Four games into the NEAJBHL championship series between the Cold Lake Jr. B Ice and the Wainwright Bisons and there is still nothing to separate the two teams following a sharing of the spoils as the pair clashed for games three and four at the Energy Centre in Cold Lake this past weekend.
Over 800 raucous fans packed into Imperial Oil Place on Friday as the Ice dropped a close game 4-3 in regulation before bouncing back with a momentum swinging 3-2 overtime victory on Saturday, leaving the series all tied up with everything to play for with just three games to go.
Ice Head Coach and GM Neil Langridge said he was enjoying what is turning out to be an incredible championship series against a team the Ice has come to know very well over the past few seasons.
“From our standpoint, it was absolutely huge to tie the series up with a win on Saturday. That established a lot of confidence in the team, especially after losing a game on Friday that I feel we dominated,” Langridge said. “We gave everything we had in game three, but it wasn't enough, so it was huge to follow up that display with a win to get back on track and give the crowd something to cheer about. Hopefully now we can build off this as we prepare for game five.”
After splitting the opening two games in Wainwright March 14 and 16, the Ice got right back at it on Friday, hoping to tilt the tie in their favour as the series starts to really warm up. In what has become a token of the Ice's season thus far, the team started slowly, giving up two goals in the opening period to silence what was a rowdy hometown crowd, attempting to replicate the white hot atmosphere generated throughout last season's championship series.
Things went from bad to worse for the Ice in the opening moments of the second period after Bisons forward Zach Mackay broke away down the boards before firing a wrister beyond goaltender David Rupp, giving the away side a three goal advantage.
However, despite an almost somber atmosphere within the Energy Centre, the game was not over. Less than a minute after Mackay had extended the Bison's lead, Ice forward Devon Hascarl bagged his eighth goal of the playoffs and his second goal of the series to bring the game back within touching distance. Bonnyville native Zach Zarowny would add another before Michael Harbich stepped up on the powerplay to tie the game up with three minutes to go in the period. The tie game did not last long, as Bisons winger Kyle Anderson took advantage of a costly Ice giveaway 30 seconds later to win the game for his team.
With game four taking place the very next night, Cold Lake was presented with the perfect opportunity to strike back and prevent the Bison's from taking what would surely have been an unassailable 3-1 series lead.
This time around it was the Ice doing all the heavy lifting in the opening moments of the game, with Harbich opening the scoring with just two minutes on the clock following good work from one-time Bonnyville Pontiac Mark Zvonkovic. The Bisons would respond through its captain Derek Pfisterer before Bonnyville-native Zach Sylvestre ripped one past the outstanding Ronald Paulson to restore an Ice advantage.
A largely uneventful second period was followed immediately by an action packed start to the third. With the Ice facing a minute-long 4 on 3 penalty kill to start the period, the Bisons drew level through defenseman Taylor Schubada to tie the game up at two. As the end drew closer, the Ice threw everything it had at Paulson, but they found no way through until captain Dallas Ansell, in almost a repeat of last season's championship winning goal, finally found a way past in overtime after a scramble in front of the goal to send the hometown crowd wild.
Langridge lauded his team's performance over the weekend, saying the players had done “everything they could and more” to ensure they came out of the weekend in a positive position heading into game five tomorrow.
“I think we saw two very positive performances from the team this weekend – game three was a night where we gave all we had, dominated the play and after 46 shots still could not solve Ronald Paulson enough times to win,” Langridge said. “Going into game four, I said it was important to grab the first goal of the game, because the team that has scored first has gone on to win every game so far this series, so we're pleased with the way things went, it was very important not to go down 3-1 and with things all tied up now we need to re-focus and prepare for game five on Wednesday.”
He also reserved special praise for Paulson – the league's leading goaltender in the regular season with a 2.41 goals against average and .927 save percentage, who has been the difference between the two teams so far, wracking up an incredible 140 saves in the three games he has started so far this series.
“I think we've got to give it up to Mr. Paulson over there, who is having one heck of a series so far,” Langridge said. “He's a (difference maker) for sure and he frustrated us with some great saves this weekend, but we just have to get back at it because there's a lot of work to do if we're going to win this series over what is a very hungry Wainwright Bisons team.”
Game-winner Ansell, who will be available for Wednesday's game after previously being forced to skip midweek games due to school commitments, said this was the sort of result that championship-winning tilts were built off of and that he was confident in the team's ability to move forward and secure a fourth straight NEAJBHL title.
“It was definitely nice to grab that (game-winning goal). I've had a bit of a struggle over the past four games or so, so that's the monkey off the back for me personally and as a team we've put ourselves in a position now to kick on in this series,” Ansell said.
“I think we really outplayed (Wainwright) in games two and three, but we just didn't get the bounces we needed and couldn't pull out the wins, so I think this big win will really give us the confidence to push on now and take game five.”
Game five of the NEAJBHL championship series between the Cold Lake Ice and the Wainwright Bisons will take place tomorrow (March 25) at the Energy Centre. Puck drop is penciled in for 8 p.m.
