Click the banner below to see "The Final Countdown" video by Europe

Click the banner below to see "The Final Countdown" video by Europe
The final pro hockey game at the Spectrum has been played.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Phantoms at Hershey Bears 1-17-09: Second Period

Clackson had an early wrestling match with huge Bear whose name I don't recall having seen before: Wellar. They went off for fighting. I believe Clackson already led the league in fights; if so, having two bouts in one game won't do anything to diminish his supremacy.

The period has gone relatively evenly so far. The most notable event has been that Arsene hit Bellamy and stunned him. As this took place behind the play, I'm a little surprised that no penalty was called.

We didn't have to wait long to have a powerplay, however, as Bourque obliged by slashing Ryan. Our first PP unit is Maroon, Matsumoto, and Laliberte with Syvret and Desantis. SCOOOORE -- Laliberte buried the rebound of the rebound of the rebound. Nice work, guys! It helped that Syvret, one of our D, came in and got involved with the goalmouth scramble. That, per our announcer, disorganized the Bears' PK enough that we were able to keep hacking at the puck until we got it in.

OMG, ROSS!!! As I was typing the previous paragraph, he got a breakaway end-to-en rush, and scored to tie the game! NICE, Rossco! Assist from his buddy Scott Munroe. :) 2-2, and welcome to a new game!

On the following shift, we incurred a penalty to Beaulieu, so we are shorthanded. Nodl proceeds to carry the puck up ice and be a nuisance to the Bears. No major SH chance came of it, but we did shave a few seconds off the PK. Munroe gave us all we needed to withstand the rest of that penalty kill, and the teams are back at full strength.

Machesney (Bears goalie) had to come way out to play a puck. Ross tried to tip it away from him. Sloan of the Bears slashed Ross in retaliation, Ross went after him, and the end result is a ten-player shoving match in the corner. It appears that Ross gets slashing, Sloan gets cross-checking, and Arsene gets roughing, so the Phantoms are on the PP. I'm not convinced that a replay would show that those players broke those specific rules (other than Arsene/roughing), but the upshot is the naughty players were correctly identified and they're in the sin bin. Dang -- Machesney stoned Matsumoto on our best chance of the PP.

Soon after the return to even strength, Curry gets set off for boarding. Really, the players who turn to face the boards upon seeing that they are about to be hit should get sent to the freakin' box for unsportsmanlike conduct. If they can give "unsportsmanlike conduct, diving" penalties, they should give penalties to the people who turn a legal hit into a hit from behind when it's too late for the check-thrower to redirect his trajectory.

Two Bears collide, but one of them, Bourque, trips Matsumoto to prevent a breakaway, so he's in the sin bin and we will be at 4 on 4 for a while. Syvret came inches from scoring for the Phantoms -- the dratted puck rolled slowly through the crease. Too bad nothing was in its path to deflect it in, but oh well. SO close!

Sirianni just got two nice attempts. His first shot was blocked, but he got the puck back and took another one that Machesney had to be quick to deflect.

Speaking of goalies that need to be quick, The Wrong Giroux (Alexandre) deflected a teammate's shot on goal, and Munroe had to be sharp to track the puck and freeze it. Giroux tied a league record earlier in the game by scoring in 14th consecutive game. He leads the league in scoring -- no surprise, given stats like the above! I guess he's not just a Phantoms-killer, then. Looks like he's just an everyone-he-plays-against killer.(Dear Caps: call this guy the heck back up and KEEP him up this time, wouldja? KTHXBAI.)

The second period is over. The Phantoms staged a nice comeback, and the score remains tied at 2-2. Shots on goal: Phantoms 21, Bears 29.

Win the third period, guys!

No comments:

 
CLICK HERE to watch "The Final Countdown" video by Europe