s oldest arena by far, and Hamilton’s hockey-mad fans know how to rattle the rafters with their claps, stomps, and cheers. During last year’s playoff against Quebec, the Pistols looked like a different team in front of their home crowd; they had an extra spark, some extra crowd-fueled energy.
“We’ve got good working-class fans here who love the game,” said coach Keith Shields. “And when they’ve got a couple beers in ‘em and they’re feeling that playoff energy… well, they make a ton of noise, and it really fires our guys up. We’ve got the best fans in the league, if you ask me.”
In today’s Game 3, the Armory was at full crazy, and the Pistols responded. They blew past the shell-shocked Hershey Bliss, and moved themselves within a game of their first Finals appearance with a 5-0 shutout.
“[The Bliss] didn’t know what hit ‘em,” said Shields. “As soon as they took the ice and heard our fans hollering their lungs out… you could see it in their eyes. They didn’t know how to handle it.”
The roar in the building was deafening at opening puck drop. It didn’t get any quieter when Bliss D Cedric Meloche was penalized for tripping just ten seconds into the game. And when Pistols RW Kenny Patterson found the lower left corner of the net on the ensuing power play, it felt as though the old arena might just tumble to the ground.
“The bench was literally shaking,” said LW Steven Alexander. “It was kind of like, ‘Holy [crap], is this an earthquake?’”
The crowd shouted hosannas to Patterson and jeers to the Bliss. The hubbub had barely died down when Patterson scored again, this time on a sharp angle shot that Bliss goalie Brandon Colt couldn’t quite reach.
For Patterson, a veteran winger who was contemplating retirement before signing an extension with Hamilton last summer, the playoff atmosphere validated his decision to return.
“As a player, this is what you get up for,” said Patterson. “The energy in the building was just through the roof, and we definitely fed off of that.”
The Bliss managed to keep the Pistols off the board for the rest of the period, and the crowd’s buzz dimmed a bit as the scoreless second period unfolded. Late in the period, though, Hershey D Bruce Minnik made the fateful decision to pick a fight with Hamilton D Clayton “Crusher” Risch. Minnik said later that he was trying to fire up his team. He may have done that, but the fight also woke up the crowd, which got back to full boil in the final minute of the period when Bliss LW Russ Nahorniak was sent to the penalty box for hooking.
At the start of the third, Hershey found themselves in a 5-on-3 situation when D Steve Cargill was sent off for cross-checking. The Bliss managed to kill of the penalty, but they couldn’t get the puck out of their end, and RW Claude Lafayette made the exhausted visitors pay with a redirection of a Vitaly Dyomin slap shot that beat Colt.
“We knew we’d won at that point, and so did they,” said Lafayette.
The Pistols gave their fans plenty to cheer in the remainder of the period: goals from LW Magnus Gunnarson and D Albie Glasco, and a rousing fight between D Hercules Mulligan and Cargill. But as the minutes wound down, the crowd had a different goal in mind. For the last ten minutes, chants of “Over in four! Over in four!” echoed through the old area.
Alexander is on board with the fans’ desire. “We want to get this done, right here, and celebrate with our fans on home ice,” he said. “They’ve come this far with us, and they deserve it.”
E Final - Game 3, Hershey @ Hamilton, Gunpowder Armory
1 2 3 OT F
Hershey 0 0 0 0
Hamilton 2 0 3 5
Hershey G A PTS PIM +/- Hamilton G A PTS PIM +/-
Milton D 0 0 0 4 0 Alexander LW 0 1 1 0 2
Valentine C 0 0 0 0 -2 Smyth D 0 2 2 0 2
Baldwin D 0 0 0 0 -2 Frye C 0 1 1 0 2
Hart RW 0 0 0 0 -2 Risch D 0 0 0 7 0
Nahorniak LW 0 0 0 2 -2 Lafayette RW 1 1 2 0 2
Meloche D 0 0 0 2 -2 Gunnarson LW 1 0 1 0 1
Kirkpatrick C 0 0 0 0 -1 Mulligan D 0 0 0 5 0
Montrechere RW 0 0 0 0 -1 Glasco D 1 1 2 0 2
Danielsen LW 0 0 0 0 -1 Patterson RW 2 0 2 0 1
Aubin D 0 0 0 0 -2 Campbell LW 0 0 0 0 1
Daniels RW 0 0 0 0 -1 Dyomin D 0 1 1 0 2
Minnik D 0 0 0 5 -2 Marais C 0 1 1 0 1
Ketterman C 0 0 0 0 -1 Hampton D 0 1 1 0 2
Swindonburg LW 0 0 0 0 -1 Estabrook F 0 0 0 2 1
Cargill D 0 0 0 7 0 Costello C 0 1 1 0 1
---------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------
TOTALS 0 0 0 20 -4 TOTALS 5 10 15 14 4
Scratches:
HSY: Kulkarov, Chappelle, Lapointe, Sweet (DL)
HAM: Constantine, Baker, Klemmer
Hershey SH SV G Sv%
----------------------------------------
Colt 30 25 5 0.833
Hamilton SH SV G Sv%
----------------------------------------
Koskinen 23 23 0 1.000
First Period
------------
GOALS:
01:19 HAM Patterson PP (Smyth, Glasco)
06:55 HAM Patterson (Smyth, Costello)
PENALTIES:
00:10 HSY Meloche 2:00 (Tripping)
18:01 HAM Estabrook 2:00 (Roughing)
18:48 HSY Milton 4:00 (Spearing)
Second Period
-------------
GOALS:
None
PENALTIES:
15:03 HAM Risch 5:00 (Fighting)
15:03 HSY Minnik 5:00 (Fighting)
19:18 HSY Nahorniak 2:00 (Hooking)
Third Period
------------
GOALS:
02:51 HAM Lafayette (Dyomin, Alexander)
09:47 HAM Gunnarson (Hampton, Marais)
15:14 HAM Glasco (Lafayette, Frye)
PENALTIES:
00:01 HSY Cargill 2:00 (Cross-checking)
10:48 HAM Risch 2:00 (Hooking)
14:12 HAM Mulligan 5:00 (Fighting)
14:12 HSY Cargill 5:00 (Fighting)
SHOTS
------
1 2 3 OT F
Hershey 9 5 9 23
Hamilton 15 7 8 30
POWER PLAYS
-----------
Hershey 0 for 2
Hamilton 1 for 4
INJURIES
--------
None
