Game 2 . . . the postgame

THE POSTGAME:
F Tyler Shattock, who scored the game-winner as the Calgary Hitmen beat the Moncton Wildcats 5-4 in the second game of the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup, had that dazed look in his eyes as he met the media immediately afterwards.
He got the game-winner, at 18:42 of the third period, but even he didn’t seem too sure exactly what happened.
The Hitmen trailed 3-0 in the second period before mounting a comeback that included four third-period goals.
Shattock, who drew an assist on Kris Foucault’s game-tying goal at 16:29, was the beneficiary of a fortuitous bounce off the end boards on the play that led to the winner.
The Hitmen dumped the puck and F Jimmy Bubnick tried to get in on the forecheck. A Moncton defenceman tried to fire the puck around the boards — Shattock chose not to finish his check and turned to the net — and the puck took a crazy bounce out of the corner and right to Shattock. He was less surprised, but only slightly, than G Nicola Riopel, who watched as Shattock put the puck through the five-hole and into the net.
Shattock said he had no idea what happened, just that the puck ended up on his stick and he was able to beat Riopel between the legs.
It was interesting that Bubnick drew an assist on the winner. It didn’t appear that his stick was quite that long. . . .
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Both head coaches, Danny Flynn of Moncton and Mike Williamson of Calgary, alluded to this one being two games in one.
“We played really well in the first half,” Flynn said. “Late in the second, they scored and again early in the third. They got momentum from that and pushed us hard.”
As for the bounce on the winner, Flynn said: “That’s hockey . . . and you make your own bounces.”
The Wildcats will play again Sunday afternoon when they meet the Brandon Wheat Kings. Both teams are 0-1.
Flynn said hockey is like life and likened his team’s situation to that of a youngster learning to skate. He said that the learner falls down and gets up and falls down and get sup again.
“We fell,” he said, “and we have to get up and show we have the inside character we need.”
Williamson referred to it as “kind of a strange game.”
“We were outplayed quite badly in the first half,” he said, “then we started to play better . . . and we got some fortunate bounces.”
The Hitmen played most of the game without F Brandon Kozun, who tried to go but just couldn’t do it. He suffered a leg injury in the final game of the WHL championship series and really was labouring on two PP shifts.
“He wasn’t able to do as much as he had hoped,” Williamson said of Kozun, who won the WHL regular-season and playoff scoring titles and, in fact, led the entire CHL in regular-season points. “We have to be careful not to push him back too quickly.”
Calgary also lost two defencemen — Jaylen Rissling and Zak Stebner — early in the first period. Rissling never did return, while Stebner missed about half the period before coming back.
In the second half of the game, with his defencemen withering a bit, Williamson moved F Cody Sylvester to the back end.
“It was a tremendous job by him,” Williamson said, adding that Sylvester hadn’t been used in that role all season.
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FACES IN THE CROWD: There was Montreal Canadiens scout Vaughn Karpan, a native of The Pas, Man., and a former Brandon Wheat Kings forward, walking through the maze of hallways here almost four hours before game time Saturday morning. . . . Randy Bachman, he of Guess Who, BTO and Randy’s Vinyl Tap fame, will rock the joint Saturday night as this Memorial Cup rocks on. If you haven’t caught his radio show, Randy’s Vinyl Tap, on CBC, well, treat yourself one of these Saturday evenings. . . . Tri-City Americans GM Bob Tory was chatting it up with Hockey Canada head scout Al Murray during the first intermission. . . . Saskatoon Blades boss Jack Brodsky was perched in one of the boxes. I’m told that there was a time when he wanted to turn the WHL bantam draft into a big deal and hold it in his town. He wanted to open with a banquet for parents, draft-eligible players and WHL people on a Friday night and then hold the draft the next day in his building. But, I’m told, he wasn’t able to garner the support necessary. Too bad. Sounds like a grand idea. . . . Conspiracy theorists should know that the Bonner brothers, Craig and Scott, were sitting together in one of the boxes. Scott, of course, is the GM of the Vancouver Giants, while Craig is the GM of the Kamloops Blazers. They have been known to make the odd trade with each other. You don’t suppose any seeds were planted as they watched this one, do you? . . .
By the way, I ran into former Moose Jaw Warriors GM Chad Lang just before the game. He is working for the CHL here, as director of hockey ops. He is much rumoured as the next GM of the Regina Pats. He told me (a) he hasn’t spoken with Brent Parker, the Pats’ president and governor who is looking to replace himself as GM; (b) he is interested in the job; (c) he is good friends with Parker; and, (d) being good friends with Parker wouldn’t concern him were he to end up as the GM.
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JUST NOTES: The Windsor Spitfires, who won it all a year ago, are working to become the first repeat winner since the Kamloops Blazers won in 1994 and 1995. . . . Windsor and Calgary clash on Monday night in a battle of the unbeaten. . . . A headline from the Saturday edition of the Calgary Herald: Boogieman dream coach for Windsor. . . . Windsor head coach Bob Boughner was something of a tough cookie during a 15-winter pro career. And wouldn’t you have wanted to see this Boogieman go against Minnesota Wild F Derek Boogaard, today’s Boogeyman? . . . Boughner also played for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds when they won the 1991 OHL championship. Danny Flynn, now the head coach in Moncton, was assistant GM and associate head coach in the Soo back then. . . . Boughner was the captain of the NHL’s Calgary Flames in 2001-02. One of the Flames’ assistant coaches was Brad McCrimmon, a former Brandon Wheat Kings defenceman and team captain, and older brother of Kelly McCrimmon, today the Wheat Kings’ owner, GM and head coach. . . . Brian O’Neill, who oversaw the NHL’s first expansion draft and was perhaps the first of hockey’s prolific statisticians, is here. He’s on the discipline committee. . . . Which means he’s hoping he has less to do this week than the Maytag repairman.