Taylor Made.
San Diego Is Ready To Defend Their Taylor Cup Championship. Idaho, Tacoma,and Fresno Are Ready Dethrone The Defending Champs.

The first round of the 2002 WCHL Taylor Cup Playoffs have concluded.  When the dust settled two "Cinderella" teams advanced, and will compete for the right to hoist up the WCHL Taylor Cup.

The Tacoma Sabercats and Fresno Falcons both shocked higher seeded opponents by winning pivotal Games 4 and 5 on the road to capture the series.

Tacoma rallied from a 2-1 series deficit to derail the Colorado Gold Kings. The Fresno Falcons stopped the Long Beach Ice Dogs in a deciding Game 5 on Sunday.

Tacoma hosted the first two games of the series due to arena conflicts in Colorado.  After splitting the first two games, the prospect of winning two of three games in Colorado seemed unrealistic.

However, after dropping Game 3 in overtime the Sabercats took command of the series on the strength of David Goverde's goaltending.  Goverde, who led a similar underdog (Phoenix) to the 1999-2000 Taylor Cup, has recaptured the playoff magic.

He denied numerous chances by Colorado's potent offense.  Goverde made 39 saves in pivotal Game 4 to lead Tacoma to a 2-1 win that evened the series. He then followed up that performance with 32 saves as the Sabercats dispatched the Gold Kings 5-2 in Game 5.

Tacoma's second round task is even tougher.  Additional conflicts with their home venue will force the team to play all five games of the division finals in Idaho.

The Steelheads advanced to their second consecutive division finals after defeating the Anchorage Aces three games to one. Idaho rebounded from a poor performance in Game 1 to outscore the Aces 16-5 in the final three games of the series.

Blair Allison held the Aces to one goal in each of the final two games after a rocky start to the series. Matt Oates notched the series-clinching goal with less than six minutes remaining in Game 4 when he beat Aces netminder Jamie McCaig with a backhand.

The Southern Division upstart is the Fresno Falcons. A team that finished the year 2001 with a dismal 8-24-2 record.  The out-fit stormed into the playoffs, and won a hard-fought series over the Long Beach Ice Dogs.

Like Tacoma, Fresno fell behind two games to one with the final two games of the series being held in Long Beach. The Falcons dominated Game 4 after falling behind early 1-0.

Four different Falcons scored, and Terry Friesen stopped 23 shots for the win. That victory set up a deciding Game 5 in which the Falcons continued the trend they started in Game 4.

The Falcons used a punishing defense, and a hat trick by Joe Frederick to defeat the Ice Dogs 5-1. The victory earned Fresno the right to play San Diego for a berth in the Taylor Cup Finals.

San Diego advanced to the Southern Division Finals after defeating Bakersfield in four games. The Gulls won the first two games in San Diego before dropping Game 3 to the Condors in Bakersfield.

The Gulls rallied from a two-goal deficit in Game 3 to force overtime, but Bakersfield's Paul Willett extended the series with his second post-season goal at the 12:29 mark of the extra period.

Goals from Dennis Purdie, John Spoltore, and Mark Woolf lifted San Diego to a 3-2 second period lead.  The Gulls with-stood a furious Bakersfield rally to capture the series, and advance in their defense of the Taylor Cup.

The Taylor Cup Division Finals begin on ThursdayApril 25th in Boise.   The Steelheads will host Tacoma, while the Southern Division begins Friday with Fresno traveling to San Diego.