Back to the ‘Big Dance’ for Horvat
By Jacob Robinson, Simcoe Reformer
Simcoe’s Ryan Horvat will play for his second major championship in as many years.
The left winger and his Manchester Monarchs teammates topped the Hartford Wolf Pack 3-1 on Wednesday to sweep the American Hockey League Eastern Conference Finals. In doing so, Horvat’s team punched its ticket to the Calder Cup Finals, just one year after he was competing in the Canadian Hockey League’s Memorial Cup with the Guelph Storm.
“I haven’t really thought about it, you’re still soaking in the win,” Horvat, 22, said of his second straight championship appearance. “The round is over, you don’t want to really think about anything else. We’ve got a week and a bit to start preparing for the next series, so once these couple days off are over I’ll start gearing down and sensing that you’re actually playing for a Calder Cup championship.”
The Monarchs drew on a past performance from their parent club, the Los Angeles Kings in sweeping Hartford. The Kings became just the fourth team in NHL history to win a series after being down 3-0 to San Jose last year.
“Before (Game 4) everybody was making sure that nobody was too high – making sure we keep our emotions in check,” said Horvat. “Anything can happen, look at LA last year, they were down 3-0 (in Round 1), they came back and won Game 7 and end up winning the (Stanley) Cup. Giving teams a chance to come back is never a good thing, so you always want to finish it when you can.”
Manchester will have to wait to see who they’ll be facing next.
The Utica Comets (Vancouver Canucks) currently lead the Western Conference Finals 2-1 against the Grand Rapids Griffins (Detroit Red Wings). Game 4 goes Friday night. The championship series is set to begin June 6. Horvat – who has one goal in nine playoff games – said the Monarchs are well equipped to handle the long hiatus.
“We had a similar experience last round, we won in five games and we had a little bit of time off – I think we had more time off last round actually,” he said. “(We take) a couple days off, just make sure everyone’s doing the right things.”
