Kingston Frontenacs GameDay March 31, 2018

CHECKMATE
3FRONTS TAKE 3-1 SERIES LEAD
by Jordan Jackson, Kingston Frontenacs
It took nearly a week, including three games,
but the series finally made its way to North Bay
for game four. Kingston left Sudbury with a 4-1
victory and a 2-1 series lead after game three.
With the curling tournament wrapped up,
the series shifted to the North Bay Memorial
Gardens for the Battalion’s first home game
that was actually in their home rink. The
Frontenacs could take a stranglehold on the
series with another road win in game four, but
the Battalion were looking to avoid that and
send the series back to Kingston tied.
The first period of game four looked a lot like
the opening period of game three. There were
fewer shots on goal, but both Jeremy Helvig
and Christian Propp were perfect through the
first twenty minutes. The big story of the period
was the penalty killing done by Kingston.
The Frontenacs took three straight penalties
through the first 14:00, but the penalty killing
units were perfect. The strong penalty killing
led to some solid momentum heading into the
second period.
Kingston capitalized on that momentum
immediately. After winning the opening faceoff,
the Frontenacs entered the Battalion’s zone
and Ryan Cranford beat Christian Propp to
put Kingston ahead 1-0. Cliff Pu took a penalty
just over a minute later that turned out to be
positive. Kingston killed the penalty and Pu
was sent in on a breakaway as he stepped out
of the box. He made a move to his forehand
and beat Propp to double the Kingston lead.
Just as it looked as though Kingston was going
to run away with the game, North Bay got on
the board. Kyle Potts scored his second of the
series to cut the Kingston lead in half. Cliff Pu
restored the two-goal lead later in the period
when he found a loose puck and put it in for
a 3-1 Frontenacs lead. The Battalion fought
back again when Matthew Struthers appeared
to bank the puck off of Jeremy Helvig and in to
cut the Kingston lead to 3-2. After a scoreless
first period, the teams combined for five goals
in the second and Kingston headed to the third
with a 3-2 lead.
The Frontenacs looked to put the game away
near the midway point of the third. Ryan
Cranford scored from a nearly impossible angle
for his second of the game to give Kingston
their third 2-goal lead. Just like the first two
times, North Bay fought back, and this time
it was just over a minute later. Luke Burghardt
beat Helvig on a breakaway to make it 4-3. At
13:48 Kingston finally put the game away for
good. Gabe Vilardi came off the bench and
found himself wide open in the slot. He made
no mistake and gave Kingston a 5-3 lead. The
Battalion pulled Christian Propp for the extra
attacker but that allowed Linus Nyman to get
the sixth Kingston goal of the game which
made the final score 6-3.
Ryan Cranford and Cliff Pu both scored their
first two goals of the playoffs to help lead
Kingston to the win. The victory gives Kingston
a 3-1 series lead after winning back to back
road games.- KF
OFFICIAL GAMEDAY PROGRAM, VOLUME 45, 2018
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