The St. Albert Miners dug deep Sunday to repeat as senior B provincial champions.
After letting a 2-0 series lead slip away, the Miners survived a third period scare to edge the Calgary Knights 11-10 in the bitterly contested playoff finale.
"Oh man, we just battled hard. Everyone stuck together. It was a tough win," said a relieved Brad Scott, a two-goal sniper in the fifth and deciding game at Performance Arena.
The Miners lit up netminder Alex Coutts three times in the opening four minutes of the third period to lead by five, then hung on as the Knights rattled off four consecutive goals. The last three by the Knights were scored on the power play against the most penalized team in the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League.
"We were actually pretty calm," said Kyle Schram, who scored twice before serving a 10-minute misconduct to start the third period. "We just kind of let off a little bit. Maybe we felt a little bit too comfortable with that lead but once we saw them starting to come up there we really bucked down and played defence. We gelled together and played as a unit. Dave [Marrese], our goalie, played awesome too."
It was 4-2 after the first and 8-6 after 40 minutes for the Miners, when Sean Reid (PP), Chris Budnick and Steve Tessarola filled the net to give the home team what looked to be a commanding lead with 16 minutes remaining. However, the Knights erupted for three markers in a 55-second span, then made it a one-goal affair with 3:25 to play on Mark Scherman's fifth of the game and third on the power play.
"We started off good. We've had a lot of good first periods and it's been the trend to kind of let them back in it and we kind of did the same thing again today. We gave up a big lead. It was 11-6 at one point," Scott said.
With 53 seconds left, the Knights pulled their goalie with ball possession but couldn't get a decent shot away for the equalizer against Marrese, who made a clutch save on a shot through traffic with 1:11 on the clock. After a timeout by the Miners, they never surrendered the ball and took several seconds off the clock during a delayed penalty call against the Knights. The last 7.7 seconds, during a four-on-three power play, the Miners held on for the series clinching win.
"It's nothing new to us to sneak away with a one-goal victory," Scott said of the second one-goal margin in favour of the Miners and the third game in the final decided by the slimmest of margins in regulation time.
"Credit to them that they never went away. We got a four goal lead in the third and they battled right back to make it a one-goal game," added captain Nate Schmidt, who racked up four assists in game five. "The key was we worked hard. We tried to get that edge on them."
Ironically, the series was identical to last year's final, when the Miners blew a two-game lead and had to knock off the Okotoks Raiders 11-4 in game five at home.
"We didn't quite expect it to come down to game five again but we battled and came through with the victory," Schmidt said.
The Knights forced the playoff showdown after winning 8-7 Friday and 8-5 in overtime Saturday in Crossfield.
"It was a tough two games down there on the road in an arena we've never played in before. It could've gone either way but we got it done in game five," Schmidt said.
Home floor
The third game in three days brought out the best in the Miners.
"We were just happy to be home really. It was tough in Calgary," Scott said. "It was good to get those two losses out of our way and just get back to what we know and what we do best at home here."
The second-place Miners (12-5-1) didn't press the panic button after losing twice. They started the series with victories of 7-5 and 7-6 in St. Albert against the fourth-place Knights (8-10).
"The mood was good coming into this game," said Schram, who undressed Coutts on his second goal, a breakaway tally to give the Miners a 6-4 lead in the second. "Once we got on the floor today, our confidence was up and we really knew what we needed to do to win the game."
The most physical match of the series was penalty-filled with lengthy stoppages in play. The teams combined for 87 penalty minutes, led by the Knights' 48 PIM. Greg Bradley of the Knights was also assessed a match penalty for butt-ending in the second.
The Knights converted five power plays and the Miners struck four times with the man advantage, plus Scott's shorthanded effort to make it 5-2 in the second. A defensive meltdown in front of Coutts allowed the oldest player on the Miners to bolt into open space unchecked and he neatly deposited the ball past a startled Coutts.
Scott's second goal was a low shot to put the Miners up by two late in the second.
"It felt really good to produce and contribute to the win. I've been snakebitten lately so it was good to get into a game and get a couple and get the confidence back," said Scott, 29, who got into a brief dustup with Austin Nieuwdorp that almost spilled into the Calgary bench with 7:52 left in the first.
The former Spruce Grove Slash player was in retirement mode when the Miners inquired about his services towards the end of the regular season.
"About a month ago, I was retired. I just kind of jumped on board. I don't like taking somebody's spot that has been playing all year long, but I'm glad I'm here," said Scott, who had six goals in four games going into the playoffs.
Graedon Cornfield, the top scorer in league play for the second straight year with 31 goals and 66 points in 18 games, potted a pair and had two assists in game five. He also scored twice in both losses in Crossfield.
Chris Schmidt and Shane Lopatynski also generated goals Sunday. Jordan Cornfield picked up two assists before he left the game with a lower body injury.
Nationals
The Miners will now represent Alberta at the Presidents' Cup national championship, Aug. 29 to Sept. 5 at Cornwall Island, Ont.
"We've worked all year to go back there again," said Schmidt, 23, the team's most prolific scorer at the 2010 nationals with 14 goals and 24 points in six games. "Now that we've got that experience under our belts, we won't have those first-time jitters. We'll have the experience and the knowledge to know what the level is like and what it takes to win."
The Miners finished sixth out of seven teams with two wins and four losses at nationals in Burnaby, B.C.
"We want to have a better showing than last year," said Schram, 24, a Morinville product who played his minor lacrosse with the St. Albert Rams. "Without question, we're a better team than last year. We beefed up our defence. We're a bigger, stronger team. We're smarter. We made some really good moves in the offseason that really boosted our team."
