A testament to the battle for the 100th Savage Cup in Fort St John was the ever-increasing rate of attendance from 500 on opening night to the overflowing crowd that paid to see the thrilling 3-2 overtime decision for the Flyers over Powell River Regals.
This series truly lived up to its billing as the players gave it all they had in five games in five straight nights.
The opening game on Thursday was a typical senior men’s hockey scenario.
Work and family obligations limited the visiting Regals to just 10 skaters so they were in for a long night against the full complement of Flyers.
Fort St John scored the first goal of the series at 6:16 of the first period and eventually built a 7-1 lead en route to the 7-3 final.
David Brumby faced 40 shots and took the loss in goal for the Regals while Jason Deleurme, Elias Godoy and John Coyle, whose delayed flight caused him to miss the first two periods, scored the goals.
Regals added four more players for game two on Friday and led from start to finish.
Derek May, Godoy, Misko Antisin, Chad Wren, Coyle and Deleurme with two scored to give Brumby his first win in the series 7-4.
Both teams stepped up the physical play in game two and later Flyer coach Darrel Leahy (father of ex-Powell River King Kyle) said, “If rhubarb is what they want then we’ll give them some rhubarb.”
Rhubarb and excitement were aplenty on Saturday as around 1,000 fans were treated to a great hockey game.
Deleurme, Justin Styffe, Coyle and Godoy with two scored in regulation to match the five by Fort St John and send the game into sudden death overtime 5-5.
The Flyers carried the play early and even hit a post but the Regals caught a break on the forecheck and seized the opportunity.
Godoy jumped on a turnover inside the Flyer blue line, wheeled and dealt the puck to John Murgatroyd who drilled the Regals’ first shot on goal low in the far side to win 6-5.
Regals were outshot 38-26 in the game but the solid goaltending of Justin Mulholland and some opportunistic scoring caused coach Rick Hopper to say, “These guys came at us hard all night and I never felt comfortable at any point during the game.”
\The hardest game to win in a series is the last one and in game four the Flyers would not be denied.
Regals were actually in good shape and led near the end of the second period 2-1 on two goals from Coyle.
However, with two minutes to go, Scott May was cut by a high stick and bleeding badly but play continued and the Flyers scored to tie 2-2.
Regals protested loudly but to no avail and the game seemed to turn on that goal.
Flyers scored four times in eight minutes to start the third and went on to win 7-4.
There was not a seat to be had for game five on Monday night and the home crowd went crazy when the Flyers captured the 100th Savage Cup with a 3-2 overtime victory.
Regals led 2-0 on goals from Godoy and Deleurme but Fort St John battled back with one goal in the second, one in the third and finally the winner in overtime.
Not one drop was left in the tank for the Regals who suffered cuts, bruises and fatigue from head to toe, but as spokesman Cliff Milne said later, “They gave it everything they had and did Powell River proud.”
