Down 3-2 in tight series Wild hope to turn things around in Temiscaming Friday night
By Jon Yaneff

Wild forward Anthony Simone battles for the puck against Royals' forward Chris Fraser in front of the King goalie Craig Byford in Game 3's 3-2 Wild win. Byford was stellar in net during the game stopping 34 of 36 Temiscaming shot that came his way to earn the first star of the game.

It's win two straight or wait until next year for the King Wild.

They have given the Temiscaming Royals a gritty battle all series long, with last Tuesday's back-andforth Game 3, ending in a 6- 4, loss in Temiscaming and Friday's 3-2 Game 4 tantalizing victory in Nobleton, to even their bestof seven Greater Metro Junior A Hockey League (GMHL) series at two.

Game 5, was scheduled in Temiscaming Saturday, but was postponed because of the snowstorm.

The next game was played Sunday in Nobleton and ended with the Royals dominating to the tune of 4- 0, giving them a three games to two series lead.

"They played like a second-place team," Wild Coach Sheldon Friske described the Royals performance after the game, as Temiscaming proved to the Wild that finishing ahead in the season standing does prove something.

After a scoreless first period, the Royals went to work, capitalizing on a fiveon three man-advantage in the second, sniping two decisive goals to swing the momentum in their favour.

The two calls had David Manning given a fourminute minor for high sticking. Shortly after goaltender Craig Byford was given a delay-of-game penalty for shooting the puck into the stands, even though his shot ricocheted off a shoulder of a Royals' player.

The goals came 23 seconds apart, as Cedric Boultin at 9:26 (assisted by Justin Murray and Sebastian Poirier) and Michael Gauthier at 9:49 (assisted by Benoit Fiset) notched the markers during that power play.

With five minutes left in the second period, the Royals cushioned their lead to three as Felix Gilbert (assisted by Chris Fraser) beat Byford to give his team a commanding 3-0 lead heading into the third.

As the game was dwindling to a close with 31 seconds on the clock, Gilbert (the game's second star) iced the win (assists from Corey Raymond and Cory Marquardt) with another goal.

Royals' goaltender Guillaume Piche (first star) stood tall all night, stopping 38 Wild shots to earn his second shutout of the playoffs. Temiscaming out shot the Wild, as Byford had 45 pucks to tend with, making 41 saves.

The Wild's Matt Salituro earned the game's third star with his aggressive play.

Wild 3, Royals 2

Friday's contest provided about 100 Wild fans with good, clean playoff hockey.

"Both teams played hard," said Friske, after witnessing his team narrowly defeat their opponents. "There was no rough stuff, nothing cheap, nothing after the whistle and that's the way it should be."

King escaped the first with no score on the board, although the Wild found themselves two men short for about three minutes in the period.

Temiscaming opened the scoring as Raymond (assisted by Fiset and Shayne Desrochers) put one past Byford early in the second.

Dan Douglas (assisted by Colin Shearing) and Keylan Marchant (assisted by Michael Garvie and Salituro) scored for the Wild to give them a slim 2-1 advantage heading into the third.

Wild centre Marc Fortin left the game midway in the second period after reinjuring his hand as he was checking a Royals' player into the boards. That play earned him a 10-minute misconduct, which gives him an automatic two-game suspension (too many 10- minute misconducts) and time to recover from his injury.

About two minutes into the third, Temiscaming's Alex Brazeau (assisted by Marc Desgagnes and Fraser) tied the contest at two.

The game's second star, Douglas (assisted by Shearing and Steve Wicklum) scored his second of the game 13:21 into the third, which held up as the game's winning goal. Douglas leads the GMHL in playoff points with 20 (10 goals and 10 assists) in his nine-playoff games. Wild forward Matt Marchese is second with 18 points (seven goals and 11 assists).

Byford set aside 34 of 36 Royals' shot to earn the victory and the game's first star. Piche stopped 23 of 26 Wild shots.

Royals 6, Wild 4

Wild goaltender Kyle Parker missed last Tuesday's game with a cold, and Byford filled in during this back-and-forth affair at Temiscaming.

King led 4-2 before the Royals mounted their comeback. They sealed the deal with four minutes left in the game and didn't look back.

Byford saved 41 of 47 Royals' shots, while Piche was stellar in his victory (37 saves out of 41 Wild shots).

The Wild's goal scorers were Douglas, Fortin, Jon Adams and Andrew Beattie.

Game 6 preview

The King side now travels back to Temiscaming to try to erase their series deficit, but it will be tough in the Royals' packed arena.

"It's hard to win in their rink because they get around 800 to 1,000 fans out for every game," said Byford.

Game 6 is Friday at 8 p.m., while if the series reached Game 7; the Wild will stay in Temiscaming for the series finale Saturday at 8 p.m.

"If the series reaches Game 7 anything can happen," explained Byford. "Tuesday (March 11) we will practice and come together as a team, so we'll come out flying on Friday and get up early and possibly carry momentum into Game 7. Their goalie (Piche) is good, but the second you get one on him, his confidence goes down and we've been able to score in bunches."