PLAY OF THE YEAR // Final Four, Teddy vs TC Winner!
We’re down to the final four. What are you voting for? Fasko-Rudas’ Teddy Bear Toss Goal
What’s your vote? Keep voting: each time you do, you’re entered to win Tips Opening Night tickets. Battle of the OT’s, coming up:
#2 SEED: Fasko-Rudas’s Teddy Bear Toss Goal: Maybe this one didn’t occur from a rocket like slapshot or graceful end-to-end rush, but the moment was still spine tingling. Before a packed house in downtown Everett against the U.S. Division rival Seattle Thunderbirds, Martin Fasko-Rudas scored a much anticipated goal to iginite thousands of stuffed animals onto the ice for charity, and manufacture an amazing spectacle in downtown Everett – unique to the game.
#3 SEED: Bryce’s OT Buzzer Beater: It happened the night before Bryce Kindopp beat the Seattle Thunderbirds with less than one second left in overtime, and perhaps for a bit, Mar. 1 vs. Tri-City was known as the ultimate “gut-it-out” win. The Tips were in a game of an unstoppable force (closing in on another U.S. Division crown) versus an immovable object (Beck Warm had a .941 save percentage against the Tips in the regular season, despite a 3-5 series record. In other words: the Tips were very good at dumping shots on Warm. But Warm was very good at stopping them).
The Tips fired so many shots on net that night, they set a new single game franchise record (62). But they had to wait until less than 10 minutes left in regulation to merely tie the game, 1-1. Patience was required. In the last minute of play in regulation, with Tri-City trying to bear down defensively, Connor Dewar slipped a pass to Artyom Minulin, stationed at the blueline. Minulin’s experience enabled him to calmly feather a puck on net, perhaps with Kindopp looming for a rebound (his “office”). It worked. Kindopp snuck around the Americans defense and buried the game winner with 48.6 left, sending a crowd of 6,633 fans into bedlam. The Tips – sensing a possible playoff tune-up – beat the Americans 2-1 to improve to 4-3 in the regular season series.