| Subject: Harpoons claim second title, overcome several close calls |
Author:
Rock Lobster
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Date Posted: 14:16:10 01/09/05 Sun
(Yellowknife)-It was a long and tiring road but finally after 20 out of a possible 21 games the Halifax Harpoons claimed their second title in three years.
"This one is a lot different than the first one," exclaimed a champagne soaked Eric Lindros, just named the Frank Mahovlich Award winner as the playoff MVP. "The first one we had a lot of veteran leadership and we more or less stomped everyone. This one was a real battle."
Indeed it was. In the first round the 'poons fell behind the Quebec Remparts 3-1 in games before rallying to take the series in 7. In the second round they faced off against an improved Montreal Marauders team and looked to have things well in hand up 3-0. The Maruaders however had other plans and rallied themselves to take the next 3 games to tie the series going into the 7th game. However Eric Lindros was key there scoring two goals and turning back the Montreal effort at the upset. That lead to a final rematch against last year's Hoser Cup Champions the Yellowknife Blades who had swept their second round opponents, the Victoria Totems.
The first two games went to the Harpoons 6-5 and 5-2. However after playing all but one of the previous 16 games goaltender Sean Burke was visibly struggling towards the end of game two. Enter understudy Roberto Luongo for games 3 and 4. Although Luongo, who's only previous effort ended up in victory over the Remparts, played well, he couldn't hold back the Blades and lost both decisions 4-3 to tie the series at 2-2. However, the rest he gave Burke was vital as the big goaltender blanked the Yellowknife team 2-0 in game 5 setting up an opportunity to win it all on the road.
In the 6th game, Milan Hejduk bench the previous couple of games in favour of grinding winger Grant Marshall, got things started off a cycle down low when he took a Vaclav Prospal pass and roofed a shot on Blades netminder Milan Hnlicka for the 1-0 lead. Yellowknife however would storm back and after a wild scramble in front of Burke Markus Naslund would tie the game at 1-1 only 4:04 into the first period.
The guns for both sides stayed silent until 12:27 of the second when Eric Lindros bulled his way between two defenders and snapped a quick shot through the legs of the Ywellowknife goalie for a 2-1 lead. Lindros would strike again just over 4 minutes later tipping home a Brian Leetch shot from the point that just trickled over the line.
6:20 into the third frame, Shawn Bates slammed home a rebound off a Chris Pronger point shot to give the Harpoons a seemingly insurmountable 4-1 lead with less than 15 minutes to play. However, they forgot to tell the Yellowknife Blades to give up. The team from the north capitalized on some sustained pressure in the Halifax zone at 1:31 when rookie Matthias Weinhandl, dealt late in the season from Halifax to Yellowknife, one timecd a Scott Hannan feed to gut the lead to two. Then, at 15:32 Markus Naslund jumped on a turnover in the neurtal zone and fed the puck ahead for Vince Lecavalier. Lecavalier's shot, deflected off of Burke, then off the post and bounced right to the trailing left winger who popped the puck home to cut the lead to 1. After that it was mayhem in the Halifax zone as the Yellowknife Blades pressed for the equalizer. Try as they might though, they couldn't get the fourth puck past Burke and in the end, it was the harpoons who ended up being the victors on this night.
"This is so sweet" exclaimed defenseman Chris Pronger, who wasn't around for the first championship. "I just want to thank Mr. Holodinsky for bringing me in so I could be a part of this"
"I never though the third period would end," commented a thoroughly exhausted Sean Burke. "I'm glad it's over now."
"I'm happy for all of the guys but especially those who haven't had a chance to sip from the Hoser Cup before," stated GM Stephen J. Holodinsky. "The first time is always special."
Rock Lobster
HALIFAX HERALD
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