Game one of the WHL Playoffs done

Last night at 7:05, the puck dropped for what would be the start of a great series.  The Try-City Americans hosted the Vancouver Giants in Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference Championships.

Regular season matchups between these two teams were fun to watch.  The first game, Try-City routed the Giants 9-1.  That was back in December.  January's match resulted in another Americans win, at 5-2.

February, however, Vancouver beat the Americans 5-0.  This happened when the main goaltender, Drew Owsley, was on the injured list, and the Americans were starting 16 year old backup rookie Chris Driedger.  In March, the Americans again defeated the Giants, 5-1.  This was after Owsley came back from the injured roster.

So its easy to say that on a full strength roster, the Americans have defeated the Giants at every opportunity.

So with Owsley back in front of the net, how did Game 1 turn out?  Vancouver scored first, leading the Americans 1-0 through the first period.  Second period was tense, as neither teams scored.  Third period ended up with the Americans tying the game at 1-1, thanks to Conrad.

Both teams showed amazing offense and defense, and it seemed almost evenly matched.  So much so, that the teams went into overtime.  With the OT period running on, and no teams scoring, it was an extremely tense period.  Americans had three power plays during this period, but the Giants killed every one of them.

But with literally seconds left on the clock, Carter Ashton was able to sneak in a goal to give the Americans the lead for the first time in the game.  That lead was all that was needed, as the OT period ended with the Americans 2 over the Giants 1.

So the Americans go into tonights Game 2 with a 1-0 lead.  Hopefully they can make it a 2-0 lead before they head up to Vancouver the continue the series.