It was a battle the past couple of days as the remaining teams in the hunt for the round of eight were looking to end their series and move on to games this weekend.
In Alberta, the Calgary Hitmen overcame a huge surge from the Kootenay Ice, who battled back from a 3-1 deficit in the series to knot it at three. It was the Hitmen, though, that seemed to have the heavier desire to move on as they took a 4-0 lead early in the deciding game, including a hat trick from Conor Rankin and ended with a 6-2 win over the Ice. The Hitmen will face Medicine Hat Tigers starting on Friday.
It was left to the US Division teams to finish their runs as the Everett Silvertips held a 3-2 series lead over the Spokane Chiefs, while the Portland Winterhawks held a similar lead against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Neither game would end early though as people would have to stay up to the late hours to get the results.
Starting at the ShoWare Center in Kent, WA, where in this series, the first team to score ended up winning the game. It was Oliver Bjorkstrand with the first and third goals of the game with Dominic Turgeon in between that gave Portland a 3-1 lead just five minutes into the second period. Seattle, however, knowing its playoff life was on the line, found a way to come back with goals just a minute after Bjorkstrand’s second of the night and tied the game while on the power play, midway through the second period. Portland battled back again with Miles Koules on an unassisted, wraparound goal that seemed to fool Taran Kozun and the Hawks were just seven minutes away from claiming victory. Those seven minutes felt like an eternity as Seattle poured on the pressure and finally broke free with just over a minute left in the third as Scott Eansor was left all alone and made no mistake putting the puck past Adin Hill.
Then it was on to overtime. The Winterhawks took control early on and had several glorious chances, but either a puck slipped off a stick or Taran Kozun would make a heroic save. Later on, the Thunderbirds would take control as they pounded the Hawks with everything their fatigued bodies had. Towards the end of the first overtime, Ryan Gropp played it a little too hard as he blasted Adin Hill, sending his equipment flying. The goaltender interference penalty with just three minutes in the overtime period could have been costly, but Seattle was able to weather a heavy storm. With just over a minute left in overtime, the Hawks carried the play back into the Seattle zone where Miles Koules battled hard behind the net, fending off two Seattle players to feed a pass to Nic Petan who roofed a shot under the crossbar to end the game. Final score was Portland 5 Seattle 4.
We head east to Spokane, where the Chiefs looked to stave off elimination against the Everett Silvertips. The Tips’ Cole Bauml scored on a power play midway through the first period and it seemed that this goal might be the only one of the game. A goaltender’s duel with Carter Hart for Everett and Garret Hughson for Spokane ensued as Spokane tried in vain not to lose on their home ice. With just five seconds left in the third period, Kailer Yamamoto scored with the Chiefs having pulled Hughson for an extra attacker to tie the game and send it to overtime. The first overtime settled nothing and nor did the second. In fact, it took just over 45 minutes from the end of regulation time to actually settle the game. Brayden Low became the hero for the Everett Silvertips as he intercepted a Spokane pass and walked in alone firing it past Hughson to end the Chiefs season.
The Portland Winterhawks will now travel to Everett for the first games of the series, most likely Friday and Saturday with games in Portland possibly Tuesday and Wednesday. Scheduling will be announced later today. The teams split the regular season series, but Portland came on at the end of the season, coming within a couple of points of winning the US Division before ceding this to the Silvertips.
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