Colorado Eliminated in First Round
April 18, 2002 - West Coast Hockey League (WCHL)
Colorado Gold Kings News Release
Colorado Springs, CO -The Tacoma Sabercats completed a first round upset of the Colorado Gold Kings with a 5-2 victory Wednesday night at the World Arena.
The Gold Kings scored the game's first goal for the fifth straight time in this series when R.J. Enga snapped a one-timer from Aaron Boh past David Goverde at 7:47 of the first period. But Colorado's only lead of the game lasted only 40 seconds, as Tacoma capitalized on a turnover deep in the zone and tied the game when Dampy Brar found Tim Lovell. Clayton Read gave the Sabercats a 2-1 lead at 12:48 with a wrist shot from the left circle. But this time the Gold Kings answered quickly, tying the game on a Xavier Majic wrap-around just 19 seconds later. A bizarre first period continued when Colorado goaltender Kirk Daubenspeck fumbled the puck behind his own net, leading to an easy goal for Jarret Whidden, who fired home the eventual game-winner into an empty net.
Similar to Game Four, the Gold Kings had all kinds of chances in the third period following a scoreless second and appeared to tie the game with about four minutes left, but referee Jim Norquay ruled the puck had been frozen.
Goverde completed an amazing series with 32 saves and Dampy Brar and Francois Sasseville accounted for the final margin with a pair of empty-netters in the final 1:14. By taking the best-of-five series three games to two, Tacoma gains revenge for last year's first round loss to Colorado and advances to the Northern Division Finals against either Idaho or Anchorage.
West Coast Hockey League Stories from April 18, 2002
- Colorado Eliminated in First Round - Colorado Gold Kings
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