| Subject: Long time coming, Halifax finally wins GWHL Championship |
Author:
Rock Lobster
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Date Posted: 19:44:54 06/25/03 Wed
(HALIFAX)-If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That must be the motto of the Halifax Harpoons in general and GM Stephen J. Holodinsky in particular. After coming up short in the finals in the 2000 season and in 2002, the Halifax Harpoons finally got the monkey off of their collective backs by winning it all in 2003. It wasn't an easy climb, but in the end, the Tan and Navy were triumphant.
It all started with the Steeltown Hammers in round one. After winning the first two games, the Hammers surprised everyone by coming back and tying the series at two. "We had gone into a bit of a tailspin towards the end of the season and so I thought it was the right time to try as few new things with the lines," explained Head Coach Andy Murray. "You don't want to go into the playoffs cold." However with the series knotted at 2 games a piece, Murray made a gutsy move and went back to the line combos that had served him well in the regular season. The result was a pair of victories and a second round match-up with the London Lasers.
But there were clouds on the horizon. In the last game of the Steeltown series, Peter Bondra was suspended for five games following an elbowing penalty that knocked Dean McAmmond out of the game. It was time to call on Radim Vrbata, a hot shot minor league winger traded for halfway through the season. Vrbata lined up on the fourth line and Jeff O'Neill double shifted on the second and third units. The combination of Shawn Bates, Joe Thornton, and O'Neill came out hitting and never stopped through the rest of the playoffs. But that wasn't the only story. Coming off as poor first round, people were quietly wondering when Ziggy Palffy would show up. Starting with the opening game in London, the closest the Lasers would come to a victory, Palffy started lighting it up. A goal and 2 assists in Game 1, a hattrick and a helper in Game 2, Palffy had come to play. When Chris Pronger let the ice in Game 3 and then Cory Cross in Game 4, the writing was on the wall. Halifax would not be denied.
So it was on to the Finals against the hottest team in the west, the Saskatoon Silos. The Silos, on a mission since starting goalie Curtis Joseph went down late in the season, had beaten the two teams that had defeated the Harpoons in the finals the previous times they had been there in the Calgary Cougars and the Victoria Totems. Jocelyn Thibault was doing the job in goal and mid-season acquisition John Leclair was lighting up the scoreboard.
However, Milan Hejduk, as he had in years previous was a killer in the finals. A 5-2 Halifax victory in Game 1 opened the series and all was well in Halifax. The stunner came in Game 2. Powered by Alexei Yashin's goal and 3 assists the Silos took home ice advantage with a 7-3 win. Could another Harpoon meltdown be in the making? Was the whole team going to fall apart around Hejduk? Not this time. The Czech winger carried the team on his back scored 3 times and added 4 helpers in Games 3 and 4 and Halifax thumped Saskatoon twice 10-2 and 10-3. The jig was up. A 4-2 clinching decision in Game 5 in Halifax handed the Hoser Cup to the Harpoons. Soon after the game was over, Milan Hejduk was named the winer of the Frank Mahovlich Award as playoff MVP. A big weight had been lifted off the collective shoulders of the team.
Rock Lobster
HALIFAX HERALD
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