A CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON: Chapter 11 — Brandon wins first two games of final in OT

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 30/05/2020 (2273 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LEAGUE FINAL — GAME 1, 2

In a way, the Brandon Wheat Kings were perfectly prepared for the Seattle Thunderbirds in the weeks leading up to the Western Hockey League final.

The gritty T-Birds combined the heavy play of the Red Deer Rebels and Edmonton Oil Kings with the top-level skill of the Moose Jaw Warriors, the three teams the Wheat Kings vanquished on the way to the title series.

Seattle was led by superstar centre Matthew Barzal, with a strong group of forwards that included Brandon-born Keegan Kolesar, Scott Eansor, Alexander True, Donovan Neuls and Ryan Gropp, with a blue-line that sported Ethan Bear, Jerret Smith and Turner Ottenbreit. In net, Seattle had Landon Bow, the overager stopped 53 shots for Swift Current in Brandon’s season opener eight months earlier.

KELLY McCRIMMON: “You never know the team you face in the final because you only play one time. We played Seattle on our U.S. trip and they beat us 7-2. High-end skill with Matt Barzal, one of the premier players in the league, a member of the world junior team and just a great young talent, and a real big physical D. They were very hard-working and very well coached by Steve Konowalchuk.”

NOLAN PATRICK: “They beat us 7-2 during the season in Seattle so we wanted to set the tempo of the series and let them know it wasn’t going to be easy for them. I think we kind of just fed off the crowd in Brandon. They were amazing through that whole playoff run.”

TANNER KASPICK: “They had a lot of depth up front as well with really hard-working forwards. They would never cheat as a hockey team and they had D on the back end who would play tough. Landon Bow was a strong goalie. They were well-balanced and a big team.”

MITCH WHEATON: “They were very hard to beat, had a very good fanbase there and they had a team that was similar to ours. They had a lot of skill up front, had a lot of crunch on their back end and could hit and skate and they had great goaltending. We knew they matched up very well against us.”

JAMES SHEARER: “A lot of it was to not give them any time and space. Don’t go running at guys, take the angle. … It really brought everything together from the last two series.”

TYLER COULTER: “That point is where Crim’s mentality came in. We did a meeting two nights before the series started. We would get there at 7 and leave at 9 or 9:30 some nights. We went through every single aspect of their team that you could imagine. We talked about every single player, their tendencies, which way each defenceman likes to break the puck out, penalty kill, power play, 4-on-4. We watched video on their goalies, every goal they let in. We were prepared like no other for that series.”

DUNCAN CAMPBELL: “That was the biggest challenge, how unfamiliar we were with them. Obviously, they had Barzal, Ethan Bear, Gropp, Kolesar, Alexander True. They had the same team as us pretty much. They had the high-skill top six. Their bottom six were hard working but still could put the puck in back of the net, and they had some big, tall, skilled defencemen and a 20-year-old goalie.”

By the final series, Brandon’s taxi squad of players who were with the team but not dressing included defenceman Mark Matsuba and forwards Garrett Armour and prospect Caiden Daley. While each clearly wanted to be on the ice, they put their personal ambition aside for the good of the team.

ARMOUR: “I looked at it as being part of something that was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I loved the guys and I knew that me sitting out wasn’t their fault. It was nobody’s fault, it’s just the way hockey goes. My thought was that if I get in there I’m going to be flying, and if not, I’m going to make sure the boys are flying and getting good energy from me. The last thing they need is someone who is not playing and bringing the right energy and the right focus.”

MATSUBA, in 2016: “You just have to keep a positive attitude in the room and around the guys. It does suck watching. You always want to contribute as much as you can; that’s being kind of a cheerleader and keeping the guys positive and energetic about games. If that’s the role, then that’s the role.”

DALEY: “I was just trying to support the guys as much as I could and trying to be a good guy off the ice. I had a lot of fun just being a guy around the room and taking in everything like a sponge and learning from a lot of top guys who were there.”

 

GAME 1  

May 6, 2016, (Westman Place, 5,610) 

Brandon 3, Seattle 2 (OT)  

(BWK goals — Duke, Patrick, Kaspick-OT)

It became abundantly clear rather quickly that the final featured closely matched teams. Reid Duke gave Brandon the lead, but Donovan Neuls and Ryan Gropp put Seattle up. Patrick knotted the game with 15 minutes remaining in the third period and Kaspick became a hometown hero 6:22 into overtime when he batted the puck behind Bow for the winner.

KASPICK: “I was chasing Dunc up the ice, and Dunc made a really good play to enter the offensive zone with control with two or three guys on him. He was able to work his way to the top of the circle and get a shot off a screen. I was just following up and going to the net for a rebound. I saw it go over the net and bounce back towards me and I didn’t even have enough time to think. I put my stick out and fortunately I batted it in.”

CAMPBELL: “I took the puck with a lot of speed and came across the blue-line looking for a shot on goal. I think it ramped off the defenceman’s stick, goes behind the net, hits the glass and bounces in behind Landon Bow. Kaspick, with that hand-eye co-ordination, bats it out of the air into the back of the net. And that’s it. That’s Game 1. We celebrated but I couldn’t believe it. ‘We did it and I was part of it!’ We got the first one and that was the most important one.”

MATTHEOS: “When Kaspy scored in OT, that was the pinnacle for us. That one brings back a lot of good memories. It’s different when you’re on the ice for one and to see the whole thing develop.”

CONNOR GUTENBERG: “Duncan shot it and I remember seeing it bounce off the glass and Kaspy kind of came out of nowhere and batted it in. That was one of the crazier goals I’ve seen.”

PATRICK: “I couldn’t have been more pumped. I rewatched that goal a couple of weeks ago and that was a hell of a play for it to deflect off the back wall and hit it right out of midair.”

McCRIMMON: “I felt in Game 1 that there were stretches that we were better than them, and stretches where they were better than us. You could tell it was evenly played with two good teams, and no team was going to carry the play because the other team was going to regain momentum and take the game over in stretches as well.”

SHEARER: “The whole playoff run and the whole year, the fans were amazing. They were incredible, especially those last few games at home. No matter what was going on, every single fan seemed to be into the play. Wearing the jerseys, the towels, they were truly incredible. That changed the mentality of the game and we gained momentum for sure. It made a huge difference.”

GUTENBERG: “It was pretty crazy. At the time, being 16, you’re a little bit naive about what’s going on and don’t fully understand the magnitude of it. I knew it was something special. It was an amazing experience.”

KASPICK: “It’s hard to put into words. It was just shock I felt as I was celebrating. It hardly felt like real life just seeing the excitement of the city and knowing we couldn’t give them a championship last year. To be able to do it in Game 1 in exciting fashion, that was something that I’ll remember forever.”

JAYCE HAWRYLUK: “That was a crazy goal and a big goal that we needed at a crucial time.”

COULTER: “It was a lot less excitement and a lot more letting the air out. It was an exhale moment. Winning one after being swept the year before was just so important. Winning Game 1 was so important. Coming out of Brandon with a split meant the world.”

IVAN PROVOROV: “The support in the two years that I played there and in the playoff runs that we had was great to see. The fans gave us energy when we needed it the most and were definitely a huge help for us in the playoffs when every game mattered.”

 

GAME 2 

May 7, 2016 (Westman Place, 5,621)

Brandon 3, Seattle 2 (OT)  

(BWK goals — Patrick, Coulter, Hawryluk-OT)

Neuls and Patrick exchanged goals early in the second period, with Bear once again giving Seattle a 2-1 lead 10:30 into the third period. Four minutes later, Tyler Coulter tied it up to send the game to overtime. Jayce Hawryluk’s shot from the corner was the winner 6:56 into overtime as he scored for the first time since Game 5 of the Edmonton series.

HAWRYLUK: “I wanted to get to that puck first and I knew I could outskate that D-man. When I had that step on him, I glanced back and saw Patty coming in. Just from playing with Patty all year, we had such incredible chemistry that I kind of knew places he liked to be and I know he was coming down that back side. I didn’t even have to look. When I went in for the puck, my first instinct was rip it cross ice and he’ll find it. With Patty I could put the puck five feet behind him or five feet ahead of him and he would find a way to get it. I whipped it out front and was definitely trying to pass to him but the way the goalie was, it hit his skate and went in. If it doesn’t hit him, Patty finds that and puts it in.”

COULTER: “We tagged up at the blue-line and were all about to change. Seattle somehow only had their two defencemen on the ice because their whole forward corps had changed because both forward sets were tired. I mean to just give it a little pass so Jayce could pick it up on the other side of the defenceman and it ends up going into the corner. If you watch the video, that pass is perfectly seamed for Patty back door. Patty is standing there, stick ready, for a one-timer, no-doubter, game over and I already see it happening. Then Bow gets his stick in the way and knocks it in and it just couldn’t have been any better. If that pass gets through, it still goes in.”

PATRICK: “I just remember Coults getting it on the wall and chipping it down low. I was just kind of lurking at the back door because I knew Hawy took a peek before he went into the corner just to see where I was. Right as he went to spin and fire, I remember going in. He was in a bit of slump so he had the most ridiculous celly and was pushing guys off him trying to get his celebration in. It was pretty funny.”

PROVOROV: “You could say it was kind of a fluky goal. Jayce threw it at the net and it went in but I think we definitely deserved more in that game in my opinion … I think Hawy did the right thing by just throwing it at the net. That surprised the goalie and it went in. It was a smart play by him. It’s the second overtime game and guys are getting tired. Why not try something like that and surprise the goalie?”

CAMPBELL: “Those first two games definitely could have gone either way, and I think what happened the previous year against Kelowna getting swept, and now we’re back in the same situation and it could go either way, the bounces, the luck, the hockey gods, karma, whatever you want to call it was on our side. Those are two lucky bounces that happen to go in and just like that we’re up 2-0.”

REID DUKE: “You want to win any way you can. I think in that second game we may have hit a couple of posts and maybe Seattle was getting some good bounces. At the end of the game when we won it like that, it was ’Ya, that was a tough bounce but we had some good karma coming our way.’”

KASPICK: “We were just so happy to get out of Brandon with two wins and head to Seattle up two. We knew we had them right where we wanted them.”

 

MONDAY: Seattle, Games 3-4