Saints Stay Alive, Strike Back At Vipers:

Saints stay alive, strike back at Vipers

Marozzi stands on head in Spruce Grove net to extend series to sixth game

By Chris O'Leary, Freelance Edmonton Journal

April 23, 2010

They had their backs against the wall. It was do-or-die time. Win or go home.

Whatever the situation, however you want to look at it, the Spruce Grove Saints extended their postseason on Thursday night with a much-needed 3-1 win over the Vernon Vipers.

The win puts the best-of-seven Doyle Cup series at 3-2, in favour of the Vipers. Still, down 3-2 is better than the alternative.

"We're not kidding ourselves at all. That's the kind of game we have to play, where we defend real hard and make the most of our opportunities," Saints head coach and general manager Steve Hamilton said.

Making his third consecutive start in the series, Vincenzo Marozzi made 37 saves in net for Spruce Grove. The hockey gods smiled on the Saints in this instance, as Travis Rolheiser was slated to get the start.

"The funny thing is, he wasn't even going to get the start tonight, but Rollie came down with the flu," Hamilton said. "We always said when we got into this thing at the start of the year, we always wanted two guys who could play in case anything ever happened. Vince was ready to go and obviously did a hell of a job."

Graeme Gordon made 17 saves on the night for the Vipers.

The start of Game 5 had a very similar beginning to Game 4. The Saints were soundly out-shot in the opening frame (11-4), as they continued to struggle with the Vipers' speed. The situation turned grim after Mike Collins scored his power-play goal, 6:01 into the second.

It was here, though, that the Saints used their darkest moment as motivation. They reeled off three second-period goals, building up a 3-1 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.

First it was Kodie Curran at 10:29. Nate Fleming then scored his fourth of the playoffs at 13:50 on a great setup from Malcolm Tomlinson. The Saints continued to roll in the second, with Josh Koper making it a 3-1 game at 17:30.

The Saints won despite being outshot in each period. Hamilton said those sort of numbers didn't matter to him in these situations.

"I told the guys that my concern is not with the shot clock. My concern is with the big score clock," he said. "We gave up some perimeter shots, we gave up some good chances, (Marozzi) made some good saves. That's part of being on the road."

Game 6 of the Doyle Cup goes Saturday at 8 p.m. MT in Vernon. A pay-per-view webcast of the game is available at www.ajhl.ca.

The winner of the Doyle Cup qualifies for the Royal Bank Cup, in Dauphin, Man., from May 1-9.