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The final pro hockey game at the Spectrum has been played.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Phantoms at Hershey 11-29-08: First Period

Rats. Moments after I tuned into the game, the Bears scored on a PP goal to take a 1-0 lead. Darn Washington, I thought they called Mink up the other day, but he's in Hershey's lineup tonight.

Teslak is our backup tonight, for "at least the next little while", as Aubin sustained what was officially described as a lower body injury. Now, normally I would say "I guess that means shoulder", since I know that teams like to avoid cluing opponents in to what's the matter with an injured player. However, there's really no disguising what happened last night, when he left the ice favoring his right leg. So in this case, I think they're telling the truth.

Dear Caps, please call Mink up again. He just assisted on Hershey's second goal, with Alexandre Giroux scoring the tally. 2-0 Pain in the Neck Bad Guys.

Claude Giroux went to the box another time, but then with 1:14 remaining in the bears PP, someone from Hershey tripped up Jared Ross, so it will be 4on 4 for a while. Then the Phantoms will get a brief PP.

AGAIN with the Mink-Giroux combination for a goal. Not only do the Bears now lead 3-0, they have 10 shots on goal to our ZERO. As in, goose egg. Mink/Giroux/Aucoin have figured in all three goals.

Geeze, I didn't even finish typing that in, and the same line burnt us again. This time it was Amadio from Aucoin and MacNeill, but I saw the players congratlating one another, and Giroux and Mink were on the ice. Four goals on 11 shots. I can't blame Munroe for this, not when we're doing NIENTE to create any kind of threat at the other end. I haven't even heard the Bears goalie's name mentoned yet.

4:20 left in the first period. FINALLY we create a nice flurry in front of Hershey's net, which ended in a ten-player shoving match as Machesney froze the puck. We have a grand total of two SOG now, so at least we aren't going to get shut down on the shot clock.

Oh, Ross got a nice shot from the high slot, and the Bears defenseman's attempt to block the shot actually made it harder on his goalie. The puck popped up and Machesney had to be alert to make sure it stayed out of harm's way.

Claude Giroux is about to get called for a third penalty. I have a feeling that Paddock isn't going to be overly happy over that. We'll see how his ice time is affected.

We killed that penalty, but now it's Bartulis who's going to occupy the sin bin. Good grief, this period has been murder. We got out of the period still on the PK, so we will be shorthanded to start the second. Hershey is outshooting us 15-3, though it took us 17 minutes to register a shot on goal.

Gack. What a start to the game. Here's hoping we have a better second and third period.

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