The goal that won it for Lakewood Dental/Dr. von den Steinen wasn't one for the highlight reels.
Todd Gunderson's goalmouth-scramble stab at a loose puck rebound gave the Lakewood right winger his first point of the Shooters Prince George Rec Hockey League playoffs Saturday night at Kin 1 and it didn't matter to Gunderson how it went in. It was the difference-maker in a 4-3 win over the Victoria Sport Physiotherapy Vipers that made Lakewood champions of the Rec A Division.
"They always play hard and we always have pretty close games with them," said Lakewood captain Chad Martin. "They beat us right at the end of the season but we had beaten them the previous three. It's usually not a pretty goal that wins it. Todd stepped up and kept hammering away and it went in."
Lakewood (12-23-3-2) was fourth in the regular season standings with 10 fewer wins than the second-place Vipers (22-13-3-2) and lost 8-5 to the Vipers in the playoff round-robin. None of that mattered Saturday.
"We don't get many players out [in the regular season] but in playoffs we get most of our team out and everybody wants to play hard and win," said Gunderson. "We just played quick shifts and played hard. Unfortunately I have no finish, but today I got a piece of it."
The Vipers had won the playoff title three of the past four seasons and were trying for a threepeat. But on Saturday, the celebratory champagne they had on ice in the dressing room remained uncorked and they donated it to the Lakewood guys down the hall.
"They're a really good team, they play well and I think both teams deserved to be in the final," said Vipers captain Dustin Robin. "They were just better tonight."
Rec A scoring champion Tyler Wallace put the Vipers ahead early with the first of his two goals in the final, but Lakewood defenceman Chris Rowland got that one back late in the first period with a shot that nailed the goalpost and bounced in off the back of goalie Guy Walch's leg.
Joe Marren scored the prettiest goal of the game with an outside-in dangle that left Chad Martin fishing for the puck as the hard-shooting Marren blasted a high bullet past goalie Eric Poeppel. The Vipers ran into penalty trouble and with two in the box just before the halftime flood Tyler Brough tied it up with a low shot from the point.
Shaun Cormier gave Lakewood its first lead 17:50 into the second period after a wide-angle shot from Casey Torbohm deflected off Walch, leaving the puck in the slot for Cormier. Wallace, who totaled 67 goals and 133 points in 34 regular season games, tied it six minutes into the third period with a toe-drag move and high snap shot that fooled Poeppel.
In the Masters A final later Saturday night at Kin 2, the Subway/RE/MAX Capitals blew a three-goal lead against the Summit/Shooters Gladiators but cashed in a rebound in the third period to walk off with a 5-4 victory.
Jason Garneau scored the gamewinner with 7:30 left, standing off to the side of the net to collect the loose puck after Gladiators goalie Jeff Stewart booted out a hard shot from Evan Potskin.
Potskin had a hand in all five Capitals goals with two goals and three assists. Chad Ghostkeeper and Ryan Hill were the other Subway marksmen. Geoff Radtke scored two, while David Keough and Luciano Pagnotta fired singles for the Gladiators.
"It's good to win it, we're just playing hockey to have fun," said Potskin.
"They got back into it when we started taking penalties and you can't do that at this level. We're all pretty close in the division and that's the way we like it. We're all clean, nobody plays dirty. We just have fun and play hockey."
The teams were tied 4-4 when Vipers defenceman Jeff Bennett ripped a low slapper that appeared to go in six minutes into the third period but the the shot caught the inside of the post and was waived off.
The Capitals (18-15-5-3) finished fourth out of four teams in the regular season while the Gladiators (20-14-4-1) were third but neither team was far off the pace of the first-place Oilers (22-11-5-2). The Capitals beat the Gladiators 6-4 in the playoff round-robin.
"We got down early but we got some good goaltending [from Stewart] and the boys tightened up and made a bit of a comeback," said Gladiators defenceman Ryan Yorston. "It was just good a game and we played hard. Maybe next time."
Finals in all other divisions will be played on Saturday.
