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Hamilton Jaguars - Gander Slapshots 4-0

Jags Jackpot after sweeping Slapshots

Finishing the UHL season with a 16-2 record, there's not much to say against the Hamilton Jaguars. Nevertheless the Gander Slapshots left the ice with a somewhat sour taste.

The underdogs put up a solid performance but were left empty handed by a ruthless Jaguars squad.

"It was fair in the sense that the Jaguars were the better team.  I think we deserved a better fate than a sweep because the games were pretty close for the most part and it seems we should have snuck a win or two in somehow, but the best team won," GM Tom Wagner admitted.

His counterpart Mike D'Ambrosio was aware of the task going into tthe series as favourites.

"I'm not surprised we did well as I thought we had one of the top teams, but it was definitely unexpected to go 16-2. I don't think you can even expect things to go that well. The team had a great second half and we just seemed to keep getting better as the season went on so it was awesome to see things click at the right time"

Enjoying home ice, the Jaguars drew first blood in game 1 when a Kyle Palmieri deflection found its way past a near perfect Pekka Rinne. The Slapshots didn't sit back and took a surprising lead thanks to goals by Konecny and Krejci. An upset was in the making but when Brendan Gallagher took a tripping penalty with 90 second lefts to the game, the Jaguar pulled Robin Lehner to create a 2-man advantage on the ice.

Despite heroic defending it was Mike Zibanejad who got the crowd rocking with 45 seconds left to play when he tied the game at 2 and into overtime.

Unexpectedly, the overtime saw plenty of action on front of both nets but experience paid off when Zach Parise's wrap around beat Rinne on the near post to earn Jags the first victory of the series.

Two days later, the Slapshots did not show any signs of feeling heartbroken.

The team outshot the Jaguars 33-27 but were stonewalled by a stellar Robin Lehner who finished with a 32-save performance. Three third period goals turned around a 1-0 deficit for a 3-1 victory.

It was rendez-vous in game 3 in Gander, where the Slapshots were the most dominant team but unable to solve the Swedish wall. Nevertheless the game had plenty of talking points afterwards.

After Gabriel Landeskog broke a 1-1 tie early in the second period, the Slapshots felt they had tied the game but much to the disbelieve of the whole Slapshots bench, referee Mike Leggio called "no goal" after an alleged push of the goaltender into the Jaguars net following a Sean Monahan shot.

The video booth in Toronto required 10 minutes to review the play and although Lehner seemed to be losing his balance prior to the contact with Travis Konecny, the call was made and the goal was disallowed.

Lehner wasn't to be moved or imbalanced any further and finished with 35 saves in a 2-1 victory.

Wagner identified goaltending was the major separator this series. "Goaltending was the key.  Rinne was fine for us, but Lehner was an absolute wall.  We outshot them some games but just could not get many goals through"

Leading 3-0, and the title up for grabs, the Jaguars relied on their top unit to do the damage in game 4. Once again the Swedish crew delivered, once again they did so in the third period.

Down 2-1, Mike Zibanejad was instrumental, as has his overall playoff performance been, in turning the game into the Jaguars favor.

At 4:51 "Z", and Landeskog combined perfectly on the power play to tie the game at two. And after Rickard Rakell completed the comeback, it was tic-tac-toe again with Zibanjead the beneficiary of a beautiful cross ice pass from Landeskog to put the Jaguars in safe harbour.

Sean Monahan scored a late consolation goal which cut the deficit back to one, but the goal will only stand as the final goal scored in the 2019-20 UHL season.

After the ceremonial handshakes, the Slapshots team returned to the locker room heads down whilst on ice celebration continued.

It didn't take long for GM Wagner to address the locker room atmosphere to the media:

"It was really tough to come so close and not be able to complete the run for the Cup.  Most guys know how hard it is to get to that point.  After a bit of reflection though I'm sure we will all realize overall it was a great season," he spoke realistically.

In his first season in charge, Wagner has been an instant hit in Gander and one begs to question what the future will have in store for the team next season.

"Overall this season went really well for this rookie GM.  We made a lot of trades that ended up working out and getting to the Finals is always an accomplishment.  Free agency will be interesting to see how the team shapes up for next season.  Our deals purposefully left us with some financial flexibility, so we should be able to target a star free agent if one is available and still have a lot of depth on the team."

No shortage of enthusiasm on the other side of the rink, where GM Mike D'Ambrosio was speaking to the media carrying a large Cuban cigar.

Asked about which players he'd like to give a shoutout to he named two usual suspects.

"Of course Lehner put together a stellar playoffs posting 16-2 .950 SV% 1.50 GAA. Next I have to say Zibanejad. He missed a few games to injury early in the playoffs and came back on another level. Wound up posting 10-9-19 and +12 with a 22.22 SHT %." But the GM was also quick to add a third Swedish name to the list who was more of an unsung hero but nevertheless a key component.

"I'd also like to give special mention to Alex Edler who anchored our D all season long. He didn't put up a ton of points (1-3-4) but skated to a +10 playing on the top pairing in all situations"

Asked about what the team needs to bring sustained success to the Jaguars organization, D'Ambrosio initially refused to answer citing he'd want to celebrate first and not focus on next season. However later on, the GM did give a bit of a hint what's in store this off-season for the Jags fans.

"We definitely think the Jaguars will continue to put a strong team on the ice. We've made some short term moves this year for sure, but we've made some moves that will help us next year and beyond as well. I'm not afraid to shake things up if it makes sense for the team and I've already got the gears starting to spin on some off season moves that I may want to make which could include some bigger names. Don't be surprised if you see some moves happen leading up to the draft!"

With that the 2019-20 UHL season is officialy behind us and all teams will be preparing for the upcoming UHL Entry Draft as well another frantic UFA period led by a fantastic UHL management organization who have revived the league in a fantastic way.

The Jaguars have been predators all season but will know everyone will start off equal next year and the predator will become the prey themselves.

The Hamilton Hunt is now officially openend.

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