EVERETT — This is what champions are made of.
The defending Western Hockey League champion Kelowna Rockets were down 2-0 early to the Everett Silvertips before 8,099 thunderous fans in the Silvertips’ home arena Thursday night.
The Silvertips were playing desperate hockey. The last thing they wanted to do was to return to Kelowna down 3-1 in the best-of-seven series. Everett came out playing physical, swarmed Kelowna goalie Kelly Guard and scored on their first two power plays.
But then the Rockets, recognizing they were being outhustled and outplayed, woke up to come away with a 4-3 victory. Game 5 is Saturday night in Kelowna, British Columbia.
"They were really playing hard against us," Rockets center Tyler Mosienko said. "We made some crucial mistakes and they bit us in the butt. We really had to change a few things up. Our lines stepped up and we started playing a little better."
Coach Marc Habscheid tweaked a few things in his defense, but mostly, the Rockets players changed themselves. While the Silvertips, indeed, played as though their playoff lives depended on it, the Rockets played the part of a team that believed it had some wiggle room.
"More than anything, the players changed the effort," Habscheid said.
"I don’t know what it was, but we came out flat," Rockets captain and defenseman Josh Gorges said. "We had to have a few more guys step up and they did. We never quit. We’re not that type of team."
Right wing Troy Bodie, who scored just eight goals in the regular season, snatched away the Silvertips’ momentum when he scored his seventh goal of the playoffs with a minute left in the first period, gathering up the puck as it caromed off the boards behind Everett goalie Jeff Harvey. Bodie blew a shot past Harvey before the Silvertips stopper could react.
"It just came right to my stick and I just threw her in," Bodie said. "I was right on the doorstep and it took a wicked bounce."
The Silvertips had reason to worry, even as they were up 2-1 after one period. Kelowna has made coming back an art. After surrendering the first two games in the conference semifinals at home to the Tri-City Americans, the Rockets stormed back to take the next four games and the series.
"We’re a gritty team and gritty teams do come back once in a while," Mosienko said.
Having lost 3-2 to Everett in the first game of the conference finals, Kelowna has won three straight. Thursday night’s game, however, was a crusher for the Silvertips, who created more scoring chances (a 34-28 advantage on shots on goal) than they had in any game of the series, seemingly had Kelowna on the ropes, yet lost.
They had visions of returning to Kelowna with a 2-2 tie in the series. Now, they face the daunting task of winning three straight against the defending WHL champions.
All because the Rockets didn’t lose their cool, scored three unanswered goals, withstood an Everett rally and pulled out a victory.
"You never want to go down 2-0," Gorges said, "but we never, ever think we can’t come back. We just have to keep working hard and good things are going to happen."
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