By Jeff Hicks
Record staff
KITCHENER —
Jordan Hardy puckered up.
Then, just before a fateful faceoff in the fourth overtime, the Kitchener Dutchmen blueliner planted a smooch on the shaft of his hockey stick.
“I gave it a kiss right before I shot,” Hardy said of his series-winning goal of Kitchener’s epic 6-5 Game 7 playoff victory over the Waterloo Siskins before 1,500 at the Aud Monday night.
“Right on the Nike symbol.”
For the Siskins, it was the kiss of death.
Hardy’s blast hit something and bounced past Siskins goalie Colin Breen to end the game six minutes into Period 7.
It was the 155th shot of the night in the game’s 127th minute.
“It definitely changed direction,” said Breen, who faced 82 shots in the deciding game.
“It was going glove side. I don’t know if someone got a stick on it or what. I saw it when it happened. I tried to lean back and try to catch it with my ass. But it didn’t happen.”
So the Siskins are done, losing a nine-game series masquerading as a seven-game affair.
The two clubs played five games worth of hockey in three days to finish their Mid-Western Conference semifinal series.
Breen and Kitchener crease foe Jordan Bowes faced 350 shots in 270 minutes worth of playing time.
Finally, around 11:40 on Monday night, this waltz of the weary ended with Hardy’s kiss-and-tell winner.
Hardy dove into a Michael Phelps front crawl after ending the series.
His Dutchie teammates, who meet the well-rested Brantford Golden Eagles in the Cherrey Cup final, piled on.
“Relief,” said Bowes of the moment the series ended.
“Such an amazing feeling to know we’re going to the finals. Just wonderful.”
Bowes faced 73 shots on Monday.
The Siskins had some marvellous chances when Bowes thought he might be in trouble.
“A few times in the first overtime,” Bowes said. “Luckily, we were able to get through it.”
Just getting through last night’s lengthy War-and-Peace finale was an achievement.
After the third overtime, Dutchies defender Andrew Wilson rode an exercise bike outside the dressing room to stay limber.
He chomped on a bagel as he pedaled.
How was he feeling?
“Tired,” Wilson said.
Meanwhile, the Dutchies and Siskins guzzled energy drinks to stay hydrated.
The Dutchies dined on orange slices. The Siskins chomped on granola and candy bars.
The coaching staffs fed their teams all the motivational words the players could digest.
“We really played some mind games with them,” Kitchener coach Ken Galerno said.
“We did some mind-over-matter, visualization stuff in between periods. We tried to convince them they weren’t tired and convince them this was a positive environment.”
Galerno was proud of his team for overcoming a 3-0 first-period deficit.
Kitchener’s Tony Blyde forced overtime with six minutes left in the third.
Problem was, by the time Hardy kissed the Siskins goodbye, those events felt like a game or two ago.
“What we have, we threw everything at them,” said Waterloo coach Dean DeSilva, who conceded the better team had won.
“If it wasn’t for Colin Breen, it would have been over a lot earlier than it was.”
After the game, Siskins general manager Peter Brill stood outside the Dutchie dressing room waiting to offer his congratulations to the Kitchener staff and ex-Siskins Justin Knee and Travis Witt.
Brill leaned against the wall. Standing beside him was Hardy’s stick.
The lip-prints were still fresh. If Brill thought of breaking the stick in two, he resisted the urge.
The Dutchies were worthy winners, after all.
The Golden Eagles are next for the Dutchmen. Will they be able to out-last them too?
“This is new territory for me and for most of the guys on the team,” Bowes said.
“We’re going to try to get some good rest and hopefully be ready to go for the series.”
Siskins 5 at Dutchies 6 (4OT)
Scorers: Scott Nagy, Colton Wolfe-Sabo, Erik Lekun, Mark Mantynen, Matt Sherry for Waterloo. Tanner DeWitt 2, Collin Carwardine, Alex McCaffrey, Tony Blyde, Jordan Hardy for Kitchener.
Next up: Cherrey Cup Mid-Western final, Kitchener against Brantford. Dates TBA.
