"Going in it was 'Churchill, Churchill, Churchill' and Dougie played really well. I think (his ability) showed this weekend past," Cataracts General Manager Dave Canning explained how goaltender Doug Jewer came out of the shadow of Clarenville goaltender Jason Churchill and paced the team to a split on the road to open the West Coast Senior Hockey League final.
The Cats were in Clarenville this past weekend and took game 1, 5-1 and lead Sunday's contest 2-0 before the Caribous tallied three unanswered goals to even the series.
"I thought it was a very good weekend," said Canning. "Even though you go into a weekend on the road you always hope for a split and anything more is a bonus. I guess where we did win Saturday night it was almost like a let down not to win it Sunday when we had the lead, but we did fulfill our initial goal."
Both teams looked a little shaky in the first few minutes of the opening period, nerves obviously affecting their play.
The first goal didn't happen until the last four minutes from a fluky shot that put the Cataracts on the scoreboard.
Ryan Delaney tapped the puck from the corner to the right side of Churchill where it made a slow slide across the crease, bounced off Churchill's skate and came to rest in the far right corner of the net. The Cataracts had a 1-0 lead as the teams headed to the dressing room.
The Caribous managed to tie it up at 4:51 in the second when Derrick Kent and Andrew Hill assisted Dustin Russell on the play.
At the 11:30 mark Keith Delaney got a clean shot, slamming the puck from the blueline, over Churchill's shoulder and into the top right corner to put the Cataracts ahead 2-1.
Sam Hounsell was assisted by Greg Hoffe at 16:35 and with a minute and two seconds left, Matt Quinn made it 4-1 for the Cats.
The third period was no better for the home team.
At 4:36, the Cats went ahead 5-1 on a powerplay goal by Rodi Short, assisted by Andre Gill and Sean Wadden.
The shots on goal --- 35 for the Caribous, 23 for the Cats - showed the Caribous were in the game for all three periods, but the Cataracts defensive strategy kept Clarenville off the scoreboard.
On Sunday, by the end of the first period, the Cataracts were ahead 2-0. David Philpott had scored at 12:33, on an assist by Andre Gill and Sean Wadden; and Paul Roebothan added the second just three minutes later, assisted by Andrew Brennan and Matt Quinn.
That was when the defending champions dug deep and mounted a comeback in front of their hometown fans.
Travis Chapman got the momentum going 40 seconds into the second when he let go a blast from just inside the Cataracts' blueline that sailed past Grand Falls-Windsor goaltender Doug Jewer.
At the 8:06 mark David Victor, who wasn't in the lineup for the herd in Saturday night's game, evened the score with a wrist shot from the blueline into the top of the Grand Falls-Windsor net.
Caribous captain Dustin Russell scored the third goal at 17:30 to put the Caribous ahead as the period drew to a close.
Russell is not shocked the Caribous are locked at an even series heading to Grand Falls-Windsor.
"I'm not surprised the series is tied at one game each after the first weekend," said Russell. "And you never know, I wouldn't be surprised it will be tied at two games each after this weekend."
The Cats may have found extra energy during their win Saturday night with some hometown flare in the arena.
The Exploits Atom Cataracts were playing at a tournament in Clarenville and the senior Cataracts generously accommodated the team and their parents to Saturday's match-up after the senior Cats attended the Atom game to cheer the minor hockey squad on in their competition.
When the Atom Cats filed into the Clarenville arena they were wearing the same away jerseys as the big Cats and ready to cheer.
"We thought it would be a good gesture, it was the players' idea to go and visit them," said Canning. "They are the future Cataracts so it's a good relationship there between us and them that we would like to keep going forward."
Fans attending game 3 of the series and are looking for some extra Cataracts-Caribous excitement can make their way to the Joe Byrne early and catch a game between the Grand Falls-Windsor Bantam Cataracts and the Clarenville Bantam Caribous at 3:45.
The senior games go ahead at 7:30 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon in Grand Falls-Windsor.
Organizers are reminding fans that the colour to wear this weekend is white. Dig out your wardrobe and show your support to the Cataracts.
