Phantoms vs. Bears 11-14-08: Second Period

I am Not Pleased with the way we're not able to get out of our zone for the first minute or so of this period. We did manage to get one rush into Hershey's end, but then back went the play into our zone. Clackson took a hooking penalty, and the scoreboard proceeded to shut itself off.

The game has resumed, sans scoreboard, and Keith Jones will probably have to continue announcing the progress of the penalty. Yep -- he just announced that we have one minute remaining in the penalty. Isn't it sad that we know what has to happen when the clock whacks out? Sigh.

LMHO. When Keith Jones counted down the final ten seconds of the penalty, all the kids in the crowd counted it down with him. :)

TEN BELL stop by Scotty, with 15 minutes remaining in the period. (Courtesy of Keith Jones, as the scoreboard's still out.) Nice. And what would be even nicer would be if we could tilt the ice the other way for a while, as we have played the majority of the past five minutes in the Phantoms end. Even when we get the puck into the Hershey end of the ice, we never seem to get set up and the play heads right back down to our side within moments.

This is how we blew a three-goal lead over Hershey a few games ago. They're setting themselves up in our end to the point where one would almost think the players' mail should be forwarded there. It's frustrating to watch, because I know we have more ability to dictate play than this.

And what do you know. Hershey scored. That was almost inevitable. :( We have 12:24 left in the period, we've had a grand total of 1 shot on goal compared to Hershey's ten, and the law of averages caught up with us. Now the Bears are ahead 2-1.

And on the very next shift, NOW we get something going. FINALLY. Curry blasts a shot from the point that Varlamov freezes, and we've got ourselves an offensive-zone draw. Unfortunately, we didn't last long at this end before we wound up in all-too-familiar territory, parked in front of Munroe, but hey. It was a faceoff in the Bears end, and we haven't had one of those for a while.

Reid (former Phantom) just hit Szwez in the Bears end. On the way back to the Phantoms end, Szwez hauled Reid down by the back of his collar... right in front of the ref. So we're going on the PK, and I wonder what Paddock will think of that particular infraction. Particularly since we just got scored on. We really didn't need to take that penalty at that moment Oh well.

Once again, on the shift following being scored on, we get something going in Hershey's end. It got cut short when Smith (the ref) decided to call Laliberte for hooking, another penalty that the Phantoms Phaithful respectfully disagrees with. ;) Unfortunately, we don't get a vote. Kalinski and Raduns come in on a SH 2-on-1 that ends up with the puck in Hershey's net. What a highlight reel play! Kalinski gets the goal, and it was unassisted, but had Raduns been needed, he had nothing stopping him from slam-dunking the puck into the goal if Kalinski's effort had missed.

Now we are at 4 on 4, briefly, as the Bears take their first penalty of the game (besides the fighting major Amadio got.)

Oh, for gosh sakes. We STILL don't get a blankety-blanking power play because Smith calls another penalty on us. So we will be at 4 on 4 for most of the next two minutes, except for 40 seconds when we will be shorthanded at the end of Hershey's penalty. Ri-freaking-diculous.

Kalinski won a foot race with a Bear for the puck and got a clear SOG on Varlamov. Boy, when Raduns/Kalinski are on the ice tonight, good thngs are happenng.

Now we are on the PK for 40 seconds. On the ice are Syvret, Guenin, Kane, and Giroux. Claude tried to beat a Bears D-man and lost the puck. Kane tried to retrieve it, but the end result was a Bear taking it and moving the proceedings down into the Phantoms end.

Kalinski and Clackson had a fantastic chance just now -- Kalinski got the puck and sent it to Clackson, who got robbed by Varlamov.

FINALLY a freaking PP. Syvret, DeSantis, Giroux, Kane, and Laliberte are out. Syvret is in the high slot. Laliberte and Kane are at the net, screening the goalie/looking for rebounds or a deflection.

Now it's Ratchuk , Maroon, Curry, Kalinski, and Matsumoto out.

You know, I see Beaulieu on the bench, but I have yet to see him take a shift in this game. He's on the end of the bench, working the door at the moment.

The end of the second period SOG: Phantoms 18, Hershey 29. We gave up 17 SOG in this period -- not a good thing. I hope we come out more organized and with more ability to dictate the play in the third period.