10) Round 1 Game 2 - Feels like ancient history now, but it was a big time building block for this run. We (Steve, Gwai Lo and I) stood there in disbelief prior to overtime, trying to reconcile the shot total with the score line. Finally I said, "I don't care that they couldn't win with 60 shots, as long as the next one does the trick." Yeah, I called it.
9) Round 3 Game 5 - One of only two losses on this list, both featuring Matt Duchene in the penalty box. Bitter disappointment and doubt went hand in hand when Belleville claimed victory, about a period and a half after a possible series clinching goal by Cody Hodgson was negated by a dubious interference call. Mike Murphy's heroics in net for the Bulls would only make his third period execution two nights later so much sweeter.
8.) Round 2 Game 6 - Battalion Playoff Lore was an admittedly slim tome before this spring, but the official curse breaker game will have prominent place in it for more than just the obvious reason. Matt Kang's goal, the eventual series winner, looked like a bit of a wasted shot attempt when he first wound it up. How it snaked between Majors' defenders and over JP Anderson's shoulder I will never know, but we all know that Kang had specific orders to shoot. It was none other than Tony Peluso who shouted at his teammate from the bench. It would be another twenty gut-wrenching minutes before the 3-2 final was official. And I'll never forget the Rogers camera zooming out in the final second so that, for the five of us watching on tv, Thomas McCollum's last big save of the series exists only as Dan Dunleavy's frantic call.
7) Round 3 Game 4 - The Belleville experience factor seemed to emerge early on. The Battalion looked lost; the home crowd at a loss for words. A 2-0 deficit lingered late into the second period. Then the Butler did it! Putting Kang and Duchene out together yielded immediate results. And only moments after I yelled across the aisle to Steve: "Murphy's working on a shutout! Pass it on!" Scott "The Axe" Tanski and Tommy Stajan scored enormous third period goals. The crowd vented: booing PK Subban with gusto and starting the best "Go Troops Go" chant ever heard. During a stoppage, no less.
6) Round 4 Game 5 - This is where it ended, and disappointment set in. But before that ridiculous overtime penalty, and before the Spits got to celebrate their OHL supremacy, the Troops made all of Windsor damn nervous with another gritty sixty minute effort. If only the powerplay clicked just once, I might have added the first ever Saturday night home game in Battalion history to this list.
5) Round 2 Game 2 - Duchene breaks a 1-1 tie in the third. The Troops break the first barrier of their confounded second round curse. Eriksson leads the way with two timely shot blocks. McCollum with a giant game-saving stop in the final seconds. A huge victory, considering how their resolve would be tested in the next two contests.
4) Round 3 Game 2 - Are we doing this? Damn, I think we might be doing this? Winning Game 1 on the road in Belleville was great. Owning the Bulls in Game 2, in front of a racous Bunker audience, was downright fantastic. I had seats right on the goal line in the bleacher end; a perfect view of the record-setting offensive onslaught that took place in the first minutes. And an even better view of Thomas McCollum's amazing point blank save in the second period, with the score 4-2 Brampton.
3) Round 2 Game 5 - The overtime disappointment and dread from the previous contest in Mississauga lingered, as I sat on my couch shivering with a badass cold. Brad Albert's open ice hit on Daugavins was a great capper on an ultimately successful evening, but the biggest goal along the way came off the video replay. I just knew they'd find a reason to call it back. But the couldn't, and they didn't. Ugliest big goal of the whole run, giving the Troops a huge two goal cushion they would never relinquish.
2) Round 4 Game 3 - Sixty minutes which proved that the Battalion could not only compete with the Spits but bring the game to them and outplay them. McCollum erased the aftertaste of Game 1 in fine style. Tony "Toedrag" Peluso gave the good guys that all-important lead, and three more snipes sealed it. Just another example of the Troops proving my premonitions false.
1) Round 3 Game 6 - The whole game was wild. The first period was all emotion. The second was all letdown. The third was just epic. Coming in to the final twenty trailing the Bulls for the second home game in a row, the big names on this team were not going to be denied. Duchene completing the hat-trick, the whole team defending like mad with the score 5-4, the two empty netters to cap it. I lost eight pounds in pure sweat, but it was worth it to witness the single greatest playoff moment in Battalion history.
!!! Best day ever, our
jaws dropped when we tuned in 10 minutes into the first period !!!
