2016-2017 STANLEY CUP FINALS
| California Regulators & Hampton Blizzard | |
|---|---|
| Series Preview: | Release the pigeons and let’s get the MWHL Finals underway …
The final pits the Hampton Blizzard against the California Regulators after both teams moved through the semi-finals with 4-1 wins over Thunder Bay and Wausau. In order to win, Hampton would have to be able to control the Regulators big line of Gaudreau-Komarov-Ovechkin, keep their defence involved in the offense, try and solve the Braden Holtby riddle, and have Brian Elliott provide solid netminding. California would need to keep its emotions in check to prevent getting into penalty trouble against the penalty-allergic Blizzard, get some quality chances from its supporting lines and make sure that the wave of shots Hampton has been dealing out are low quality scoring chances. |
| Game #1: | It took all of 17 seconds for the teams to show the crowd that they meant business. Fillip Forsberg nailed Alex Ovechkin on the opening faceoff and Leo Komarov retaliated by slamming the talented Swede to the ice. Delayed penalty on the horizon, Patric Hornqvist leaped onto the ice as the extra man and fed a beauty of a pass to Paul Stastny in the slot. Stastny one-timed the pass over Braden Holtby’s shoulder and off the crossbar, hitting the California goalkeeper in the back and rolling into the net for a 1-0 Hampton lead … But no! The refs called the goal back as the madly scrambling keeper was able to jump on the puck before it crossed the line. The Blizzard failed to score on the ensuing power play and instead it was the man-in-the-box who factored into the scoring. At 3:04, Gaudreau blasted a shot from just outside the faceoff circle that Ovechkin somehow got a stick on and sent the puck bouncing over the stick of the bewildered Hampton goalie. CALIFORNIA 1, HAMPTON 0 So much for doing the things we have to do to win. The opening period was an entertaining one featuring lots of end-to-end action and very few whistles. Hampton outshot California 15-7 in the period. Justin Faulk and the Regulators wasted little time capitalizing on their first man advantage when at 3:21 of the 2nd period with Mattias Ekholm off for roughing Guadreau drew back the puck off a faceoff deep in the Hampton end, Ovechkin made a beautiful feed to the California defenceman who made no mistake driving a blast through the legs of the Hampton goalie. CALIFORNIA 2, HAMPTON 0 Uh-oh. Fate reared its ugly head a few minutes later when a seemingly innocent shot from lumbering oaf Chris Kunitz bamboozled Elliott to put California up by three at 5:53. Sam Reinhart and Cam Fowler assisted on the goal. CALIFORNIA 3, HAMPTON 0 Merde. Which is pretty much how we felt about Elliott’s performance to date. Adios asshole. Enter Antti Raanta in nets for Hampton after Elliott let in 3 goals on 11 shots. Hampton outshot California 17-7 in the period. Apparently in the 3rd period the Hampton team figured that since most of the game plan was going to hell in a handbasket that all of it may as well. Soon to be restricted free agent Jamie McGinn figured he needed a break so rather than skate across the ice to the bench he tripped the nearest player to get a rest in the box. Ovechkin didn’t give him much of a rest scoring at 7:05 on the power play on a blast from the edge of the faceoff circle on a nice passing play with Mike Zibanajed (I loved that song Grace Kelly that he did) and Gaudreau. CALIFORNIA 4, HAMPTON 0 With Holtby playing insanely well and turning aside everything that came at him it looked like for the first time in the season the Blizzard would be shut out. A string of penalties to Francois Beauchemin and Gaudreau that left the door open for Hampton to stage a late-period comeback on the 5-on-3 power play. Sometimes talented Washington winger Andre Burakovsky skated past Kunitz like he was a pylon and fired the puck through Holtby’s legs at 10:31 with the first of the two California minor penalties on fumes. Vincent Trocheck and Patric Hornqvist drew the assists. CALIFORNIA 4, HAMPTON 1 Gaudreau was just getting back on the ice when Jason Demers took a cross-ice pass from fellow defenceman Andrej Sekera took a couple of quick steps and rifled a shot under the glove of the suddenly human (no doubt exhausted) Holtby to bring Hampton within two goals. CALIFORNIA 4, HAMPTON 2 California spent essentially the remainder of the game penned up in its own half of the ice watching as Holtby somehow performed the amazing expanding body trick and seemed to cover the entire net. The Regulators did emerge from their own end long enough to deflate whatever slim hopes the Blizzard had when Fowler drifted a shot into the open net with 54 seconds left. Zibanajed and Brock Nelson assisted. CALIFORNIA 5, HAMPTON 2 So despite outshooting California 48-22 the Blizzard end up on the short end of the stick failing utterly to contain Ovechkin and company and solve the Holtby puzzle meanwhile having Elliott play like crap. California takes the series lead 1-0! Kudos to them for making the most of their chances. |
| Game #2: | Game two opened with the two teams throwing caution to the wind for the first 10 minutes, flying down the wings and firing shot after shot at the two bemused goalkeepers. Some of the shots even managed to make it on net, but both goalies (yes – even Brian Elliott who somehow drew the start after crapping the bed in Game 1) stayed focused and kept the puck out despite the constant barrage. Quality scoring chances hard to come by, Paul Stastny had the best scoring chance when at the midway point of the period the Hampton centre was left all alone in the slot and found the puck at his skates. Of course, he broke his stick and flubbed the shot which went nowhere near the net. Filip Forsberg finally broke the deadlock at 17:57 when he snapped a 30-footer past Holtby. Mattias Ekholm and Stastny assisted on the play. HAMPTON 1, CALIFORNIA 0 That’s the way the exciting period ended with Hampton ahead in shots 13-12. @#$%@%@$ Hampton got to enjoy the lead for about 10 minutes thanks to Victor Rask. The California forward showed some good hustle, beating Patric Hornqvist to the puck and then combining with Michael Del Zotto and Jacob Trouba to tie it up at 6:41 of the 2nd period. CALIFORNIA 1, HAMPTON 1 Rask went from hero to goat when he drew a stupid penalty for sparring with Hampton’s resident shit disturber Andrew Shaw and then saw his sentence shortened when Forsberg stutter-stepped at the blueline and laced a picture perfect slapshot that Jamie McGinn deflected through Holtby’s legs. Stastny picked up another assist on the goal. HAMPTON 2, CALIFORNIA 1 Holtby was once again a standout for California stopping 20 of 21 shots he faced in the 2nd period as compared to Elliott who only had 8 to deal with. The third period was a throwback to the 1st with California steadily applying pressure and the Blizzard taking a stupid shot from way out of position whenever they could. The teams finished the 3rd period with 13 shots apiece but it was the referees who made the difference in this one making a horrible call on Mika Zibanejad for holding Mickael Backlund with only just over five minutes left in the game. It took Forsberg 16 seconds of power play time to extend the Hampton lead when he knocked loose the puck in the crease after Holtby had stopped Sekera’s point shot. Stasty, of course, also assisted on the goal to give him three on the game. HAMPTON 3, CALIFORNIA 1 That was the end of the horrible refereeing as they put away their whistles for the rest of the period. California continued to apply pressure, but couldn’t find the net. Shaw didn’t have that problem, however, as he picked up a stray pass near centre ice and floated it into the empty California net (the only chance he’ll have to score this series) to cement the Hampton win. HAMPTON 4, CALIFORNIA 1 |
| After 2 Games Summary: | California goalie Braden Holtby faced 48 and 47 shots in the first two games, but the Regulators still emerge with a split after an easy win in game one and a hard-fought loss in game two.
The series swings to California with the teams tied 1-1 and in goals 6-6. Hampton and California tied 1-1; the Blizzard heads west to sunny California. |
| Game #3: | April 25, 2017
PER 1 2 3 F Scoring Summary Star 1: CAL Silfverberg 2 G, 3 Pts GWG: Sam Reinhart Notables: |
| Game #4: | April 27, 2017
PER 1 2 3 F Scoring Summary Star 1: CAL Holtby 30 saves GWG: Victor Rask Notables: |
| After 4 Games Summary: | California wins two at home and leads 3-1.
Ovechkin was a big disappointment during the regular season but has 11 goals in 14 playoff games–maybe he’s finally proving he’s worth the huge payout. California skates into town up 3-1 in the Finals over Hampton having handed the Blizzard their first shutout of the season and their most goals allowed in the season in the two games in very unfriendly California. Schwarzennegger was a stinking liar … there’s nothing friendly about that state. |
| Game #5: | The two teams started hammering each other from the puck drop.
Both teams looked extremely tight and nervous about making the mistake that would hand the Cup to the Regulators or send the game back to California with Hampton’s hopes still alive. The first mistake came at the hands of Andrew Shaw who crossed his own blueline with his head down and ran smack into Mika Zibanejad who raced in on a breakaway only to be stopped by Brian Elliott. Elliott’s Jekyll-Hyde finals had coach Scotty Bowman wearing out his eraser before the game writing Elliott’s name in as starter and then replacing it with Finn Antti Raanta. Bowman decided to go with the guy that shouldered most of the load for the season and as it turned out would be greatly rewarded for his confidence At the other end of the ice there was no question who would be the guy for California as Braden Holtby had been rock solid throughout the playoffs. It means a lot to a team to have a netminder of Holtby’s caliber on the ice as proven when even a complete putz like Chris Kunitz can find the net which he did at 6:04 of the opening period on a slapper from the faceoff circle that Elliott never saw. Rask and Reinhart assisted on the goal. CALIFORNIA 1, HAMPTON 0 From that point on in the game it was a complete scufflefest. Afer almost every whistle the skaters were pushing and shoving one another and speculating on the lineage of Alexander Ovechkin with the teams undecided as to whether he was the son of the Wicked Witch of the West or of the East. The first period ended with the Regulators up 1-0 … as did the 2nd. The most frustrated man on the ice had to be Aaron Ekblad who must have had a dozen chances to fire on Holtby, but when he was not hitting the crossbar (twice in the 2nd period!) he was hitting California defencemen Beauchemin or Trouba with his shots. Meanwhile Hampton goalie Elliott was having a great game despite the out of nowhere goal that Kunitz scored. Elliott made two great saves in the period robbing Rask and Gaudreau on what looked to be certain goals. Hampton ended the 2nd period putting the pressure on California on a power play as the momentum pendulum began to swing the home team’s way. The 3rd period opened with a flurry of shots on Holtby on the power play, but it was California that wound up with the best chance. Silfverberg intercepted a cross ice pass between Sekera and Demers and skated in all alone on Elliott … robbed once again. While Holtby was rock steady for California, Elliott was spectacular at the other end. With two great saves already in the game, Elliott upped it to three when with California on a power play Komarov hit the post and the puck went to Ovechkin who fired a wrist shot with the wide open net only to have the Calgary goaltender appear out of nowhere to get a glove on it and keep the game at 1-0. With under 7 minutes to go, Hampton’s Tomas Hertl put a scare into the Regulators when his weak shot from the circle beat Holtby but banged off the post. Moments later Brock Nelson broke free of the Hampton checkers and swooped in on the Blizzard net but Jeff Petry threw himself at Nelson’s feet and dragged him down to give California a chance to open up their lead to two goals with a penalty shot. Nope. Elliott keeps it close, stoning Nelson on the low wrist shot. 1-0 with 6:29 to go. Danish sensation Frans Nielsen got a little too rambunctious on a faceoff at 5:58 and gave California another shot after draping himself over Ovechkin. With so little time left, Hampton had no choice but to go with the Damn the Torpedoes Full Speed Ahead Agressive penalty kill (that never blows up) and were rewarded almost immediately with a 2-on-1 … for California. Again it was Ovechkin with the great opportunity to score and again it was Elliott that denied him. Back to Safe Penalty Killing. California failed to score on their man advantage and from that moment onwards it was all hands on deck for Hampton with wave after wave of skaters bearing down on Holtby. But as it had been all series, the Hampton skaters were just basically shooting at a wall. Elliott left the net with about 80 seconds left but although the Blizzard put on a pretty passing play reminiscent of the old Soviet hockey teams they also met with the same success as the 2017 Montreak Canadiens and it was over. California gets the first MWHL Cup title. Although Ovechkin’s crazy playoff scoring was something else, my vote would be for Holtby to get the MVP for shutting us down twice when I don’t remember being shut out at all in the regular season. |
| Series Summary: | Congratulations to the California team for a well-deserved win! |
