The Victoriaville Tigres are earning respect with each passing game during their underdog run.
VICTORIAVILLE, Que. -- It's unlikely an 11th seed has caused so much frustration for a top seed.
The Victoriaville Tigres are proving it's not how you start, but how you finish a season with a brand of hockey that is creating fits for the nation's top-ranked team. Although the Saint John Sea Dogs walked away the victors and took a 3-1 series lead with an overtime win on Wednesday, the Tigres are earning respect with each passing game - even if their body of work is well known to their adversaries.
"They're a scrappy team and they battle," Sea Dogs head coach Gerard Gallant said following his team's 5-4 overtime win. "You have to give them credit. We were fortunate to win that hockey game… we were a shot away from losing so we're a little loose."
The Tigres are making a habit of giving their opponents that feeling. Victoriaville not only beat the No. 6 team in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the Acadie-Bathurst Titan, in the opening round, they did so in a sweep.
Many predicted the Sea Dogs would clobber the Tigres in spite of the surprising upset over Bathurst. After all, the Tigers were up against the team that was ranked No. 1 in the nation 15 straight weeks heading into the playoffs. This mismatch was about as one-sided as it could be on paper.
"Obviously when you beat Bathurst four straight you know their team is playing well," Gallant said. "They got some character - that's why they're playing against us. If they didn't have character, they wouldn't beat Bathurst."
The Tigres are proving to have character in droves. Victoriaville became the first team all season to walk away with a win in regulation in Saint John after beating the Sea Dogs 3-2 in Game 2 of the series.
Several times they could have backed down when faced with the challenge of coming from behind against the potent Sea Dogs. Gallant lamented his team's inability to keep the Tigres down after his team scored a goal only to have the Tigres respond shortly thereafter in Game 3 on Tuesday.
That trend continued as Victoriaville erased one-goal deficits three times on Wednesday, as Brandon Hynes' goal with 35 seconds remaining in regulation sent the contest to overtime. Jonathan Huberdeau ended the comeback bid by poking in Stanislav Galiev's rebound at 3:04 in the extra session.
"When you get ahead you really have to fight to hold the lead and that's not what we're doing," Sea Dogs forward Zack Phillips said. "We need to just work harder and keep them out."
If there's a silver lining for the Tigres, it's that this team has proven it can hang with the big dogs. Although the Sea Dogs dominated this series at times, the Tigres are the pesky team that just doesn't know when to say uncle.
It's that mentality that gives them confidence going into an elimination game on Friday.
"We battled back on many occasions," Tigres head coach Yannick Jean said. "There will never be any quitting with this team."
Particularly from their goaltender. Czech import David Honzik is making his case for the National Hockey League draft and the recent rumblings around the rink are that his stock is rising to first-round potential. Although he was ranked 13th in Central Scouting's final rankings among North American-playing goaltenders, he's proving his worth with his playoff performance.
"Since he's came here he's just been on a constant climb," Hynes said. "I've never seen a goalie like this in my career. He gives us a chance to win."
"They're confident because of their goaltender," Gallant said. "When he makes as many good saves as he does every night, that gives them a chance to win and they get confidence off that."
Due to travel restrictions, the Tigres will close out the home-stand with Game 5 on Friday night. Should a sixth and seventh game be required, they will be back in Saint John.
The Sea Dogs want to be the only team travelling back to the Maritimes this weekend and are now looking at the Tigres from the standpoint that they're a wounded animal.
"They're not going to lay down and our team will be ready to play and hopefully wrap it up, but it won't be easy," Gallant said. "It will be the toughest one."
"We know we're 11th (overall in league standings), but we want to prove we should be better than that," Hynes said. "I think we're a special group. We have something to prove and I think we're proving it right now."
It's safe to say that point is being made.
