Saturday's ICE 3-1 win over Calgary has been the talk of the town, still, a few days later.
Calgary is the top ranked team in the CHL, on a 12 game winning streak, added 2 more skilled forwards at the deadline and having won 11 of the last 13 games against the ICE who had only 14 skaters, 7 rookie skaters plus a rookie goalie, 5 game losing streak and traded away Negrin and Stickland earlier in the day.
In that situation most would feel Calgary would win what, 9 times out of 10, 19 times out of 20?
Other unforgettable ICE vs Hitmen moments.
98-99 - 1st round playoff meeting. Calgary won in 7 games. I wasn't in Cranbrook that year but the Hitmen went on to win the WHL Championship.
March 11/00 - In the Memorial Arena the ICE were down 5-0 to the defending WHL Champion Hitmen and finished in a 5-5 tie. Mike Green had a breakaway with 10 seconds left but was stopped. The game gave the ICE confidence for their meeting in the East Final a few months later.
ICE won that series in 5 games, the clinching game was an overtime win in a soldout Saddledome. ICE led 4-1, only to have the Hitmen roar back for a 5-4 lead. With the goalie (Blackburn) on the bench the ICE scored to force overtime. Blatny scored the winner on a Svoboda rebound 8 minutes into the 1st OT.
Since the ICE moved to the West Conference from 01-06 they didn't meet in a playoff series until 2007. Calgary finished 19 points behind the ICE in the standings, the ICE won the season series 6-2, but it was Calgary taking a led the series 3-1. Without injured Mike Busto & Curtis Billsten and with Ben Maxwell playing for the 1st time in 4 months, the ICE forced a game 7. The ICE came from a 2-0 deficit to get the game to overtime. In the 1st overtime Lukas Bohunicky's point shot was deflected by Michael Stickland and it rang off the post. Seconds later Ian Duval scored on a breakaway.
What are your memories?