Gold Kings Win 3-1
April 12, 2002 - West Coast Hockey League (WCHL)
Colorado Gold Kings News Release
Tacoma, WA -The Colorado Gold Kings built a 3-0 lead after the first period and held off the Sabercats for a 3-1 victory in Game One of the Taylor Cup playoffs Friday night at the Tacoma Dome.
Cody Bowtell opened the scoring by banging in a Craig Lyons rebound at the 3:39 mark of the first period. Chad Cabana extended the lead to 2-0 with a backhander past Tacoma netminder Mike Brusseau after a perfect centering pass from Dwayne Blais at 16:58. After Sabercat defenseman Dennis Pinfold was whistled for a roughing penalty with 10 seconds left in the period, Colorado struck quickly, as another Lyons rebound was swept home by R.J. Enga with only 3.7 seconds remaining.
Kirk Daubenspeck and the special teams took over in the second period, as the second team all-WCHL goalie turned away all 16 shots he faced and the Gold Kings erased seven minutes of power play time for the Sabercats.
Colorado permitted Tacoma only four shots over the final 20 minutes, and despite the fact that K.J. Vorhees (a Colorado College alum) ended Daubenspeck's shutout bid with 5:34 left in regulation, the Gold Kings hung on for only their third road playoff win in club history. Daubenspeck finished with 31 saves as Colorado defeated Tacoma for the sixth time in seven meetings and the fourth straight time under the Dome.
The Gold Kings, now armed with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series, meet the Sabercats in Game Two tomorrow night at 8:05 p.m. MST at the Tacoma Dome. In the other Northern Division semi-final, Anchorage shocked Idaho 5-0. Jack Michaels calls the play-by-play for Colorado's games, all of which are broadcast live on KKCS-AM Hot Talk 1460.
• Discuss this story on the West Coast Hockey League message board...
West Coast Hockey League Stories from April 12, 2002
- Gold Kings Win 3-1 - Colorado Gold Kings
- Frsno Falcons Repeat as WCHL's Organization of the Year - WCHL
- Idaho's Cunningham Named WCHL Executive of the Year - WCHL
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
