Image credits: Preston Proulx
In a truly heartbreaking fashion, the Victoria Cougars suffered a 5-3 loss to end their season in Game 7 at home. They had only lost 4 games including the playoffs at home leading up to this one, but fell behind 5-0 after two periods and despite mounting a late attempt to tie the game, they just couldn't get over a slew of penalties suffered over the course of the game.
15 minutes before puck drop, the Cougars broke a panel of glass at the end of warmups, and if you are the superstitious type, you might have been right to take that as a negative foreshadowing of what was to come.
Until that point in the series, though the Predators had control throughout, it seemed as if Victoria had the momentum going into Game 7, having fought back in the series on the back of Ethan Barron's incredible display of goaltending in the absence of their superstar Ben Brant. Winning Games 5 & 6 would make you think that they were in control as well, having stopped Saanich from winning in their own building, and in Game 7 Saanich looked nervous heading into warmups.
However, the extra time must've helped calm their nerves, and unsettle Victoria, as they got off to a fast start, bombarding the Cougar net, and ending the 1st with a 2-0 lead. It didn't help that Victoria's performance was marred by a number of bad penalties taken that could easily have been avoided. Though Saanich only went 1/8 on the power play, games are not won by the shorthanded team, and spending over a quarter of the game in the box with many of them being to some of the team's better players, it just shows that the game could have gone the other way with better discipline and emotional control.
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