VICTORIA, BC – Victoria, B.C. – The Aces entered this game with all the confidence and all the stats in their favor as they went for the four-game sweep over the struggling Victoria Salmon Kings. But the Salmon Kings refused to roll over and live to play at least one more day after a 4-0 shutout win.
Julien Ellis replaced Todd Ford as the starter in goal for Victoria in hopes of changing the momentum for the Salmon Kings. For Ellis it would be his first start of the playoffs and it was a great one at that as he stopped all 28 shots fired on him. In the end the move would prove to make all the difference for the Salmon Kings.
Victoria’s leading goal scorer during the regular season, Wes Goldie, put in his first of the series at 3:11 on a rebound off the pads of JP Lamoureux who made 33 saves. The puck landed right on Goldie’s stick for the tap in. The assists on the goal went to Tim Wedderburn and Curtis Billsten. Former Aces player Olivier Filion scored on a rebound from a jam up in front of the net at 10:25 on the power-play with assists to Gary Gladue and Goldie. Victoria found themselves in deep trouble with a two-man disadvantage late in the period but Ellis held strong to keep the score 2-0 at the break. Shots on goal in the period were in Victoria’s favor by an 11-9 mark.
Victoria took a 3-0 lead when Goldie buried another rebound from in close on assists from Filion and Dan Gendur at 6:27 of the second period. The Salmon Kings took solid control of the game on a goal from Chris St. Jacques off assists from Gendur and Gladue late in the period. Ellis made a few stellar saves as the period wound down to send the Kings into the break in solid shape. Shots on goal in the period were 15-9 in the Salmon Kings favor.
Victoria entered the final period playing tentatively. The club was obviously wary of another third period collapse as they had in Game 3. The slower pace worked and they were able to hold the Aces off and the more time wound down the more the Salmon Kings gained confidence. Lamoureux stopped Goldie on a penalty shot attempt at 9:01 to prevent the hat trick. The shot was awarded when Goldie was pulled down on a shorthanded breakaway attempt.
As time wound down the only question was whether or not the Aces could find a way to solve Ellis. Ending the suspense was a major high sticking penalty to TJ Fast at 16:45 who cut open the forehead of Victoria forward Olivier Labelle. Fast was also given a match penalty leaving him ineligible for Game 5.
Alaska went scoreless in five tries on the night on the power-play while Victoria scored a goal in seven tries. The final shots on goal were in Victoria’s favor by a 37-28 mark.
At the end of the game the 4,656 fans at Sav-On-Foods Memorial Center rose as one to applaud their team’s gutty performance in the face of elimination as the final seconds wound off the clock.
Notes
Lamoureux gave up four goals in Game 4 which equaled his total from Games 1 through 3.
Alaska forward Matt Stefanishion was suspended forGame 4 after being assessed a slashing major penalty and a game misconduct in Game 3.
Contact the author at Mike.canady@prohockeynews.com
Catch all the playoffs at Intotheboards.net
You must be logged in to post a comment.