Hawks down Pistons 4-3 in Game 1 of ANAVET Cup final

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This article was published 27/04/2018 (3027 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

STEINBACH — The Steinbach Pistons learned a costly lesson Friday night: Too much Brandan Arnold can be hazardous to your chances of winning the ANAVET Cup.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League champions paid a heavy price as the shifty 5-9, 187-pound forward scored three times, including the winner with 1:04 remaining in the third period, to lift the Nipawin Hawks to a 4-3 triumph before a standing-room-only crowd at T.G. Smith Centre.

“It was probably going to be my last shift and (Brett) Harasymuk came up the wall with it and I kinda put a little pick to it, he passed it to me and kinda blocked their D-man off, dropped it back and he went around the circle and just threw it on the net,” explained the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League playoff MVP, who added an assist for a four-point night and now has 13 goals and 25 points in 17 post-season games.

“I went to the net, goalie made the initial stop and it was just sitting there and I lifted it up over his pad and in.”

Arnold got the visitors off to a roaring start, scoring twice in the first period, including the goal of the game (swatting his own rebound past goaltender Matt Thiessen in Crosby-esque fashion). He also added a helper on defenceman Carter Doerksen’s marker to help the visitors surge to a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes. The Pistons pulled into a 3-3 tie after the second period.

“Brandon Arnold’s been special for us in playoffs,” said Nipawin head coach Doug Johnson. “I thought we were able to weather some storms as far as their power play. We won’t say a whole lot about that but you look at the opportunities for and against (Nipawin had one power-play chance to Steinbach’s five), it’s a little embarrassing in my mind. But we just kept battling.”

Game 2 will be held tonight in Steinbach. The winner of this best-of-seven Saskatchewan-Manitoba series will be the West representative at the RBC Cup, Canada’s junior A hockey championship, May 12-21 in Chilliwack, B.C.

The Hawks applied heavy pressure early, holding the Pistons without a shot for the opening 5:37 of the first period but the hosts found their legs in the second period and dominated for much of the final 40 minutes. After being outshot 13-9 in the opening period, the Pistons held a 23-12 edge the rest of the way.

“I think we knew what we were getting into but I thought we played a little timid of the start, which cost us in the end,” said Pistons defenceman Darby Gula. “But overall, we’re confident where we’re at.”

It was an excellent offensive show from Steinbach’s top line of Bradley Schoonbaert, Drew Worrad and Austin Heidemann. Each member of the trio scored once while Worrad and Schoonbaert added a pair of assists each.

But Worrad, the most outstanding player in the MJHL playoffs, shouldered the blame for defensive coverage on the game-winner.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Worrad. “I take full responsibility for that last one. It was my guy in front of the net. I just didn’t box him out the way I should have and the puck got through and he beat me to it.”

The Pistons are familiar with playing from behind — they rallied from a 2-0 series deficit in the MJHL final to beat the Virden Oil Capitals in six games.

“I don’t think there’s a worry at all in the dressing room,” said Worrad. “We know we have a lot more to give and are very confident in our chances against these guys.”

Pistons head coach Paul Dyck was disappointed but not flustered with the result.

“You know what, it’s a 60-minute hockey game so we had a couple of shifts where we didn’t execute defensively and they were costly,” said Dyck. “Once we started chasing the game, you’re spending more energy getting it back to square. I liked our second period an awful lot. I liked our response. Maybe just mediocre in the first period but we scored that first goal in the first and had some good energy and we give up a soft play in the neutral zone and it results in a goal.

“And in the third, I thought we had some chances but we had one shift where we started running around in the D-zone and lost some coverage and they’ve got a couple of guys that can capitalize and Arnold is their go-to guy.”

The Hawks, wearing their standard black and gold road uniforms, have donned green helmets for the remainder of the post-season as a tribute to the victims of the Humbolt Broncos bus tragedy. The Hawks and Broncos were in the midst of a league semifinal when the crash occured.

“We still had some bus legs and we were still getting a feel for the ice and even Steinbach with the systems they have and such,” added Arnold. “As a game plan, we had a couple of hiccups tonight and I think we need to tighten up on them tomorrow. But we played a pretty good game.”

Dyck doesn’t think his team will be detered.

“Are we disappointed. Absolutely,” said Dyck. “I would hope our guys are. There was an opportunity for us to win here tonight and we didn’t. Are we going to respond tomorrow? I fully expect that. We’ve played behind in a series before.”

NOTEWORTHY: The Pistons were without forward Will Koop (separated shoulder) who was injured during Game 3 of the MJHL final… Steinbach went 1-for-5 on the power play while the Hawks were 1-for-1… Nipawin’s only previous appearance in the ANAVET Cup came in the spring of 1990 when the Hawks eliminated the Portage Terriers in six games… The Hawks were surprised by the condensed neutral zone in the T.G. Smith Centre, which took some getting used to. “A little ridiculous, we’ve never seen than before,” said Arnold.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14