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Edmonton wins Canadian showdown |
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Written by Canadian Press
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Saturday, 28 March 1998 |
The Edmonton Drillers regained control of their playoff destiny with an 18-7 NPSL victory over the Montreal Impact on Friday night.
"We've got the ball in our court now," said coach Ross Ungaro, whose Drillers can advance to the post-season with a season-ending win over the Cincinnati Silverbacks in Edmonton on Sunday.
Chris Clarke scored two goals for the Drillers (17-22), who would have been eliminated with a loss to Montreal (16-23).
The Impact now must win its final regular season game this afternoon in Milwaukee, where the Wave has lost only once in 19 home games this season, and hope the Drillers lose on Sunday.
Should Montreal and Edmonton end the season with identical 17-23 records, the Impact would get the playoff spot because of its 4-2 head-to-head record against the Drillers.
It won't be easy. The Impact flies out at 6 a.m. EST today for a 1 p.m. Milwaukee-time game.
"Basically, we go right from the airport to the game," said the Impact's Nick Desantis. "They're already in the playoffs, so we don't know how they'll come out, but either way, we have to give it our best shot."
Domenic Moblio, Benji Hayfield, Kevin Holness, Shayne Campbell, Todd Rattee, Kurt Bosch and Carmen d'Onofrio also scored two-point goals for the Drillers, who should be able to handle Cincinnati.
The Silverbacks are 1-18 on the road this year.
Edmonton did not allow the Impact an even-strength goal -- despite support from a season-high crowd of 12,147 at the Molson Centre -- until Mauro Biello got one with 1:37 left in the game.
"This was one of the most embarrassing moments of my ife," said Impact striker Jean Harbor, whose club had won 8-6 in Edmonton in its last outing. "We've played them so much.
"We knew their weak points. We felt we'd walk over them. This was like a playoff game and they took it more seriously than we did. That's what really killed us."
The Impact controlled the ball in the first half, but opportunistic goals by Mobilio and Clarke gave Edmonton a 4-3 lead at the intermission.
When the Impact opened up their attack in the second half, the Drillers used quick counter-attacks to fill the Montreal net.
Eloy Salgado had three points on penalty shots while Adolfo Mella scored two power play goals for Montreal.
Drillers star Kevin Holness said the win was dedicated to Edmonton forward Lloyd Barker, who suffered a broken neck during a game on March 17 and whose career is in jeopardy.
"He told us to stay together and don't leave anything on the field," said Holness. "Now, we'll phone him and tell him this was for him."
Holness said the Drillers aren't counting on Milwaukee to do them a favor by beating the Impact.
"Montreal's done very well on the road lately," he said. "They're a good team with a lot of talented players.
"We're not counting on (a Montreal loss). We have to do our job on Sunday."
It was a crushing loss for Montreal, which went into the game 10-4 since Paul Kitson replaced Johan Aarnio as head coach in January to get into playoff contention in its first NPSL season.
"Edmonton was 3-16 on the road and they came in here and beat us," said Kitson. "There's no reason we can't do the same in Milwaukee."
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 28 January 2007 )
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