Mike Aviani is a warrior. He demonstrates the guts required to pull that Chiefs sweater over head every time he steps on the ice. Not just any player could play second fiddle to Holmberg - but Aviani plays that role to perfection. We just witnessed a profile in courage from #16 tonight. In my opinion, Aviani tonight was right up there with Bobby Baun, or Paul Kariya. Pure guts. If you look closely, its apparent that de Champlain may have actually touched Aviani on this play:
Sadly, the Chiefs couldn't find a way to rally around their fallen teammate, who mustered up the strength to remain on the ice for the ensuing faceoff. Bravo!
BONUS: did Carter Proft bite Adam de Champlain in a fight? You be the judge:
I was fortunate enough to get some circulation from my Game 5 / series recap post, and some fans seemed to gravitate to Ty Rattie's quote about the shorthanded goal which sealed the series:
Rattie is the No. 2 playoff goal-scorer in WHL history, so he’s seen
those lights go on lots of times in the post-season. Still, he said,
that goal was special. “That would be top goal of my career, with the
crowd being so loud and how close a game it was. It was awesome to
score. … an exciting game to play.’’
Rattie reflected on a major-junior career filled with playoff
highlights. “Unbelievable,’’ he said. “I’ve been so lucky to be here for
four deep playoff runs, three WHL Finals. Now the last thing to do is
win this next series and go on to the Memorial Cup.’’
Rattie was featured in the postgame radio coverage - where he put some importance on his most recent goal:
"...that feeling - I wish everyone could feel what I felt after that goal, 'cause it was one of the best feelings I've ever had"
He doesn't exactly address where it ranks career wise, but it does assign some value. I like the idea of wanting everyone to know that feeling. Its apples & oranges, and none of us will ever know what its like to score a huge goal on a stage like major junior, but we all know what it fells like to be in the barn to witness such a feet - and its a pretty nice feeling as well.
There's no fans in the goal shot, but take some time and look at the faces in the two celebration pictures - that was a special moment shared by 9,700+ of our closest friends (click on the pictures to blow them up):
Now, the other goal being discussed was pretty special as well:
That was a huge series for all sorts of reasons. It was the return to the playoffs for the first time in 3 seasons, which happened to be the first full season for Mike Johnston behind the bench as well as Ty Rattie on the ice. The Chiefs still had some of the members of their 2008 squad, which broke the Memorial Cup. This was to be the last run with that group - featuring a hot Kyle Beach. The road team won all 7 games in the series, which is the only time in WHL history that has happened. The 'Hawks went down 3-0 in the 2nd period of that Game 7, before finding a way to get to OT.
I think my personal favorite Rattie goal might be the Game 2 OT winner in Tri-City last Western Conference Finals - a series where I was fortunate enough to attend the entire thing:
I happened to be sitting in the other end of the rink, and saw that play develop all the way. I think I was standing about when Rattie hit the redline - and I'm pretty sure the locals were upset with how that game ended. I will say that for the whole weekend all the TC fans I interacted with were falling all over themselves to be nice, which has been my experience for WHL road games (for the most part).
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.
What do you say about a 3-0 game? The Chiefs put a lot of shots on, many of them of good quality. There were several posts / crossbars both ways, but the 'Hawks found a way to finish - and the Chiefs didn't.
I felt that the 'Hawks played well physically - Iverson played on the edge, without going over. Peters threw his body around, as well as de Champlain. Carruth did a nice job of establishing his crease, and he probably got away with that one in the 1st, catching Playfair up high with his paddle.
Todd made the point in postgame that these two games were vastly different, and the 'Hawks can play whatever style you wish. I think they are correct.
The Chiefs have held the 'Hawks to 2-for-12 on the powerplay so far, after going 79.4% on the PK during the season. They've improved to 85.3% in the playoffs. As has been the case, the PP looks different than the numbers reflect. Its a good powerplay.
Its going to be interesting to see what happens in Spokane - you figure the goal is to split, which would put the 'Hawks up 3-1 - which is pretty good.
.jpeg)
.JPG)
