Day 4 . . . postgame

POSTGAME:
G Martin Jones stood there and answered the questions.
The Windsor Spitfires had just beaten Jones and his Calgary Hitmen 6-2 in Game 4 at the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup.
Windsor’s first two goals, both early in the first period, especially hurt the Calgary cause and Jones knew that he should have stopped both of them.
“Obviously, a couple of those were pretty untimely and goals I can’t be letting in if we want to win this thing,” he said. “I felt good at times but we have to make sure we clean those up.”
Another goal that really hurt came 12 seconds into the third period when Windsor F Taylor Hall stripped D Giffen Nyren just inside the Calgary line and beat Jones on the ensuing breakaway.
“That was a tough time to give up a goal,” Jones said. We had just climbed back into the game at the end of the second. It was a bit of a momentum swing for them . . . obviously he’s a skilled player and we can’t be giving him those kinds of chances.”
The Hitmen, who trailed 3-0, had gotten to within 3-2 on two goals by F Jimmy Bubnick.
Now the Hitmen are left to hope for a rematch with Windsor in the final. And what are the Hitmen telling themselves after Monday night?
“We know that they’re a very good hockey team and we respect our opponent,” Jones continued. “At the same time, we know that we’re a very skilled group and a good hockey club. We know that we can play with them and we can beat those guys.”
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As for the head coaches . . .
Mike Williamson of the Calgary Hitmen said he was proud of the way his guys hung around, dug in and stuck with it.
“We got down two early and giving that one up to start the third was too much to come back from,” he said.
Williamson wasn’t about to point fingers on that one goal, but he did say his guys “have to be aware of when key guys for the other team are on the ice and not turn the puck over.” However, he added, that sometimes it was partly “our fault” and partly “a good job by Windsor” forcing the turnovers.
Williamson didn’t sound as disappointed in his play as one might have thought he would be, especially considering the final score.
“I think our play was OK in spots in the first period,” he said. “We had some pucks that found their way to the back of the net. They’re a team that gets pucks to the net and traffic and that will happen.
“But I thought after the first few minutes, we played pretty well.”
Windsor head coach Bob Boughner, meanwhile, almost sounded as though his team had lost. In fact, it seems he made some noise in the first intermission, despite holding a 2-0 lead.
“I thought we came out pretty well. We got a couple of favourable bounces early,” he said, but he didn’t seem to like the way his team played as the game went on.
“In the second period, Calgary took the play to us,” he said. “Physically, we lost too many battles. We didn’t have enough urgency in our defensive zone and we let them back in the game.”
As for that first intermission . . .
“After the first, irregardless of the score, there was some screaming and yelling in the room because I thought they were the better team.”
At the end of the day, however, Boughner pointed to a familiar figure — Hall.
“My thing is tonight they were two great teams and No. 4 was the difference,” Boughner said of his star player who kills penalties, is on the PP, scores and blocks shots. Oh, he also delivers hits and gets run over on occasion.
Asked if Hall’s play, which sometimes resembles a pinball, ever makes him nervous, Boughner replied: “I got nervous the other night when he got hit in the first game. I’ve seen Taylor . . . he’ll do anything to score a goal or to make a play. He plays the game the right way.”
The Spitfires, with a berth in the final locked up, play the Moncton Wildcats on Tuesday night. A loss eliminates the 0-2 Wildcats.
A year ago, it was the Spitfires who lost their first two games. They got up off the canvas, beat the Kelowna Rockets in Game 3 and went on to win the whole thing.
“We just talked about that,” Boughner said. “It’s nice to be in the final and it’s nice to be able to get some rest. But we have to be very aware of (Wednesday’s) game. We can’t try to take our foot off the gas pedal. We were in the sitaution a year ago . . . we lost the first two games and Kelowna let us off the hook a bit in the third. We won the third game and ended up making it to the final.
“They’re all great teams here . . . when you get a chance to eliminate a team you have to do everything in your power to do that.”