Kalamazoo headed to Kelly Cup Finals

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Ask alternate captain Sam Ftorek and he’ll tell you that his Kalamazoo Wings found their identity against the Wheeling Nailers in the Eastern Conference Finals. “We’re not an overly skilled team. We’re a blue collar team. We have to take our hard hats and lunch pails to work and work for a full 60 [minutes],” he said. The K-Wings left it all on the ice Tuesday night, out-skating, out-playing, and, most importantly, out-scoring the Wheeling Nailers 6-1 in the deciding game six of the best-of-seven series. The series provided the first real test for the talented K-Wings. After losing game one in the first round against the Florida Everblades, Kalamazoo rattled off eight straight wins – including a four game sweep of the Reading Royals – to soar into the conference finals. Kalamazoo lost game one, at home, against the Wheeling Nailers, but took a 1-1 split to West Virginia. The K-Wings lost game three, falling behind 2-1 in a playoff series for the first time in 2011, but rallied for victories in games four and five. “We knew what was at stake and we knew they were going to throw everything at us,” said Ftorek, who had a goal and an assist. “We knew we had to have that killer instinct tonight in order to get to the finals. So we did.” Wheeling Head Coach Stan Drulia felt his team just tired out. “When it comes right down to it, we ran out of gas. We’ve had a lot of travel, our guys are a pretty beat up group and we’re a pretty young group. So, I’m thrilled with the way our guys competed all year,” he said.Ryan Nie made 37 saves, keeping his team in the game in the early going. Both teams played tight, close-knit hockey throughout the first period – every player fighting for the puck through a knot of legs, arms, and sticks. With neither team giving up even an inch of ice, it came as no surprise that both teams combined for a mere 19 shots on goal in the first 20-minutes. Defenseman Jon Landry took the shot that mattered most. On the power play, Landry opened the scoring with 2:07 remaining in the period to delight of the small, but raucous home team fans. “We thought we had a really good first ten, twelve minutes. You just can’t give that team power plays,” Drulia said. The K-Wings went two-for-two on the power play. Kalamazoo turned up the volume in the second period. Despite giving up an early goal to Joey Haddad, the K-Wings dominated the play for long stretches and moved the puck to the net with ease. Wheeling goalie Peter Delmas played in his second game after returning from an injury incurred earlier in the series. He made 29 saves. “Delmas was great in game five. I thought both of our goaltenders did exactly what we needed them to do, we just didn’t get enough pucks behind Nie,” Drulia said. Delmas hardly looked like the dominating MVP he appeared to be throughout the first two rounds of playoffs. An innocent point shot from Captain Wes O’Neill deflected off Aaron Clarke at 16:56 to give Kalamazoo the 2-1 lead.Nearly two minutes later, Kalamazoo connected on their second power play goal of the night. Ftorek broke away from two defenders at the blue line and found Andrew Fournier to the left of Delmas. Fournier fed across to Trent Daavettila on the right who barely beat the puck over Delmas’ head. Daavettila leads all ECHL players with 21 points. He had a goal and two assists on Tuesday night. “We weren’t getting stuff going for a couple games, but now the last two we really got it going. We made some great plays tonight,” Daavettila said. “I’ve never been this deep in the playoffs in my entire life, so I’m just enjoying the moment.” Kalamazoo showed their killer instinct in the third period, scoring their fourth goal of the night only 53-seconds after the opening faceoff. The surprising sharp-angle goal was Ftorek’s sixth of the post-season. “We focused on finishing the game the way we started it and making sure they didn’t have any life at all,” Ftorek said. “You can’t let up ever because they have nothing to lose. You have to kind of keep your wits about you.”Darryl Lloyd (fifth) and Brandon Svendson (fourth) also added goals late in the third period to seal the victory. Despite their season coming to an end, Drulia kept pride in his team’s accomplishments. “This team hasn’t quit all year,” he said. “We had 18 players play 299 games in the American Hockey League this year. We sent a lot of guys up there that never even came back. We’re proud of that development part of our team. My guys have worked their tails off. I have a fantastic group of young men in there.” On the other side, Kalamazoo Head Coach Nick Bootland tempered his celebration. “I felt both teams looked like they had pianos on their back and they looked a little tired. We found a way to get some bounces that went in our direction and we were fortunate to capitalize,” Bootland said.So what lessons does he hope his team takes away from this series? “It’s just the trust. Have more trust in each other and continue to trust each other and don’t get down. Be positive no matter what’s going on and good things can happen.” Kalamazoo moves onto the Kelly Cup Finals against the Alaska Aces. The Aces are undefeated in the post-season, finishing off the Victoria Salmon Kings last Monday, May 2. Contact the writer: Ryan.Loren@ProHockeyNews.com Contact the photographer: Larry.Burdick@ProHockeyNews.com