Ice push Hawks to the edge...

Don't know what happened to Blogger but it seems to be back up now.

Looking at the highlites and the penalty in OT (arent replays great? You can critique forever and a day). Bartschi was hit hard by Martin in the corner and skated right to King. He get's his forearm up and it's right in front of the ref. Again, the reason I didn't think anything would be called (except the obvious dumb delay-of-game stuff) is that I thought the stripes established late that pretty much anything this side of murder and a scoring chance goes. Maybe the back ref thought it was but he looks to lunge for the puck and then comes up with the forearm when he didn't get the puck.

All history now...

The Score – Portland 4 – Kootenay 5 OT – Ice lead best-of-seven 3-1

What Happened – Kootenay had a lead and surrendered again but again, they dominated in overtime and Matt Fraser pushed the Hawks to brink of elimination.

The Turning Point – Six minutes into the overtime, after killing Ty Rattie's clearing pass into the stands just minutes prior, Sven Bartschi was assessed a roughing penalty. It was a strange, and bad, call for something that had gone on all night. Kootenay's ailing power play finally clicked for the first time in both home games and now the Ice have a chance to win it all. A case could also be made for Ismond's second goal in the last two minutes of the second period.

The Goals – Before many of the Rec Plex faithful could get to their seats, Steele Boomer chipped the puck up off the centre boards to Eric Benoit. He dished it Ismond with speed. Ismond wired his 3rd of the playoffs glove side over Carruth for his 3rd of playoffs 19 seconds in…. After giving Portland most of the play for about five minutes following the first goal, Cody Eakin caused a turnover in the Hawks end. He dished it to Joey Leach whose slapshot Eakin tipped past Carruth…. In the second the Hawks got on the board just as McNabb stepped out of the penalty box when Riley Boychuk found Ryan Johansen at Lieuwen's back door. He didn't miss. 2-1 Ice… Nathan Lieuwen stopped them from just about everywhere in the second except from about 80 feet when Hawk d-man Troy Rutkowski decided to fire the puck on net instead of just dumping it in. The shot hit Joey Leach and changed direction, fooling Lieuwen as he lost sight of it. 2-2… Jesse Ismond salvaged a dismal Ice middle frame when, with both King and Niederreiter off with coincidental minors, Cody Eakin found Ismond with speed in the Hawk zone with a great backhand pass. Ismond deked Carruth to the ice and put his second of the night past him for a 3-2 Ice lead… Ismond and Eakin hooked up again, this time on a four-on-four, when Eakin ripped his 11th of the playoffs to give the Ice a 4-2 lead… Game over right? Not a chance. At the tail end of another power play that the Hawks didn't convert Ryan Johansen intercepted a puck in the neutral zone just as it ended. He skated in the zone, used Leach as a screen, and beat Lieuwen top shelf with 3:35 to play… In a furious rally in the dying seconds a Hawk point-shot was blocked or didn't get through the loose puck ended up on Ty Rattie's stick to the right of Lieuwen. He lifted it over him to tie with 17 seconds left…. In overtime it was all Kootenay, out-shooting the Hawks 11-4, and on their second power play Jesse Ismond found a wide-open Matt Fraser for the game-winner.

The Saves – Nathan Lieuwen started the night where he left off 24 hours earlier. After the first goal it was all Winterhawks but the Abbotsford product was stellar. He stopped Bartschi, again, early and then he robbed Leipsic on the shot and then the backhand rebound with the outstretched glove 3.5 minutes into the period. Though he let in two goals in the period Carruth was not to be outdone, stopping Fraser with the toe save on a one-timed pass from Reinhart. Lieuwen kept the Ice in it when he needed to.

The Hit – Brendan Hurley made the most of his shifts in the first with a blast on the end boards on William Wrenn that had the former NCAA'er hearing footsteps the rest of the period. Unfortunately Hurley also took out Steele Boomer as the latter was backchecking up ice. Hurley had Pearce Eviston in his sights but Boomer skated into the lane at the last second and the teammates collided. Boomer never missed a shift but I don't know how.

The Phantom Call – For a strange reason the referees stopped play in the Ice zone before the Hawks last time-out. One linesman singled off-side and that the face-off was coming out. The back referee decided otherwise and the face-off went into the zone. You know the rest.

The Penalty – Ty Rattie sent one into the crowd and took a delay-of-game penalty that could've cost Hawks the game. It didn't but as long as we know that you can spear a guy (both sides – it was nasty out there) but don't clear it out of play in your own zone. Dumb rule. Bartschi took a roughing call a minute later but that was being allowed all night. That one cost them the game.

The Quote – Portland head coach Mike Johnston didn't mince words about the call in overtime. "It was a bad call," Johnston said. "That's my thoughts on it. I watched the video just to make sure. I thought (Kootenay) were getting the penalty. We were yelling at Mac for our goaltender to the bench. We thought we had the power play because he (King) interference with Bartschi coming around the net. Bartschi tried to jump out of the way of the hit. I'm not sure how a roughing call was called there but certainly I was surprised that an overtime call would go like that."

The(non)Suspension - I would be remiss if I didn't mention the lack of suspension of James Martin from the blindside/check to the head on Troy Rutkowski. I thought it should have been a game but I also thought Boychuk should've got some time too. The explanation I was given is that the WHL has yet to adopt a check-to-the-head rule like the NHL and the OHL or Q. It will likely be put in place over the summer but as of now, it's not there. Thus the non-suspensions on both checks.

The Crowd – 3593 – Biggest of the year

Rec Plex Three Stars

1. Jesse Ismond – Four points and the hot hand
2. Ryan Johansen – 100 percent better than the night before; two goals
3. Cody Eakin – Two goals, assist and the Hawks don't have an answer for him

What it means – Kootenay can win it's third WHL Championship in the 15-year history of the franchise Friday night at the sold-out Rose Garden

Up Next: Game Five; 8:30 Cranbrook time Friday night.


For the Oregonian...

Kootenay pushes Portland to the brink

by Jeff Bromley

The Portland Winterhawks finally solved Kootenay Ice goaltender Nathan Lieuwen Wednesday in Cranbrook but couldn't overcome the men in stripes. After battling back from a 4-2 deficit late in the game Sven Bartschi was assessed a roughing call in overtime. Ice forward Jesse Ismond found Matt Fraser wide open 1:37 later for the overtime winner and a 3-1 series lead for the Ice headed back to the Rose Garden Friday night.

Portland head coach Mike Johnston didn't mince words about the call in overtime. "It was a bad call," Johnston said. "That's my thoughts on it. I watched the video just to make sure. I thought (Kootenay) were getting the penalty. We were yelling at Mac for our goaltender to the bench. We thought we had the power play because he (King) interference with Bartschi coming around the net. Bartschi tried to jump out of the way of the hit. I'm not sure how a roughing call was called there but certainly I was surprised that an overtime call would go like that."

Johnston's confident his charges will bounce back facing elimination Friday. "We'll have 10,000 fans in Portland," said Johnston. "We play well at home and we have a day to recover and a day to park it, get rid of it and focus on the next game."

The Winterhawks found themselves back on their heels in the first shift of the game when Eric Benoit slid a pass to Jesse Ismond skating into the Hawks zone. Ismond beat a surprised Carruth overtop his glove for a 1-0 Ice lead just 19 seconds into the game.

Portland took the sub-par first shift to heart and put together a string of great ones, dominating the Ice in their own zone with chance and chance. Nathan Lieuwen continued where he left off 24 hours earlier however and made several spectacular stops, including one on Brendan Leipsic that brought the fans to their feet.

The pressure was short-lived when Cody Eakin forced a turnover in the Winterhawk zone, passed back to Joey Leach on the Ice blueline and then went to the net. He tipped Leach's shot past Carruth for a 2-0 first period lead.

With Brayden McNabb in the box to start the period the Hawks converted just as McNabb left the penalty box. Riley Boychuk found Ryan Johansen at Lieuwen's back-door and got enough of it to get it past Lieuwen to get the Hawks on the board. The Hawks tied it when Troy Rutkowski decided to put it on net instead of the usual dump-in. It deflected off Joe Leach and fooled Lieuwen from 80 feet out. The Ice managed to salvage a period dominated by the Winterhawks when Eakin found a streaking Jesse Ismond at the left circle. Ismond went in and deked Carruth for his second of the game.

With the game and perhaps the series in the balance Ryan Johansen intercepted a puck in the neutral zone right after the Hawks killed a penalty. The 18-year-old used the Ice d-man as a screen and ripped his 13th of the playoff and second of the night over Lieuwen's shoulder with 3:35 to play. With a furious rally in the Ice zone and Mac Carruth on the bench for the extra attacker, Ty Rattie jumped on a blocked shot to the right of Lieuwen and put it over him to tie the game with 17 seconds left and send it to overtime for the second straight night and third time in the series. Kootenay head coach Kris Knoblauch saw a lead evaporate for the second straight game. "They've got a good hockey team," said Knoblauch. "Look at their roster. Look at the NHL Draft picks and the future draft picks, they're going to push back. We can't sit back because nothing's a sure thing."

Johansen admitted he needed to be better tonight and he was and in the process found some confidence that they might've finally solved Nathan Lieuwen headed into game five. "They had a few guys that got me off my game yesterday," said Johansen, who finished with two goals on the night. "I needed a good response. He (Lieuwen) has been a little inconsistent and hasn't really played a full sixty minutes yet. Then again he's been tremendous for them when he needed to be. We know where to beat and we just have to capitalize on our chances."

The Hawks couldn't parlay the comeback in overtime however, and on a broken play late in the man-advantage Ismond found a wide-open Matt Fraser for the game-winner. Though frustrated at the overtime penalty Johnston won't use the referees as motivation for game five. "No, our team rallies around the way we play," he said. "It was a good hockey game. We exposed them in some areas tonight and they were vulnerable and that's a key thing. It gives us confidence. We don't rally around calls we just have to handle the situation and battle through it."

Notes – Both teams featured the same line-ups but the Winterhawks got Tayler Jordan back after a one-game suspension. Brad Ross, who received a two-game suspension from the league for being a repeat offender after the Fraser hit in game two, is eligible to return Friday… Attendance was 3593, the largest of the season at the Cranbrook Rec Plex.