UPDATE - Matt Gourlie of the Moose Jaw Times-Herald has a gamer here. In it head coach Kris Knoblauch indicates that his club was a bundle of nerves to start and through the first then it got worse. Big game tonight as Kootenay doesn't want to go down 2-0 headed to MJ. However,as one poster pointed out, after a dominating start to the playoffs last season and a 2-0 lead headed to Medicine Hat, most everyone knows what happened next.....
The Score – Moose Jaw 4 – Kootenay 0
What Happened – The Warriors started the 2011 WHL Playoffs, simply put, the Ice didn’t.
The Turning Point – A puck careening of the end glass to a open Andrew Johnson to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead shouldn’t be but it was enough on this night, and a clear sign of things to come.
The Start – Perhaps only a major injury and the roof actually caving in at the Rec Plex could the beginning of the playoffs be worse for the Ice. Some numbers? Outshot 9-2 at one point; Lieuwen – three goals on five shots; Reinhart dash-3 for the first period.
The Goals – After a particularly tentative start by the home side they got burned on a bad divider when Jagger Dirks clearing pass jetted out right to Andrew Johnson in the slot from behind the net. He buried the playoffs’ first goal to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead three minutes in… The start Nathan Lieuwen didn’t need continued when a drop pass by Morgan Reilly on a rush to Quinton Howden was buried past him for a 2-0 lead. The shot was good but from 50 feet, it’s one he wanted back… A power play to try and build something collapsed when Brayden McNabb got cute at the blueline and turned the puck over to Mr. Howden. He had his second of the playoffs on a breakway and a 3-0 Warrior lead before the game was nine minutes old… The comedy of errors continued in the second with Jesse Paradis on a one-on-one rush with speed, D John Neibrandt falls at the Kootenay blueline, sending Paradis in on Lieuwen. He roofed it to make it 4-0 four minutes in and mercifully chased Lieuwen from the nets… Lieuwen would return though… Did the tide finally change in the second? On a point shot by, of all people, a covering Brock Montgomery, Brendan Hurley looked to get a stick on it to change directions of the puck and past Heemskerk. Smith conferred with his zebra brethren – the call on the ice was good goal – got on the phone and then ruled no-goal. There’s no way it could’ve been any other way on this night. I asked for a reason between periods and was told that the call on the ice was changed during the confab of officials after Smith ruled it a goal. Once they changed their mind they went upstairs looking for evidence to turn the call over. There was none.
The Discipline – There’s wasn’t any on this night. Whether it was Rintoul taking silly tripping penalties behind the play or Fraser doing the same thing in the third, stupid penalties killed any chance for the comeback.
Three Lines - Oh, and I forgot to mention that for the most part the Warriors did the damage with only three lines. With just ten regulars up front, rookies Torrin While and Brandon Potomak got very few shifts in a fourth line role.
The Crowd – 2486; some might want their money back after that effort
Rec Plex Three Stars
1. Dylan McIlrath – Led an impenetrable defense
2. Thomas Heemskerk – Was solid when called upon, which wasn’t often
3. Quiton Howden – Sniper cashed in on his chances.
What it means – Kootenay is faced with a must-win situation Saturday night and heads back to the Crushed Can Monday having to win at least one game now.
Summary:
Moose Jaw @ Kootenay - (WHL) Moose Jaw leads Eastern Conference Quarter-Final best-of-seven 1-0
Warriors 4 @ Ice 0
CRANBROOK, B.C. - Western Hockey League summary for playoff game between the Moose Jaw Warriors and the Kootenay Ice; March 25, 2011
The Moose Jaw Warriors scored three first-period goals and never looked backed as the visitors dumped the Kootenay Ice 4-0 to take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Quarter-final Friday night.
Andrew Johnson opened the scoring 3:17 into the game when a puck careened off the end boards right to him in the slot. He put his first of the playoffs past Ice goaltender Nathan Lieuwen to make it 1-0. Quinton Howden ripped his first of the post-season four minutes later to make it 2-0 and then Howden did it again, this time on a short-handed breakaway, to give the Warriors a 3-0 lead.
Jesse Paradis gave the Warriors a 4-0 lead in the second to round out the scoring for the Warriors.
Former Ice goaltender Thomas Heemskerk stopped all 30 shots he faced to get the win while Nathan Lieuwen turned aside 18 of 22 shots to take the loss.
The series resumes for game two Saturday night in Cranbrook.
First Period
1. Moose Jaw, Johnson 1 3:17
2. Moose Jaw, Howden 1 (Reilly) 7:10
3. Moose Jaw, Howden 2 8:01 (sh)
Penalties -- Antilla Ktn McFaull MJ Ehrhardt MJ (roughing) 7:53, Rintoul Ktn (cross-checking) 10:42, Rintoul Ktn (tripping) 16:56, Honejsek MJ (tripping) 17:11, McNabb Ktn (high-sticking) 20:00.
Second Period
4. Moose Jaw, Paradis 1 (Kornelsen, Bowman) 4:00
Penalties -- Rintoul Ktn (tripping) 6:41, Fioriett MJ (high-sticking) 11:37, Rintoul Ktn Ismond Ktn Fioretti MJ (roughing) 16:34.
Third Period
No Scoring.
Penalties -- Fraser Ktn (slashing) 0:52, Kornelsen MJ (tripping) 7:41, Paradis MJ (roughing) King Ktn (roughing; unsportsmanlike conduct - served by Hurley) Leach Ktn Honejscek MJ (slashing) 12:40. Reinhart Ktn (tripping) 17:18, Ismond Ktn Johnson MJ (unportsmanlike conduct) 18:36, Pearce Ktn (roughing) 19:35.
Shots on goal by
Kootenay: 7 13 10 - 30
Moose Jaw: 9 4 11 - 24
Goal -- Kootenay: Nathan Lieuwen; Teskey 4:00 of second - 2 of 2 shots; Lieuwen back in 10:50 of second (L, 0-1); Moose Jaw: Thomas Heemskerk (W, 1-0).
Power Plays -- (goals-chances)
Kootenay: 0-3
Moose Jaw: 0-9
Referee -- Pat Smith, Steve Papp. Linesman -- Jim Maniago, Micheal Roberts.
Attendance -- 2486 (4264)
Scratches --
Kootenay: Mackenzie Skapski (healthy), Luke Paulsen (shoulder - 2-4 weeks), Adam Rossignol (healthy), Mike Simpson (healthy).
Moose Jaw: Matt Franczyk, Cody Beach, Brett Lyon (suspension), Brayden Cuthbert, Jordan Wyton.
Summary courtesy Jeff Bromley of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman
3 comments:
Boy, some pretty harsh comments in this write up... hope it is a change from last year when they won
the first two easily and played awesome. Bad start but only can get better and I think it will!
One Ice player wanting more people in the stands - uh, maybe an effort on the Ice comes first, particularly from the player who made the unwarranted remark.
Sorry Iceagogo - no go! You support your team through the good and the bad, when they are losing and not just winning. And like it or not, the rink has been pretty empty all year even when the boys were playing awesome. Too put it quite frankly, this community just plain isn't supporting them other than the diehard 2500 fans that are always there. I'm a season ticket holder and proud of it and I have not missed a single game all year. Enough excuses. This year's attendance is done and gone and it doesn't look like the playoffs will be any different. I hope so called hockey town and a town that just last year finished third across Canada in the Hockeyville competition, gets its act together in time for next season and shows some of that ole time hockey town spirit and gets out there and supports this team. After all, this isn't my team or your team; its OUR team! Maybe we should start treating it as such. GO ICE GO!
Post a Comment