Game 3:
Highlights here
Scoresheet
Game 3 fan discussion
Paul Buker piece
Spokesman-Review story
Photos
**** Game 4 ****
Real time fan discussion
Paul Buker writeup
Spokesman-Review post-mortem
It seems to me that we are witnessing some pretty special times here. Mac Carruth is now the all time WHL playoff wins leader - passing Stanley Cup Champion Cam Ward 2 games ago. There's potentially 10 wins that can be tacked onto that record. Most records are broken by the smallest of increments - time will tell where this one ends up.
The last 4 of those wins included a total of 3 goals. That's probably something we won't see again - holding a team to 3 goals in a playoff series. I think Todd said on post-game that the previous record was 8 or 9 goals against for a series - 3 goals is just nuts. Most fans would tell you that Carruth struggled in game 1 of the series - and still put up insane numbers.
Ty Rattie sits 6 goals away from the all-time WHL playoff goals record. When you start throwing around numbers like that, you have to look at the history of this league. Ray Ferraro played for the Winter Hawks: winning the 1983 Memorial Cup (wearing Cooperalls). Ferraro was only good enough for the 3rd line here in Portland, putting up 90 points in 50 games. After being shipped off to Brandon, he got loose for 108 goals the next year. Point is, when you look at all time goal scoring numbers - dudes used to put up a lot of goals. Rattie is a special kid, on a special run.
As far as this series, I think its pretty simple. Spokane was a good team this year: 44-26 is a really nice record. Don Nachbaur always has his guys playing sound defense & a team game where the sum of the parts is better than the individuals. Nachbaur is a tough dude. That being said, when the 'Hawks are playing the way they want to play, there's not a whole hell of a lot that the other team can do about it.
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