2-1 Shootout Win Sends Spartans to "Q" Quarter Finals

2009-02-20


Brent Phillips dives into the Spartans bench after scoring what turned out to be the game-winning shootout goal against Cape Breton.

Brent Phillips' final round shootout goal followed by Austin Wildes' shootout save gave the Seacoast Spartans PW Majors a dramatic come-from-behind 2-1 win over the Cape Breton Sreaming Eagles to propel them into the Quebec International PW Tournament Winner's Bracket Semi Finals.  The Spartans 96 Team will face-off against the Hershey Bears Saturday morning at 8:00am.  This will be a rematch of last year's quarter final match-up where Hershey handed the Spartans 95s a 2-1 loss and eliminated them from the tournament.

Click on the following link to watch Saturday's game live: stream.megaquebec.net/peewee.asx

The first period was evenly played with each team controlling play at different times in the frame.  Cape Breton was the only team to score when an open Francois Poirier collected a pass on the side of the net and beat Spartans' goaltender Austin Wildes low to the glove side.  The Spartans had quality chances to score but could not figure out the Cape Breton goaltender.

Other than one Cape Breton power play, the second period was again evenly played.  In this period, however, there were not many 5-5 scoring chances.  On the Cape Breton power play Wildes had to come up with big saves on several occasions to keep the score at 1-0.

In the third period the Spartans picked up the pace producing mutiple scoring chances without a goal to show for it.  As the time was ticking away the Spartans dug deep and found a way to tie the score 1-1 with only 2:11 remaining in the game.  Charley Borek drove though a couple of Cape Breton defenders and then slid a pass across the goal to Niall Foster who fired a shot on goal.  The Cape Breton goaltender made the save but the rebound bounced to his right where Brent Phillips collected the puck and fired a shot on goal from a very difficult angle that found its way in for the goal.  In the final two minutes of the third period the Cape Breton team picked up the pace and dominated the Spartans but Austin Wildes shut them down each time, one in spectacular fashion.

The five-minute, four-on-four overtime was controlled by the Spartans with a couple high-quality scoring chances to win, but again they could not beat the Cape Breton goalie.  The Spartans recorded the only shots on goal in overtime.  The end result was a three-player shootout to determine a victor.

The Spartans as the home team chose to shoot first in the shootout.  Alex Hopkins was the first Spartans shooter and he beat the Cape Breton goalie high to the glove side with a perfectly placed wrist shot.  Cape Breton matched the Spartans goal in the first round with a great shot by Matthew Highmore beating Wildes to the stick side.  In the second round Charley Borek was stuffed on a move to his backhand and then Austin Wildes was equal to the task shutting down the Cape Breton shooter.

In the final round of the shootout Brent Phillips faked a shot and then moved to his forehand and patiently deposited the shot into the open net.  Phillips then sprinted to the Spartans' bench diving over the boards into the waiting arms of his teammates.  On Cape Breton's final shot Austin Wildes calmly held his ground as the Cape Breton player tried a spin-o-rama move that Wildes easily blocked giving the Spartans the 2-1 shootout win.

The winner of Saturday morning's contest between the Spartans and Hershey will play the winner of the Swiss Romande Lynx and the Connecticut Wolves at 2:15pm on Saturday in the Winner's Bracket finals.  The Winner's bracket finalist will play the Loser's Bracket finalist for the "Q" championship at 1:00pm on Sunday.

The Spartans game results for the "Q" are as follows:

2-1 Win: Lakeshore Panthers, Canada (Tournament Game)
4-1 Win: Jr. Bruins, Mass (Exhibition)
9-1 Win: Cartier, Canada (Exibition)
5-4 Loss: PEI Rockets, Canada (Exhibition)
3-1 Win: Moncton Wildcats, Cananda (Exhibition)
1-0 Win (OT): Anaheim Ducks , CA (Tournament)
4-0 Win: Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany (Exhibition)
2-1 Win (OT - SO): Cape Breton, Canada (Tournament)