ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland and Labrador – Derek Meech’s goal five minutes
Derek Meech of the IceCaps. Photo by Jeff Cull
“You could see from the bench that shot was going to go in,” said IceCaps head coach Keith McCambridge. “Meech was sliding across the ice and that far side was open to him … It was a heck of a shot. He really stepped into it.”
The play began with IceCaps winger Brock Trotter carrying the puck through the neutral zone and across the Crunch blue line. Just inside the Syracuse zone, he slid a pass to Meech, a defenseman who had joined the rush. Meech, a left-handed shot, accepted the pass and drifted to his right toward the boards. He then wound up and unloaded a heavy slap shot that sailed past a mess of bodies in front of the Crunch net and past Syracuse goalie Iiro Tarkki.
“It felt great. Trots (Brock Trotter) made a nice pass to me and it was a just a matter of getting a good shot on net. Corms (Patrice Cormier) made a great screen in front of the net and that made it a lot easier for me,” said Meech. “This one felt better (than the game three goal Meech scored). All the boys jumped on the ice and I didn’t really know what to do for a bit there. But it was pretty exciting.”
Although the IceCaps enjoyed a happy ending to the game, the contest did not start well for St. John’s. They trailed 2-0 after the first period, thanks to goals from Syracuse’s Mark Bell and Emerson Etem, and were outplayed by the Crunch for much of the opening frame. It wasn’t until the second period that St. John’s started to put everything together.
Carl Klingberg scored at 2:49 of the second to bring the IceCaps to within one of Syracuse. IceCaps forward John Albert then scored just over two minutes later to tie the game at two, only to watch Etem score his second of the night to give the Crunch a 3-2 lead at 15:35 of the second period.
IceCaps power forward Raymond Sawada fought off a defender and buried a loose puck past Tarkki during a wild scrum in front of the Crunch net at 6:55 of the third, tying the game at three. That set the stage for Meech’s series clinching goal in overtime.
IceCaps goalie Eddie Pasquale made 27 saves on Friday. Photo by Jeff Cull
“We have a ton of character in that room and you saw that tonight,” said Meech. “At no point did we panic. We all knew what the deal was. The coach came in after the first period and told us it wasn’t good enough and we came out and turned it around.”
Picking up assists in the game for St. John’s were Marco Rosa, Garth Murray, Sawada, David DeSantis, Aaron Gagnon and 19-year-old rookie Mark Scheifele.
Scheifele played just his second game as a member of the IceCaps Friday, following the elimination of his junior team from the Ontario Hockey League playoffs last week. So far, Scheifele is displaying exactly why he played eight games with the Winnipeg Jets earlier this season and was chosen as a member of the Canadian national junior team that won the bronze medal at the 2012 world championship in January.
“I liked both games he’s played with us. I thought tonight you could really
The IceCaps salute their fans after Friday%27s series clinching win. Photo by Jeff Cull.
Riley Holzapfel, Brandon McMillan, Nick Schaus and Matt Clark each registered an assist for Syracuse in Friday’s game. Tarkki stopped 34 shots in a losing effort between the pipes for the Crunch, while Eddie Pasquale made 27 saves to earn the win in the IceCaps net.
Contact the writer at Darcy.MacRae@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Jeff.Cull@prohockeynews.com
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