Wednesday 25 February 2015

Kimberley Dynamiters win 3-1 to take a 3-1 series lead over Creston Valley

In what was a big game for both teams, Creston could level series, or Kimberley could take a hold of the series, proved to be an entertaining tilt, with a lot of twists. 500 in attendance.

Game Notes
  • Impressive, yet sad, to see the ThunderCats raise money for a family who's daughter is diagnosed with cancer. Well done.
  • Congrats to Creston's Carson Cartwright on being the Eddie Mountain Division's Most Sportsmanlike Player.
  • A discussion started in the twitterverse that Creston had called up a reserve goalie. But there was no indication by Cats social media, press, or the KIJHL site that either Brock Lefebvre or Mitchell Martell were injured. Martell did start for Creston, and there are rumours (unconfirmed) that Lefebvre was injured prior to the game in a practice. Matell posted an impressive 13-5-1 record, with a 2.69 GAA, and .910 SV% and was ready to duel Tyson Brouwer at the other end.
  • Injuries/Scratches: Campanella, Rosolowsky, Roy (injured last game)
  • I was planning on being at this game, but my wife's schedule trumped mine, so I watched online
1st
The Cats were nailed with a boarding call 31 seconds into the period. The Dynamiters have scored 3 of their 4 goals this series on the PP. And they did so again on this PP, with Prevost scroing, assists to Saretsky and Haase. (I must add, props to the Creston score keeper for updating the online boxscore during the period, not just at the end of the period or end of the game.) A minute after scoring, Prevost took a penalty. But the PK continued it's hard work ethic and killed the PP. There was a trend by the Cats, and a risk, that they were trying lengthy stretch and lob passes. It resulted in a lot of icing calls, but it paid off when Mallard tried reaching for a lob pass, that he knocked down, but landed on the stick of Ward. Mallard was caught flat footed. Ward broke in and tied the game. The remainder of the period, while entertaining, was a stale mate. The period ended in a draw, with Creston leading in shots 9-6. With two goals in the period, it was the highest scoring period of the series.

2nd
Brouwer continued his stellar play as he turned away chance after chance. There was even some lady luck as the Cats missed an opportunity during a scramble play. The Nitro's got another PP opportunity. Buckley came streaking down the middle, passed the puck to Saretsky on the wing, and then Saretsky passed it back, a nice give and go play, and Buckley put it past Martell. The Cats had a chance to get back in the game with a PP chance of their own. The Dynamiters took a 2-1 lead into the intermission, with an edge in shots 11-9.

3rd
The webcast. We saw centre ice for the first portion of the period. The play-by-play was hacking, snorting, and burping (I assume he has that annoying cold that is going around). So it made the first part of the period frustrating to watch, but the jersey that he was wearing made up for it, and overall, I love how intense he gets when the Cats get chances, you can feel the emotions. The Cats got two more PP opportunities, but the Nitro's stayed perfect in their PK efforts. The Cats pulled their goalie and had several great opportunities, but Brouwer and the D made great saves. Saretsky broke in alone as time was ticking down and shot the puck, I thought after the buzzer went, into the net and scored the 3rd goal of the game. The Nitro's had a slight edge in shots, 9-8.

The series now shifts to Kimberley for Game 5. The Dynamiters now have the difficult task of closing out a series. And the Cats will fight to play another game.

Dynamite Player of the Game
Braden Saretsky - 3pt night. Made nice passes that led to goals. Scored the EN.

Honourable Mentions
Tyson Brouwer - 23 save performance. Went nearly 130 minutes of game time without letting in a goal.
Jordan Busch - always calm and collected when handling the puck in his own end.
Eric Buckley - to see him score after being roughed up, and targeted by the ref, was great! Overcame a lot of adversity. His goal was the eventual GWG.

Further Reading

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