Laredo Forces Game 7 with 9-2 Outbusrt Over Arizona
April 25, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release
PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs, looking to advance to the Ray Miron President's Cup Finals for the first time in their short two-year history, battled the Laredo Bucks in Game 6 of their best-of-7 Southern Conference Finals series on Friday night at the Laredo Entertainment Center in Laredo, Texas. The Sundogs owned a 3-2 series lead coming into Friday night's contest but Laredo would respond with desperation in the elimination game to top the Sundogs 9-2 and force a deciding Game 7 tomorrow night in Western Texas. Tyler Redenbach and Alex Leavitt scored for Arizona while Chris Korchinski carried his club with a three goal performance.
Laredo scored three power play goals in a 10-minute span of the first period Friday night to take a 3-0 lead into the first intermission. Korchinski netted his fifth goal of the playoffs from Chris Stanley and Paul Elliott at 5:39 of the opening period to give his club a 1-0 lead. Just past the midway point of the frame, the Bucks opened a two-goal cushion with their second man advantage goal of the game. Serge Dube pushed home a rebound past Arizona netminder Rob McVicar for his second goal and eighth point of the postseason. Stanley took the initial shot for his second helper of the night while Adam Rivet registered his first point of the contest with an assist on the play. Laredo continued to take advantage of power play chances in the first period as Korchinski tallied his club's third goal with the man advantage and his second of the period with just under five minutes to play in the first 20 minutes of play. Alex Goupil and Dube collected assists on Korchinski's second tally of the game. While skating 5-on-3 after simultaneous penalties to Steve Simoes and Joshua Patterson for tripping and cross checking, Tyler Redenbach gathered a pass from veteran defenseman Chris Bartolone and gained the offensive zone before trickling a shot past Laredo goaltender John Ceci for his first goal of the playoffs, cutting the Bucks' lead to 3-1 with just nine seconds to play in the first period. Laredo finished 3-for-6 on the man advantage in the first period while Arizona converted on one of four power play chances in the first period. The Bucks outshot the Sundogs 21-8 in the opening 20 minutes of play Friday night.
The Sundogs continued their struggles on special teams as Andrew Desjardins skated in 2-on-1 with Steve Simoes shorthanded. The duo worked together to create a scoring chance and Simoes capitalized for his third goal of the playoffs at 7:42 of the second period. Desjardins registered his fifth assist of the playoffs on the play while Dube notched his second assist and third point of the night. The goal would be the fifth shorthanded marker of the playoffs against Arizona. Laredo increased its lead to 5-1 less than four minutes later with its first even-strength goal of the night as Korchinski completed his hat trick effort from Igor Agarunov and Elliott. The Bucks opened a five-goal cushion at the 13:16 mark as Desjardins tallied his second score of the game from James Hiebert. Elliot grabbed his second point and first goal of the game skating in behind the Sundogs defense before firing a wrist shot past McVicar with 2:20 to play in the middle period. Stanley collected the playmaker with his third helper of the game on the late breakaway goal. After two periods of play, Laredo held a 41-17 advantage in shots.
The Bucks continued to pour it on early in the third as Stanley lit the lamp at the 3:04 mark for his first goal and fourth point of the night to make it 8-1 Laredo. Dube and Rivet helped on the play for their fourth and second points of the game respectively. Alex Leavitt tallied his club's second goal of the game 1:33 later on passes from Bartolone and Dan Laperriere. With less than five minutes to play in regulation Laredo tallied the game's final goal as Josh Patterson collected his first goal of the playoffs from David Walker and Hiebert.
Rob McVicar appeared in net for Arizona in the first two periods and stopped 34 of 41 shots before being replaced by backup netminder Marco Emond in the third period. Emond blocked 9 of 11 shots in the relief effort. McVicar suffered his first loss of the postseason and first since March 4 of the regular season. Arizona was held to 1-for-12 with the man advantage while Laredo converted on four of ten power play chances and three in the first period. The Bucks nearly doubled-up the Sundogs in shots, 52-27.
With the win, Laredo ties the best-of-7 series at three games apiece and forces a Game 7. The deciding game is set for tomorrow night in Laredo, Texas at 5:30pm (Arizona time). The game can be heard live at 96.7 FM The Wolf, the Official Broadcast Home of the Arizona Sundogs.
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