It took a little while, but Newfoundland Growlers’ head coach John Snowden finally admitted he probably would have been satisfied if his team had come away with a split of the first two games of their ECHL Eastern Conference final against the Florida Everblades.
So, you can imagine Snowden must be overjoyed that the Growlers posted a pair of road wins as the best-of-seven series opened up in Estero, Fla., over the weekend, results that give Newfoundland a chance to close things out at Mile One Centre in St. John’s, where the next three games of the matchup will be played.
But Snowden is doing as coaches often do, keeping his emotions in check, much like his players did to the Everblades Friday and Saturday in Estero, where they posted a 2-0 shutout in Game 1 and followed up with a 5-1 victory in a rematch the following night.
“Yeah, pretty happy with how it’s gone so far,” said Snowden. “I don’t want to say we went down there thinking we would be satisfied with a split. You always play every game to win. You never go into a game thinking ‘It will be OK to lose this one,’ but still, that’s a very good (Everblades) team. So yeah, I guess if we had come out of there with just one win, we still probably would have been pleased.”
Overall, the Growlers have gone 10-4 in their first-ever trip through the Kelly Cup playoffs and they seem to have been getting better in doing so. In fact, Newfoundland entered this series having scored only two more goals than it had allowed in the first couple of rounds.
But the young team — there are eight rookies among the 10 forwards who have played regularly this post-season — seems be thriving on a recurrence of close contests and the lessons they keep providing. Five of the Growlers’ wins have been by one goal, while three others, including Friday night’s victory, were by two goals and featured an empty-netter.
Newfoundland Growlers head coach John Snowden mostly hides his emotions, but Snowden must have liked what he's seen from his team so far in the ECHL Eastern Conference final.— Newfoundland Growlers photo/Jeff Parsons
“We’re committed to play a certain style and the players have stayed committed no matter what,” said Snowden. “That’s a big reason why we’re winning.”
Another has been goaltender Michael Garteig, who has been solid in his first-ever professional playoff run. Garteig, who came into Sunday as the ECHL postseason leader in wins (10), minutes (864) and saves (424), stopped 34 of 35 Everblades’ shots on Saturday, including all 15 he faced in the third period. That followed his 32-save, shutout performance in Friday’s opening game of the series.
Garteig’s goals-against average in these playoffs is 2.15 and he owns a .932 save percentage, but if you discount an 8-2 loss to the Brampton Beast in the first round, those numbers improve to 1.67 and .944.
“He’s been steady, given us the big save when we’ve needed it and he’s been there for us whenever things break down a bit. He’s been everything you need in a goalie,” Snowden said of Garteig.
With the St. John’s Edge playing Game 3 of the NBL Canada final at Mile One tonight and the building hosting a Tanya Tucker concert Tuesday, the Growlers-Everblades series won’t resume until Wednesday night. But Snowden said he doesn’t mind the extra time off, considering Newfoundland has already logged 93 games if you add up pre-season, regular-season and playoff contests
And maybe the two teams can use the extra down time to cool off after what transpired late in Saturday’s game as bad blood boiled. A total of 86 penalty minutes — the majority resulting from seven 10-minute misconducts — were handed out in the last 76 seconds of the contest.
At the centre of the friction was a fight between captains James Melindy of St. John’s and John McCarron of Florida. Melindy was slapped with a game misconduct for continuing the altercation, but the Growlers aren’t expecting any supplemental discipline for the defenceman.
Twitter: @telybrendan
