The Similkameen News Leader
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POSSE PLAYOFF HOPES DIE AT HOME
Trailing 2-0 in their first round of playoffs, Princeton Posse had to do something to fight back the more powerful Sicamous Eagles when both teams met for game #4 last Friday night at Princeton Arena.
With only 17 players dressed, the Posse came out in force and played a pretty good game.
Brad Davis passed the puck to Chad Hohmann, who was in front of the net, and poked it into the left corner of the goal for Princeton's first goal of the night at 4:35. Conner McGarry was given an assist on the play.
Princeton managed to stay out of the penalty box for half the period and finished the frame leading 1-0.
The second period saw a sharper Sicamous team take advantage of a tired Posse team with a tying goal only 31-seconds into the period which sailed between Greg Sentes' legs. He never saw it coming, then the Eagles added another goal at 3:11 which was sent from in front of the net and flipped over the goalies glove hand.
By the third period it was obvious the Posse was tired. The had spurts of energy that kept them in the game, but by the time Sicamous scored their third goal at 10:43, it was pretty much over for the home team.
Although they played a good game, with so few players on the bench, the short shifts wore the boys out. Princeton collected only eight penalties during the game, totalling 24-minutes compared to the Eagles racking up 34-minutes out of 13 penalties.
Final score: Sicamous 3, Princeton 1. Shots on goal: Sicamous 33, Princeton 24.
Game Four in the series was last Saturday night and it was a completely different match from the previous night.
Saying tension filled the air would be an understatement.
Both teams came out flying in the first few minutes of the game and there was a lot of hitting, trash talking and overall physical play on ice.
Sicamous scored first at 3:54 with a shot that sent the puck between Brad Fraser's legs when he was down on his knees.
The physical play intensified to a point where the game was delayed at 10:11 with Kevin Walrod of Sicamous down behind the Posse net. It took quite some time before he managed to limp back to the bench with assistance.
Sicamous added goal #2 at 14:03 and while many small altercations filled the period, the officiating team reacted quickly before anything could get out of hand.
The period ended with Sicamous leading 2-0.
In the second period, the officials became the target of most everyone in the building (except Sicamous fans) when penalties were called and wrong players were sent to the box or bad calls or missed calls started to dominate the action.
By the middle of the period fans started voicing their displeasure with the officials. At 8:01 it became clear the referees were not at the same game as everyone else at Princeton Arena were watching when Princeton's Sean Carr took a hit along the boards at centre ice and stayed down as play continued. An official stood over Carr obviously oblivious to the situation.
Carr was eventually taken off the ice and the crowd exploded with criticism aimed at the officials.
Sicamous added goal #3 with 1:55 left and fans shouted that the ref's should get an assist on the play.
After two periods, Sicamous was ahead 3 to 0.
The third period was a continuation of the second period with more yelling and complaining from the crowd regarding the officiating.
At 5:01, Princeton Assistant Coach Peter McDonald was tossed from the game for voicing his opinion of the skill displayed by the officials and Sicamous scored their fourth goal at 6:09 with their fifth goal at 8:03.
With only 17.4 seconds left, Princeton pulled a great gag. At a face off on the blue line Jordan Lane dropped his stick and gloves and faked the start of a fight. David Wyman took the puck from Seth Armitage and scored a goal before anyone realized what was going on.
Final score: Sicamous 5, Princeton 1. Shots on goal: Sicamous 35, Princeton 17.
