Finnish product’s first playoff goal downs Hurricanes 3-2
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| The Broncos celebrate Aleksi Heponiemi’s game-winning goal. |
SWIFT CURRENT, Sask. - Aleksi Heponiemi will never be
mistaken for an “all about me guy.”
On Friday night at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex, the
left-winger from Tampere, Finland, scored his first career WHL playoff goal,
and it delivered his Swift Current Broncos to a 3-2 victory over the Lethbridge
Hurricanes in Game 1 of the WHL Eastern Conference championship series. Game 2
of the best-of-seven set goes Saturday night at 7 p.m. at the Innovation Credit
Union i-Plex.
During Friday’s encounter, the Broncos and Hurricanes were
locked in a 2-2 tie, when Heponiemi blasted home the winning goal from the
right slot with 8:49 to play in the third period to the delight of most of the
sellout crowd of 2,980 spectators.
The star sophomore import forward now has
one goal and 27 assists in 29 career WHL playoff games.
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| Aleksi Heponiemi had a goal and an assist on Friday. |
After the contest, you wouldn’t have known Heponiemi scored
his first career WHL playoff goal or that his tally was a game winner with the
way he talked about it during the post-game media scrum.
“Obviously, it feels good,” said Heponiemi. “It always good
to get it at some point.
“Obviously, I am going to shoot the puck a bit more. It is
going to come, if it comes.
“It doesn’t matter who scores the goal in playoffs. It is a
team sport, and that is what it is all about is winning.”
Heponiemi seemed more concerned about the fact his squad was
outplayed by the Hurricanes over lengthy stretches of the contest. Lethbridge
held a 41-30 edge in shots on goal, and the Broncos pulled out victory thanks
to a 39 save performance from 19-year-old star netminder Stuart Skinner.
“Obviously, the first game was huge to win,” said Heponiemi.
“The way we won today wasn’t our best game. We have to be way better.”
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| Captain Jordy Bellerive (#15) drives to the goal for the Hurricanes. |
The Hurricanes controlled the majority of the play in the opening
frame outshooting the Broncos 18-10. Skinner had to make a number of key stops
including turning away Hurricanes left-winger Egor Zudilov on a turnaround shot
near the end of the stanza.
The Broncos capitalized on a break at the 6:15 mark of the second
period to go ahead 1-0. Flodell accidentally slipped to the ice in his goal,
and Broncos left-winger Cole Gable centred the puck to linemate Max Patterson,
who lifted the game’s first tally over the fallen goalie.
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| Stuart Skinner makes one of his 39 saves in goal for the Broncos. |
The Hurricanes thought they scored with 8.3 seconds to play
in the second, but the officials immediately ruled off that tally saying the
puck was knocked to the ice by a Lethbridge player with a high stick.
“Obviously the second period, I thought we didn’t play the
way we needed to play,” said Hurricanes head coach Brent Kisio. “I thought our
first and third period were much more of our team game. We fought back into the
game.”
Early in the third period, the Hurricanes capitalized on a
break that went their way.
On a rush into the Swift Current zone, Hurricanes
left-winger Taylor Ross had the puck poked off his stick by Broncos defenceman
Noah King. The puck landed on the stick of Hurricanes defenceman Matthew
Stanley, who quickly blasted home his second of the post-season to cut the
Broncos edge to 2-1.
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| Calen Addison scored the equalizer for the Hurricanes in the third period. |
With 10:04 to play in the third, Hurricanes sophomore
rearguard Calen Addison, who turned 18 earlier this month, fired home a
power-play goal from the point to force a 2-2 tie.
After Heponiemi put the Broncos up 3-2, the Hurricanes didn’t
go away. Working down low in the Swift Current zone, Hurricanes captain Jordy
Bellerive had a beauty chance to score in close, but he slid the puck wide of
the Broncos net.
Hurricanes overage left-winger Brad Morrison, who leads the
WHL in post-season scoring, was stoned in close by Skinner a short time later.
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| The fans at the Innovation Credit Union i-Plex cheer a Broncos goal. |
Broncos head coach and director of player personnel Manny Viveiros said
Friday’s game could have easily had a different outcome.
“We didn’t expect the game to be over after the second
period,” said Viveiros. “We’ve been pretty resilient this year, when we have
given up leads or been behind to get back in games.
“I thought Lethbridge was really good tonight. They put us
on our heels. They made us make mistakes.
“We were fortunate tonight. Stuart Skinner played very well
for us. A little bit more puck luck for Lethbridge, and I think they could have
easily won the game tonight.”
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| The Broncos and Hurricanes did engage in some scrums. |
The Broncos came into this series as favourites finishing
second overall in the WHL’s regular season standings with a 48-17-5-2 record,
while the Hurricanes were 16th overall with a 33-33-6 mark.
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| Stuart Skinner, left, and Colby Sissons celebrate the Broncos victory. |
“We knew it was going to be a tough game obviously in their
barn the first night,” said Bellerive, who had assists on both Hurricanes goals. “I think we have a lot of positives to
look at. I think it puts us in a good spot moving forward.
“We’re pretty positive. Obviously, we’re disappointed with
the loss. We played a great game and a lot of positives to look on to moving
forward.”
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