EDMONTON -- For two days, the Edmonton-based media built up the Rexall Place crowd into an almost
supernatural force leading into Saturday night's highly anticipated Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final.
Virtually every interview during the past 48 hours referenced the intimidating power of Oiler
faithful.
Would Edmonton draw the necessary sustenance from its rabid seventh man, using the boost of adrenaline
from the vocal fans to finally play a complete game? Could the Carolina Hurricanes, especially with young
goalie Cam Ward in net, survive the shock to the system that the Edmonton fans were sure to deliver?
Needless to say, the pre-game hype set the bar pretty high for the 16,893 fanatics lucky enough to find
their way into Saturday night's Game 3. And, the crowd -- Edmonton's ninth sellout of these playoffs -- did
not disappoint, getting electric as they were repeatedly urged by the leather-lunged PA announcer.
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Schedule / Links:
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| Gm. 1: CAR 5, EDM 4 | Photos |
| Gm. 2: CAR 5, EDM 0 | Photos |
| Gm. 3: EDM 2, CAR 1 | Photos |
Gm. 4: June 12, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
Gm. 5: June 14, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 6: June 17, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Edmonton (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
*Gm. 7: June 19, 8:00 p.m. ET
at Carolina (NBC, CBC, RDS) |
| *if necessary |
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"Get Electric" is the Edmonton playoff theme for 2006.
And Rexall Place was certainly electric when the home side escaped with a 2-1 victory in Game 3 to claw
its way back into a series that many thought would end in a sweep after the two demoralizing losses in
Raleigh.
"The atmosphere was a great atmosphere for hockey," said Carolina coach Peter Laviolette, who insisted his
team handled the road challenge well, losing only because of a controversial late goal by Ryan Smyth.
"I think when you get to this point, I don't think that buildings are going to play into it that much," he said.
Smyth, the goal-scoring hero, disagreed.
"They fed off their fans in Game 1 and 2 and obviously we want to feed of our fans in 3 and 4 here," he said. "It's important that we come to the test for Game 4. We know it's going to be a battle and it's not going to be easy. But, hey, the fans can help us out."
Not so, say the Carolina players. They argue that they have been indoctrinated into the Edmonton madness and have found themselves worthy of competing.
"We battled all game," said Kevyn Adams, who was on the ice for the first goal. "Their crowd was into it,
but we just played our game. We don't worry about who or where we are playing."
Doug Weight, who played almost a decade in Edmonton before moving onto St. Louis and then Carolina earlier
this year, knew what to expect from the raucous throng that fills this building for virtually every game
through the long regular season.
"It was loud," admitted Weight. "But, it wasn't anything we hadn't seen. Montreal was pretty loud (in the
first round). We're used to that on the road."
Saturday, the fans began shaking the foundation of Rexall Place a full 10 minutes before the players even
took the ice, roaring throughout the pre-game show. Then, when the Edmonton players did their dramatic
entrance, skating through the oil derrick, the crowd reached an ear-ringing, pom-pon waving frenzy. Then, the
crowd showed its grace, drowning out national anthem singer Paul Lorieau as he sang both the American and
Canadian national anthems, a tradition that began during the San Jose series.
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Alaine Grant and Shawn Sullivan show their support for the orange and blue.
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Amazingly that display was topped a few minutes later when Shawn Horcoff tipped a Jaroslav Spacek point
shot past Carolina goalie Cam Ward for the game's opening goal just 2:31 into the contest.
That high-water mark was only equaled through the first two periods when the center-ice video scoreboard
flashed images of past Edmonton Stanley Cup heroes -- Mark Messier and Dave Semenko, to name two, who were in the
building.
But, all previous standards were obliterated when Smyth rammed home a goal by crashing into Ward with
just 2:15 remaining in the contest. Ales Hemsky set up the goal with a long slapper that handcuffed Ward.
When a video review ruled the goal legitimate, the home crowd took the roof off the building for
the last 145 tense seconds.
Yet, for all the mayhem the Edmonton fans manufactured throughout the contest, Carolina weathered the
storm admirably.
After the early goal, the Hurricanes settled down and played a patient road game, attempting to generate
offense off the counter-attack. That effort ultimately failed as Edmonton goalie Jussi Markkanen turned in
the solid performance, 24 saves, the Oilers not only hoped for, but needed to get back into this series.
Defenseman Aaron Ward refused to take the moral victory offered when it was suggested that a hot goalie
and a controversial winning goal were the only things standing between Carolina and a three-games-to-none
lead in this series.
"I think the only thing we take from this game is now we are familiar with the environment," said Ward, who
suggested Saturday's game would be a christening for some of his team's younger players. "There's not a
question in our minds now about what we are approaching as far as atmosphere in the building. We're not
looking around, saying, 'Wow, how loud's it going to be? Who cares? It's a game, once you get into it, the
competitive juices and getting into the game take over and you find yourself a zone where the loudness and
the noise is irrelevant.'"
The Oiler faithful that will file into this historic barn Monday night smelling blood will certainly put
Aaron Ward's theory to the test as their hometown boys attempt to improbably even the series at two games
apiece and turn this Stanley Cup Final into a best-of-three affair.
