Two years ago Kings went to Victoria for a game seven and came home victors.
This year Kings fans got to experience the same game seven excitement and the same result – a huge win in game seven.
The score was 4-1 but the game was tighter than that right up until the end.
First off the crowd was into the this as over 1200 fans gave the Kings a rousing ovation as they took the ice.
Both teams appeared to be a little tense in the early going but give the Kings the edge in play and also on the scoreboard when Daniel Schuler connected twice.
His first was a one time snap shot on a great setup from Andrew Pettitt at 14:27 and the second finished off some great play from his linemates.
Brenden Forbes worked his butt off on the wall and got the puck deep and around the net to Pettitt who hit Schuler in the slot. Schuler took a look and snapped it over the shoulder of Ginn for the two goal cushion.
Kings sat on that lead for almost the entire second period but got stung just before it ended.
A penalty on the Kings meant a faceoff deep and with just 2.8 seconds to go Morely won it back to Fillion who fired it past a screened Garteig.
That was a stunner.
The third period started with the Grizzlies shortening the bench and despite their fatigue they pressured the Kings and forced Garteig to make a lot of quality saves.
Kings iced the puck a lot in the period to relieve the heat but it wasn't until Ginn coughed up the puck that Kings and Kings' fans could relax.
At 17:43 Ginn raced to beat Shinkaruk to the puck on the wall but his clearing attempt was intercepted by Shinkaruk who beat the last man back and dumped it into the net to make it 3-1.
The Hap was rocking and the game well in hand when Schuler grabbed a loose puck and calmly rapped it into the empty net at 19:47.
Final score 4-1 and Kings win game seven to move on to face Surrey on Friday.
Fans hung around to cheer the Ron Armitage Mens Wear Three Stars which were:
1. Michael Garteig
2. Daniel Schuler
3. Brenden Forbes
Player and Coaches reactions after the game were:
Coach Kent Lewis on the game: “The two goal lead was not a fun lead. The second period we were really happy, we were getting a lot of good chances but giving up that one late was kind of a stinger. We could have buried them in the second, I thought we had some great chances but we were fighting it a little bit. Then when they got that one as they did we got back on our heels a little bit – I thought for about the first 12 minutes. To get the goaltending that we did and to hunker down like we did at the end was huge for us.”
Lewis on Victoria Grizzlie, “We were on our heels and give Victoria credit, they came at us in waves and their players were players. They played pretty much two lines and they were coming hard and we sat back a little bit. Gartieg had to make some big stops for us.”
Jason Yee on the possible edge with the bye: “Oh definitely, the last few games we had that extra little bit of gas in the tank and that definitely helped both mentally and physically.”
Jason Yee on the pressure in a tight game: “There are always tense moments but I was just trying to stay calm and there are scramble in our end and their end but that's the way the game goes – back and forth.”
Jason Yee on being the favourite versus underdog: “There's nothing that you don't want. If you want to be the best you have to deal with pressure and being the favourite did add pressure and it weighed down on us when we were down 3-1 but we have a strong group mentally and a group that likes each other and we battled through it.”
Michael Garteig on his ice time in one week/ seven games: “I have no idea (he's tired). The first three games I got hit pretty hard. Johnson ran me so hard in Victoria and I felt that one but I feel fine now and the next two days will be huge to get a little rest.”
Michael Garteig on his biggest save in game seven: “Probably the Richardson save with seven minutes left (robbed him point blank with glove save), yeah he got a back door play there and I came up with a nice glove save.”
Michael Garteig on his role in the net: “I needed to make the big save and I made a couple of key saves in third that gave us a chance to win. We got a bounce – finally- near the end there with their goalie miscue and I'm very happy to get the win and happy I could help the team win.”
Carter Shinkaruk on his insurance goal: “The puck came to the point and I just tried to block the lane and fortunately it went off my shin pad and I was racing towards the puck and Ginn coughed up the puck. So I just wanted to make sure it got in so I made a little extra move that was probably unecessary but it worked and it definitely felt good when it went in.”
Carter Shinkaruk on the 3-1 deficit in the series: “We always said just take one game at a time and don't try to win three games in one night and it paid off. We got the character and the guys to do it.”
Carter Shinkaruk on missing out (injured last year) and being in the playoffs this year: “I had a personal goal just to make it through game one (laughs). I never really experienced playoffs and it's pretty cool.”
Daniel Schuler on his three goal performance: “That was a fun game. This is my first game seven and it was pretty exciting. Everybody has their day and today (laughs) I was lucky. I never take a slapshot (all three wristers). I scored once on a slapshot this year but that was it. My snapshot – wrist shot, I work on them so much I've never really spent any time on my slapshot so I'm not really that comfortable with it.”
Daniel Schuler on the crowd: “Everybody on the team was excited. When we won that game away (game six) we're like 'boys, they do not want to come back and see us play in front of our home crowd in game seven in the playoffs.”
A great game played by two gritty teams and more exciting action in store when the Kings meet the Surrey Eagles in a best of seven battle starting on Friday, March 18 at the Hap Parker Arena with game two on Saturday March 19th.
Tickets are on sale for the Coastal Conference finals now from 9am – 5pm at the Kings office. GO KINGS GO!
