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2 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 1 | |
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4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 |
It’s safe to say things haven’t exactly gone according to plan. We’ve complained about the officiating before, and that’s all well and good, but while I haven’t seen the other three games, I have seen the boxscores, and I’m unconvinced that the refs jobbed us in two of them. I’m looking at those Moose Jaw goal totals and wondering what’s happened to the D and/or goaltending. Both looked bad in Game 1, and clearly, we haven’t seen much improvement since: you almost wonder why Williamson hasn’t gone with Snider at some point here, and as for the D, well, let’s just say that the Tribe’s goalie got two assists in the first period of Game 4 and leave it at that. Of course, Jason Bast is having himself quite the series so far, with six goals (!!) in four games to this point, and outside of Game 3, Jeff Bosch has been lights-out. From the Hitmen perspective, though, my interpretation of the action and the comments to date is that the boys have got the opposite problem to last year. Whereas last post-season, they got too complacent after pummelling lesser teams, and basically let themselves be beat by the Kelowna Rockets in the final, this year, they seem to be clamming up and letting a lesser team beat them before they can get within a country mile of their peer group — the Blades, the Wheaties, the Americans, and the Silvertips. Instead of playing to win, they’re playing not to lose, and from the sounds of the public quotes to date, that directive isn’t coming from the coaching staff.
So, it’s win or go home for the next three games if Calgary wants to see the light of April. A comeback is far from implusible, of course: just last year, the Capitals came back from 1-3 down to win their series against the Rangers in seven. It’s not terribly common, either, mind you: just 12.1% of series in which the underdog has gone up 3-1 have seen such a comeback in the majors (not counting last year’s Caps win), and I can’t imagine junior would be horribly different — let’s be optimistic and call it one in five. If it’s going to happen, the coaches need to reign the boys in and get them playing confident and physical, more like Game 3 — or for that matter, the last 27 games of the season — and less like they have most of this series. They need to remember what got them here to begin with, and what got them within two wins of the Memorial Cup tournament last year. Play simple, play aggressive, and come at them in waves. They absolutely have to leave everything on the ice tonight if they want any hope of playing again on Saturday.
Prediction: Hitmen 4, Warriors 3. Kozun, Foucault, and Schultz in regulation; MacKenzie Royer scores on a fifth whack in double overtime to send us back to the Crushed Can. Bast with the hat trick for Moose Jaw, because why the hell not.
