The decision to start Jordan Binnington in net was a gamble that paid off for the Owen Sound Attack.
OWEN SOUND, Ont. -- Mark Reeds made out with the house's money after rolling the dice on Thursday.
Playing what could be his final hand, the Owen Sound Attack head coach put on his best poker face in an all or nothing move. Reeds went back to his goaltending well one last time, pulling the ace from his sleeve and walking away with a shot at a fortune from which his franchise has never seen.
With his team facing its first elimination game since the beginning of the playoffs, Reeds made the surprising move to put his youngest and least experienced goaltender back in net.
The decision to start Jordan Binnington, who hadn't played much since Round 1, was a gamble that ultimately saved the season for the Attack.
"(The media) asked me that about (Michael) Zador at one point," said Reeds when asked if his decision was based on a hunch. "We're in a situation where we have three guys who've all played very well for us. Why not go to the well again?"
It's a rather cavalier response considering his team's season hung in the balance. Binnington hadn't played in nearly a month and even then it was for less than two minutes.
Make no mistake about it: starting Binnington in place of veterans Zador and Scott Stajcer was the ultimate gutsy call by Reeds. Even if Binnington hadn't been designated to the press box on most nights during the team's run to the finals, Reeds invited criticism and second-guessing by going with youth and inexperience over two struggling veterans.
"If you look at the experience with the other two guys, it was easier to maybe put them in a situation where we needed to be, but Jordan's the goalie of the future and we're in a situation where we felt he could have some success," Reeds said.
Talk about a hunch paying off.
Although this was hardly an ideal situation to make his first start in well over a month, Binnington admitted nerves played a factor.
"If you're not nervous, you're not a human being," he said. "You have to be nervous for a game like that coming in -- lots of pressure."
Although Reeds wouldn't divulge which of his three goaltenders would start in Game 7 in Mississauga on Sunday, his young goaltender was making his case -- even after the game had ended.
"(Reeds) is the coach of the year," Binnington said, "He knows what he's doing."
The obvious decision would be for Reeds to stay with Binnington, who looked sharp in stopping 41 of 43 shots for the win, but far be it for Reeds to begin listening to the predictions from the media.
The Ontario Hockey League coach of the year didn't get this far by listening to those on the outside. After missing the playoffs last season with a similar lineup, many predicted the same fate for the Attack this season. Now they're going to a one-game showdown in Game 7 for the right to win the franchise's first league title.
"It's about winning," he said. "Anyone who had thoughts that we were satisfied just being in the Memorial Cup -- yeah, that's a great accolade -- but we have a purpose and a task that we have focused on and the championship is first. It would have been easy for us to roll over and play dead."
While the Attack is a surprise to have the chance to win the league championship in a seventh game, few wouldn't have thought it was within the realm of possibility for the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors.
As hosts of next week's MasterCard Memorial Cup, it was expected the Majors would still be playing in mid-May. Mississauga head coach Dave Cameron said after the game the notion of a favourite in Sunday's final is a term the media enjoys trumping, but not one being used within their room.
"One of the things we talked to prior to the series is we're prepared if it's going to go seven (games) and seven in overtime," he said. "Do we want it to go seven? Not if you win you don't. You want it to be over sooner, but it is and it's two good clubs -- two deserving clubs that were both the best in their conference and it's going to come down to one game."
And so the league championship will now be determined in Game 7.
One game. Winner takes all.
Reeds already showed his cards once. Now it's time to see if he has another ace up his sleeve.
