 |
| Brandon Miller stood tall once again for the Six Nations Chiefs as they won Game 5 of the Mann Cup. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
The Six Nations Chiefs took a 3-2 lead
in the 2014 Mann Cup with an 8-6 win over the Victoria Shamrocks
Wednesday night. Cody Jamieson scored back to back power play
goals on a five-minute high-sticking major by Bubba Westwood
to break a 5-5 tie in the third period. The Shamrocks had fought back
from a 5-2 deficit with a Tyler Hass transition goal late in
the second then a pair of outside shot goals from Corey Small
to open the third.
With Matt Flindell out for the
series with a head injury, Cody Hagedorn was forced into net
for the Shamrocks and did an excellent job for them, making 37 saves.
He couldn't stop Jamieson's pair of rockets from the high slot,
though, and that proved to be the difference in the game. Jamieson
had taken his own major penalty when he slashed Hass towards the end
of the second period. The Chiefs were able to kill off that penalty,
in part because they drew a pair of slashing penalties by Ben
McCullough while ragging the ball.
The Shamrocks scored the first goal of
the game for the first time in the series when Dhane Smith connected
2:45 into the first period, but the Chiefs responded with the next
four goals to take a 4-1 lead into the intermission. Chris Wardle
for Victoria and Colin Doyle for Six Nations exchanged goals
in the first half of the second period.
Victoria limited the Chiefs offensively
again after Six Nations had scored a total of 23 goals in the
previous two games. “These guys are sound defensively, they're
outstanding They don't give you a whole lot. When you're playing at
the highest level usually the goals per game drop,” Doyle said. He
expects to face a tough challenge again when the teams meet for Game
6. “They're here to win the Mann Cup. There's no two ways around
that. They've proven that and I don't suspect Friday will be any
different.”
Jeff Shattler, who led the
Chiefs with 2 goals and 4 assists, gave a lot of credit to Six
Nations' defence as well. “I honestly believe our defence is the
best in the league. We proved it against Peterborough and we're going
to try to prove it against these guys in Game 6,” Shattler said.
“As long as we get all our guys off the floor and we get our big
guns out on the defensive end, we're hard to beat. They're hard to
score on. [Goalie Brandon] Miller's on his game, he
hasn't had one bad one the whole playoffs. He's a heart and soul on
the back end and our defence is giving him shots from the outside. If
we keep doing that I think we're going to do well.”
Six Nations head coach Rich Kilgour
said his team will get a well-earned day off Thursday. “Just let
them relax tomorrow. I told them, go eat a steak, have some pasta.
We'll have a shootaround Friday morning, go over some stuff then.
Three games in three nights at this level, and how hard these guys
play, is really tough on guys. I can't believe I used to do it back
in the day. I'm sore from just standing two hours a night. I want my
guys to get a good rest. Hopefully lay around tomorrow and be ready
to play Friday.”
Kilgour said Jamieson is tough to stop
when he gets some time and space to shoot the ball. “I bring my
nephew as a ball boy and I tell him watch Cody shoot,” Kilgour
said. “95% of the time he shoots dead overhand. I think the goalies
can't get a read on it. If you really watch him he shoots to all
corners. He doesn't have really a favourite shot. High, low, at your
knees, five hole, bounce, blow it by you. When he shoots from the
same overhand spot all the time it's tough for a goalie to get a read
on it. He's proven over and over again he's the best player going
right now and he proved it again tonight.”
 |
| Corey Small had a pair of goals for Victoria in Game 5. (Photo: Tim Prothero) |
Victoria head coach Bob Heyes
was proud of the effort his team put in with their backup goalie
having to play, missing lefty forwards Jesse King and Brandon
Bull away at university in the United States, and with key
defender Jon Harnett playing through a knee injury. “I think
as a team we worked as hard as we had to to win a game tonight,”
Heyes said. He was disappointed in what he called inconsistent and
one-sided officiating. “You're playing in the Mann Cup and the
officiating was inconsistent. What's a slash at one end and what
isn't a slash?,” Heyes asked. “Our guys are getting hit after a
shot, after a pass, in the back and there's no calls. They dive and
they get the calls. Really, it's a travesty that in a game like that
the referees dictated the final outcome. We played too hard. Those
guys played too hard for shitty reffing tonight.”
In the end, though, his team just
didn't manage to do what it needed to to get a victory, Heyes said.
“I can't blame the refs. The players still had the game in hand, we
still had opportunities. We didn't execute some simple passes. It's a
game of inches. It's a cliche, but there's a couple of two on ones
there that if we catch them we'll score.”
Now Heyes says his team will enjoy the
day off and come back ready to play hard on Friday in Game 6, which
can be seen via live PPV webcast produced by JVI Video. Click on the
Webcast Sports logo in the right hand column of this web site to
watch the game Friday at 8pm. If necessary, Game 7 will be Saturday
night.
