The first round of the 1987 Lewis Cup Playoffs was
uneventful and predictable. No series in the Western Conference went more than
five games with the favoured team winning each one. St. Louis swept the young
Minnesota Lumberjacks in four straight, Seattle defeated their Pacific
Northwest rivals Vancouver in five, Chicago took down Stuart Holly and the
Wizards in five, and the Milwaukee Choppers ousted Winnipeg also in five games.
In the East, Vincent Ducharme’s post-season debut was
short-lived, as the Royale succumbed to the Pittsburgh Stingers in a sweep.
Boston also stunned the Long Island Concordes in a sweep, the only real upset
in the first round.
Not every series was so lopsided, however. In a repeat of
1986, Nova Scotia defeated Detroit in six games with goaltender Brent MacDonald
turning in an incredible performance. Philadelphia and Washington played a very
close, hard-fought series with the Generals jumping to a 3-2 series lead. The
Redshirts then stormed back, winning game six 5-3. Antero Parvainen played brilliantly
while Gary Johnson scored twice in game seven as the Redshirts took the series
with a 7-2 victory.
Philadelphia advanced to face the Claymores in the second
round. They put up a good fight, winning games two and five, but ultimately
could not solve MacDonald as Nova Scotia advanced in six games. Elsewhere in
the East, the Pittsburgh Stingers faced the Boston Bulldogs in a classic
six-game series. Four of the six games went into overtime. Boston appeared to
be on their way to a second upset after taking a 2-1 series lead, before Danny
Stevenson and Dave Breedon put the Stingers on their backs, scoring ten goals
between the two of them and carrying the team to an intense six game series
victory.
In the West, Chicago and Seattle found themselves locked in
a 2-2 tie after the first four games. Seattle’s Jake Fairbanks had been injured
in game one, but returned to score the overtime winner in game five to give the
Wolves a 3-2 series lead. Thanks to a hat-trick from Vladimir Gaganov, Chicago
won game six 4-3 to force a game seven in Seattle. Game seven proved to be a triple-overtime
epic. Goaltenders Gary Blakeburn for Chicago and Brian Westin for Seattle
turned away shot after shot as the game extended into the early morning hours.
Finally, with two minutes left in the third OT, Grey Wolves captain Pete
Holloway beat Blakeburn in a scramble in front of the net to end the game and
the series in Seattle’s favour.
In a rematch of the 1986 Western Conference Final, The St.
Louis Spirits met the Milwaukee Choppers in what was projected by many to be a
classic matchup. Milwaukee stunned the favoured Spirits in game one with a 6-4 win.
In game two, Grant Millen proved to be the hero as St. Louis prevailed 5-4 in
overtime. The Spirits never looked back after that. David Appleby and Grant
Millen carried St. Louis through three more one-goal games as the Spirits
advanced to the Western Conference Final in a hard-fought five-game victory.
In the Eastern Conference Finals, The Nova Scotia Claymores
faced the powerful Pittsburgh Stingers. The Stingers were on a mission with
both head coach Bob King and star forward Nate Carroll saying they would retire
at the conclusion of the playoffs. After the first four games, the teams were
tied at two games apiece. In game five, the teams battled through a tough 2-2
tie into the third period before Carroll jammed the puck past Brent MacDonald
to give the Stingers a 3-2 victory on home ice. When the game ended, the
Pittsburgh crowd gave Carroll a standing ovation. The Stingers were determined
to close out the series in Halifax in game six, while the Claymores were
equally determined to extend their season. “We just have to dig deep and find a
way to get this done” said Claymores captain Russell Buchanan, who was about to
retire himself after 19 seasons. Game six belonged to Pittsburgh early on when
Dave Breedon and Danny Stevenson each scored to give the Stingers a 2-0 lead.
The Claymores scored again but were quickly answered, making the score 3-1. In
the third period, Dave Mack scored a big goal early to bring the Stingers’ lead
to one. Then, with ten minutes to go in the game, defenseman Doug Lyons tied it
up with a hard shot from the point. As the clock wound down, Owen Kennedy
stunned Jakob Martensson with a hard wrist shot to give Nova Scotia the lead
with less than three minutes left. Pittsburgh pulled Martensson only to have
Mack score on the empty net to seal the victory. Game seven in Pittsburgh was another
close game, going to overtime with the teams tied 4-4. Just four minutes into
the extra frame, Mack took a beautiful pass in front of the net from James
Russell and flipped it past Martensson to end the game and send Nova Scotia to
the Lewis Cup Finals. “This is a tough one to take.” Said an emotional Nate Carroll.
“It’s just not the way I wanted it to end.” Dave Mack’s goal became the most
important moment in Nova Scotian sports history, with a photo of the goal
appearing on Nova Scotian postcards almost immediately.
In the West, St. Louis found themselves in a tight spot as
the Seattle Grey Wolves jumped to a 3-1 series lead. Surprisingly, it was not David
Appleby but Grant Millen who responded with a huge performance in game five,
scoring four goals in an 8-4 Spirits win. Both Appleby and Millen turned in a
huge performance in game six, each scoring twice in a 5-3 win. Game seven in
St. Louis was not even close. Appleby and Kevin Cummins scored the first two
goals before Millen scored his second hat-trick of the series as the Spirits
skated to a 5-2 win to advance to the Lewis Cup Finals for the fourth time in
six seasons.
Round 1
Round 2
Round 3
No comments:
Post a Comment