Colorado muzzles SteelHounds to win best-of-seven playoff series

By Tom Williams

Sebastien Laplante stopped all 32 shots as Youngstown fell 1-0 to the defending CHL champions.

YOUNGSTOWN — Facing the Youngstown SteelHounds for the eighth straight game, Colorado Eagles goaltender Sebastien Laplante was simply unbeatable.

A newcomer this season to the defending Central Hockey League champions, Laplante stopped all 32 shots the SteelHounds took in Friday’s Game 5 of their best-of-seven playoff series.

Laplante’s heroics made Riley Nelson’s power-play goal midway through the game stand up as the Eagles won, 1-0, to capture the series, 4-1.

After the game, SteelHounds owner Herb Washington told those remaining from the 2,978 in attendance at the Chevrolet Centre that he looked forward to their support next fall “in whatever league we’re in.”

Washington later clarified that most likely the SteelHounds will remain in the CHL, but a move someday remains a possibility because of travel expenses.

“We need less travel,” Washington said. “If we could make it happen [soon], we would.”

SteelHounds rookie netminder Kevin Beech stopped 35 shots in his second straight playoff appearance.

“This round came down to very good goaltending,” Eagles coach Chris Stewart said. “Beech was outstanding, he made some really big saves. But Sebastien Laplante played very well.”

In the third period with the SteelHounds desperately taking chances seeking a tie, Beech twice foiled Eagles sniper Greg Pankewicz on breakaways, once making two saves within seconds off the Colorado captain’s stick.

“Beech was absolutely incredible tonight,” SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski said. “He saw a lot of rubber and made some point-blank saves. It would have been nice to get him a goal.”

Of Nelson’s goal, Beech and captain Chris Richards claimed responsibility. The play began when Pankewicz sent the puck toward the SteelHounds’ goal.

“It was kind of a broken play — instead of jumping on it, I kind of poked it out to [Nelson],” Beech said. “I was kind of mad at myself for that.”

Richards said he almost had the puck before the poke but “it went right on to Riley Nelson’s stick” in the slot. Nelson quickly backhanded the puck before Beech could get set.

Richards said Laplante “played well all series and we couldn’t find our bounces.

That was probably the difference in the series.”

After finishing 19 games above .500 (by far the team’s best season in its three-year existence), Richards said disappointment filled their locker room.

“We played them so well at the end of the season and we really had high hopes of beating these guys,” Richards said.

In the final three regular season games, the SteelHounds beat Colorado 3-2, 7-4 and 3-2 in a shootout.

“That gave us some confidence,” said Richards, who said Game 1 in Colorado turned when “the puck bounced off of one of our defenseman’s skate into the net. That was the game-winner.”

The SteelHounds came close to scoring first when Jason Baird was hooked carrying the puck into the Eagles’ goal crease. Laplante covered the puck and fell backwards, but the net was dislodged. Referee Ian Croft whistled the play dead before Laplante crossed the red line.

“Our guys played hard,” Beech said. “We just couldn’t put the puck into the net, we didn’t get the bounces.”

Game 5 was played much tighter than Thursday’s Game 4 slugfest which saw 43 penalties called.

“We lacked a little bit of energy,” Kaminski said. “[The Eagles] responded and played a very, very solid road game. We had our opportunities to score. If we would have [scored the] first one, I think it would have been a different story.”

The Eagles opened the game by taking eight of the first 11 shots on goal. But once Eagles defenseman Brett Thurston was whistled for boarding, the SteelHounds began to exert themselves in the Colorado zone, finishing the period with a 13-8 shots advantage.

The Eagles controlled most of the play in the second period, outshooting the SteelHounds, 14-9.

“We ended up squeezing the stick to tight and it just wasn’t going in for us,” Kaminski said. “The rebounds were there — they did a good job of boxing us out, not letting us get to them.”

williams@vindy.com