Canada's win in the men's Olympic gold medal hockey game didn't just offer the members of North Van Wolf Pack inspiration as they were battling for their playoff lives last week.
It also offered them distraction.
Looking for their first playoff series win in franchise history, the Pack hosted the Delta Ice Hawks on Saturday, Feb. 22 for game three of their seven game series, tied 1-1 at that time. Disaster struck in the second period.
"We hadn't given up four goals in a period all year and then all of a sudden in the second, whatever happened, they got four goals just bangbang-bang-bang in 10 or 12 minutes," recalls Wolf Pack head coach and general manager Matt Samson.
The outburst gave Delta a 5-2 lead in the pivotal game, and though North Van battled back to send it into overtime, the Ice Hawks won it in the extra frame to take an important lead in the series.
"It was tough," says Samson. "That third period we were all over them, just chance after chance."
It was the kind of heartbreaking loss that could completely throw off a team like the Wolf Pack that had never before gotten out of the first round of the PJHL playoffs. But there wasn't another game for three days so the Pack was allowed to regroup and shake off the loss, helped by the Olympic final which had them fired back up less than six hours after their own tough loss.
"The boys watched that and had some fun, had a day off," says Samson. "We had a practice Monday and we stayed really positive." Those good vibes stayed with them for the rest of the series as the Pack went on to win three straight, including a convincing 5-2 win in Delta in Game 4, a crucial 3-2 overtime win in front of a raucous home crowd Saturday night and another tense 4-3 road win Sunday to finish off the Ice Hawks.
Jamie Creamore scored the overtime winner in Game 5 that gave the Wolf Pack control in the series.
"Game 5, that overtime win, I was so happy," says Samson. "That was probably the happiest I've ever been as a coach."
Marcus Houck scored a pair in Game 6, including the winner, as the Wolf Pack finally won a playoff series in their sixth season.
"(Sunday) was not necessarily elation, more like relief," says Samson. "It's definitely been a long time coming. It just feels like a weight off of our shoulders.. .. If we didn't do that this year it would have been a very big disappointment."
Offensive leaders Houck, Spencer Quon, Dyllan Quon and Mitchell Crisanti all racked up big points for North Van but the team also got the secondary scoring needed to win a playoff series, says Samson.
"We got an overtime winner from (Quinton) Vitek, who had one goal all year. We got a big goal from (Taylor) Tanti, we got an overtime winner from Creamore, who's on our third line. We had scoring from all four lines in Round 1 and we had some production from our D as well."
It wasn't easy though, as Delta put up a strong fight in what was by far the most entertaining series of the opening round. The Ice Hawks were led by 20-year-old veteran Mak Barden and 17-year-old rookie Colton Kroeker.
"Mak Barden had an incredible series," said Samson. "That guy was the best player on the ice convincingly for either team. He was a threat every time he was on the ice. He probably played 30 minutes the last three games. We tried to get a matchup against him but when he doesn't come off the ice, it's hard."
Kroeker, meanwhile, a draft pick of the WHL's Regina Pats, came out of nowhere to almost steal the show as an affiliate player. He only played six regular season games with the team and barely played in Game 1 of the playoffs, but blossomed in Game 2 when paired with Barden.
"After the first game we were kind of like, 'Oh, that Kroeker kid is not bad. He got a few shifts.' And after Game 2 when he scored a hat trick we were like, 'Yeah, he's pretty good,'" says Samson. In a lucky break for the Wolf Pack, Kroeker missed games 5 and 6 due to prior commitments with the Delta U18 Wild, his regular team this season.
"In three games he got 10 points and six goals," says Samson. "He's still the leading scorer in the league for playoffs. He's a good player. I don't think we'll see him in our league next year. I wish him the best of luck in his career and future but I was not unhappy to see that his name was not on the lineup sheet on Saturday."
Next up for the Wolf Pack will be a meeting with the Richmond Sockeyes in the conference finals. Firstplace Richmond easily dispatched fourth-place Grandview in the opening round.
The Sockeyes are led on offence by a pair of rookies, John Wesley and Ayden MacDonald, and rely on a strong defensive group and good goaltending to shut down opposing teams.
"We know Richmond is a solid team, they don't allow a lot of goals," says Samson. "They've got two very good 20-year-old defencemen back there who are very steady. They protect the middle of the ice well, they keep the shots to the outside. We're going to have to work for our chances. They're a good transition team - they'll burn you through the neutral zone if you're caught flat-footed or you're not responsible in terms of your forecheck or your structure in the neutral zone.. .. They're a skilled team, they're pretty deep. We know they can put the puck in the net. They're pretty balanced."
All that being said, Samson thinks his team can keep up with the Sockeyes.
"Two of our top three or four games of the whole year were played in Richmond. One was an overtime loss, another was a win," he says. "They're a little less physical than Delta. I think we can use our size and physicality against them and wear them down a bit."
Game 1 is Thursday in Richmond while Game 2 is back at Harry Jerome Arena Saturday night starting at 7 p.m. Samson says he's hoping for another big crowd as the Wolf Pack hit home ice for the first time ever as a conference finalist.
"We had our best crowd of the year on Saturday and we fed off that. Hopefully we can get some more people to come out. Now that the Canucks are playing so bad they can see some entertaining hockey here," he says with a laugh, adding that the team isn't content just to have gotten out of the first round. They want more.
"We're relieved, we got this done. Yes, we're happy and we'll celebrate, have some fun. But there are bigger things ahead."
