Phantoms vs. Bears 11-21-08: First Period

Scratches: Klotz, Trull, Kane, and Hersley
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Bartulis, Curry, Laliberte, Matsumoto, and Donati.

I'm very pleased to see Bellamy return to the ice. We've missed the feisty game he brings to the table, and it'll help make up for the loss of Kalinski (who's up with the Flyers).

Varlamov, that pain in the caboose to play against, is in goal for Hershey tonight. After his performance on Friday and Saturday, that's unsurprising. Oh, but we just came close to cashng in a NICE odd-man rush a minute and a half into the game, and drew a hooking call as a result. We're headed to the PP.

Hershey proceeded to get a shorthanded break, but Munroe stayed with him throughout and made the stop. On our return trip to Hershey's end, we got a two-man advantage for 1:21. We have GOT TO do something with this. GOT to. We have Giroux, Maroon, DeSantis, Syvret, and Ross out. The next shift has Matsumoto, Laliberte, Donati stil with Syvret, and DeSantis.

OK, we have thirty or so seconds of 5 on 4 now...aaaaand no dice. The game remains scoreless. SOG Phantoms 5, Bears 2.

Giroux, Maroon, and Ross are a line, and they generated a near-miss that had the crowd groaning. Beaulieu, Bellamy, and Raduns are out, with Curry and D'Amour.

We have seven D dressed again tonight: D'Amour, Bartulis, Ratchuk, Guenin, DeSantis, Syvret, and Curry. I guess with the number of njuries and callups we have, this was the best combination of healthy guys we could field, even if it IS a non-standard grouping of 11 forwards/7 D.

I like the amount of jump the Phantoms came out with. Other than the PP time, we have spent a good amount of the first eight minutes in the Bears end... What a change from the weekend. I think everyone wants to put that mess behind them ASAP.

MUNY with the great save! A Bears player had his arms raised to celebrate a goal... and then had to regroup himself quickly because the puck was still in play. Heh... GO SCOTTY! :)

With 10:25 left, the SOG are even at 8 apiece.

There has been a lot of end-to-end play in the past few minutes. That's not favoring us much, as we gave up two quick goals on the Bears' next two shots. When we start playing river hockey, Hershey seems to be able to get someone open for an unchallenged shot at a wide-open net. The first goal, in particular, was generated when a Bear, Mink, collected a rebound before any of our guys could get to it.

Geeze, I hate being in the hole to this freaking team. There's still plenty of game left to make up the deficit, but that's not the point.

Now it's our turn to serve a penalty, as Matsumoto goes off for slashing. With 6:19 left, SOG: Phantoms 9, Bears 10. Our PK unit is Giroux, Ross, Syvret, and Guenin. Guenin passed to Ross at the blue line, who carried the puck up ice for a scoring chance and killed some penalty time. Raduns and Beaulieu were our next PK forwards, followed by Giroux and Ross again.With six seconds left on the PK, Matsu's linemates Laliberte and Donati are out. Even though we are at full strength, we still are hemmed into our own end... This is aggravating to see. If there's one thing we don't want, it's a repeat of last weekend.

Oh, DeSantis DRILLED a Bear behind our net. Nice hit, Jason! :)

The Bears responded: their Amadio drilled our Clackson. What a running feud there seems to be between Clackson and the Bears (and Amadio, with whom Clackson has already fought at least once this season).

Hershey also took a slashing penalty on that shift, so we are on the PP again with two minutes and change left in the period. MAROOOOOON proceeds to reduce the deficit to one goal. Assist: DeSantis. NICE play!

Ya know, it still just looks WRONG to see Reid in another team's uniform. I really liked him when he was here. At least he's with Hershey, so we get to see him play in person a few times this year.

At the end of the first period, the SOG are tied at 13 apiece. Hershey leads, 2-1.