Phantoms at Lake Erie 1-11-09: Second Period

The game has resumed, the penalty has expired, the score remains 0-0, the little kid who's being shown in closeup on the arenavision is cute and looking at the huge slice of pizza she's eating is making me hungry.

Oh, and the Phantoms are about to get their first PP of the game. Ross, Sirianni, Szwez, Curry, and Syvret are our first PP unit. We are creating chances, which I like to see, but dang it, we did eventually got a pass intercepted. Teslak made a nice stop on a shorthanded chance, then handed off the puck to our D so we wouldn't have to get a faceoff in our zone. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Maroon, DeSantis, and (I can't see our other defenseman) are our second PP unit.

The Monsters did kill their penalty, but they also iced the puck, meaning that we were able to change lines but they had to keep their guys on the ice.

Szwez just got freaking STONED by the Monsters' goalie Weiman. Doggone, what a save. Ross's rebound went right to Szwez, and he took two SOG, on which he was downright robbed. Oh, look at who's on the Monsters -- our former Phantom Jesse Boulerice. Cool.

The people in charge of the Lake Erie arenavision have GOT to stop putting noise meters and fans on the screen WHILE PLAY IS IN PROGRESS. It's stupendously aggravating to have non-play-related images on the screen for 5-10 seconds after the play-by-play has resumed.

I'm actually surprised that the Lake Erie player didn't get called for delay of game here, as he skated STRAIGHT into his net during a multiple-shot-on-goal sequence for the Phantoms. It didn't really appear that he made any attempt to avoid hitting the net and knocking it way off its moorings.

Well, anyway, nothing was called, and we're approximately halfway through the period. The score remains 0-0 and if I heard right, the shots are even at 22 apiece.

Blah. The freaking Monsters did manage to score on the shift following that announcement. Rats. I was trying to figure out why the Lake Erie Monsters, whose jersey shows a sea monster (or lake monster, really), have a mascot working the crowd that's a... bald eagle? While the freaking arenavision was focusing on said mascot, play resumed and the Monsters scored. 1-0, Monsters.

Here goes another penalty against the Phantoms -- holding the stick against Matsumoto. Lake Erie's PP has not been particularly effective this year -- 12%, according to our announcer. (I spent the first intermission battling to get the Philly audio instead of the Lake Erie audio, and eventually succeeded.) Unfortunately, Lake Erie started getting multiple chances in quick succession, and it cost us. I'm still trying to determine if the goal went in during the PP or immediately after the penalty expired. Either way, the score is now 2-0 Monsters.

I just checked the box score during a break in play -- the second Monsters goal came one second after the penalty expired. The eagle mascot is tobogganing down the arena stairs, and the faceoff is in progress (but we still haven't cut over to the action on the ice).

LOL. They're showing the arena keyboard player with a caption, "He's what Willis was talking about". Bwahaha! Now if they could just get the darn cameras cut over to the play once the teams line up for the faceoff, instead of dawdling, I could get to like these arenavision operators.

The second period is now over. The Monsters lead 2-0, and the SOG are Lake Erie 25, Phantoms 24.