Phantoms vs. Hershey Bears 2-6-09: Second Period

Nodl proceeds to bury our first shot of the period, assisted by Maroon, who was the last guy from the first shift left on the ice. His battling for Matsumoto's dump-in led directly to the pass to Nodl in the slot. Nice work!

Bartulis went off shortly afterward for cross-checking, so we get to kill another penalty. On the one hand, this ref is not calling every little miniscule thing, but on the other... Do we get a PP at some point, too? Oh well. In any event, I am getting a tad nervous that two of our PKers are behind the net, and all of them are right on top of the goalie. Hershey guys are all bunched in too, but they have someone way out and wide open.

We killed the penalty, which is good. We then gave up a huge rebound moments after returning to even strength, and a Bear cashed it in. Sloan... His second goal of the year. Oh, boy. We are just continuously landing behind the 8 ball tonight. SOG are Bears 16, Phantoms 4.

We are living in front of Aubin right now -- we haven't been in the offensive zone since we scored the goal. There is a ten-player scrum right at the red ine in front of the sin bins, so we at least get a draw in the center ice dot. That gets us halfway to where we want to be, right? Well, no, as we wound up right back in our own end seconds later. A brief breakout didn't really amount to much, as we had no stayng power once we got to Hershey's end. Aubin left a giant rebound that flew to the top of the slot almost to the blue line. We took that and attempted to create offense, but as the shot clock suggests, nothing came of it.

The Bears, however, iced the puck, earning us a faceoff in their end. Maybe NOW we canget something going. Raduns, Nodl, and Kane are out. There was a scramble at the edge of the crease, but we couldn't cash in the one shot we got. And, of course, we wind up back in our end.

Aubin is making me nervous... A Bears attempt wound up with him on his stomach, head toward the net and feet toward the point. I hate to feel like I am ripping a player, since as anyone who reads this blog can attest, I don't make a habit of being critical of individuals. I usually use a player's name when something goes well, and stay non-specific (ie. "we turn the puck over") when we make an error. But this game... Well, let's just say that I do understand that Aubin has a lot of rust to work off, but the form he's showing is not what I expect to see. Nor is it the form he had on the nights when he played well for us earlier in the season. They'll need to show him some videos of those good games, so he can get reminded of what things gave him the most success.

With 9:45 left in the second period, the SOG are Phantoms 5, Bears 18. We haven't given up a whole ton of shots, but we only have garnered two of our own, which isn't what one would ike to see at this point in the night. I know that we are missing Ross, but we really need to get it together. We do have some guys back, like Kane and Guenin, who were out of the lineup a long time. I woud hope that getting a couple key guys back would help us make up for the loss of Ross to a callup.

Maroon just had the makings of a nice rush, as he flew up the wing wth the puck. But a diving Bears defender swept the puck right off his stick, and that was the end of that. NOW we might be getting a PP, as the ref is signalling slashing and the Bears box door has been opened. Yep, Sloan is going off. Let's see how we manage with the man advantage. Eight minutes remain in the period, and the SOG are 19-5 in favor of the Bears. OH we came close right off the bat, with DeSantis pinching in next to the net. Syvret is our other Dman, and Matsumoto, Laliberte, and Maroon are the forwards. Great, we have a defensive zone draw with half the penalty gone. Ratchuk rushes the puck up ice, though, and we try to get set up. Matsumoto, Maroon, Kane, Curry, and Ratchuk are the guys. There is a :Bears defender wthout a stick, but that doesn't seem to help matters any as they clear the puck right before the penaty expires.

Nodl just went up the tunnel, accompanied by the trainer, but he was walkng under his own steam so I hope it's nothing major.

Ya know... We must have broken a freaking mirror before going out on the ice tonight. The FOURTH broken stick of the night was lying on the ice in the Bears end, and it deflected one of our shots well out of harm's way. PHOOEY.

Clackson just went at it with someone down in that one corner I can't see (the visiting bench end of the ice, in the corner to the goaltender's right). We will find out soon enough who is the other guy. It was Arsene, who got two for roughing/five for fighting. Clackson gets a double minor for high-sticking and five for fighting. The etra two minutes will be served by Rob Bellamy. There's 4:27 left in the period, so we CAN KILL THE PENALTIES (that is an order, not a suggestion, lol) and still be at even strength by the time the period is over.

We have a brass band in the second level over the Zamboni tunnel. LOL. Sweet, just like SlapShot. All we need is to have a bench clearing brawl, win a tropy, and have the best-looking player on the ice give a, errrr, memorable dance routine. ;) That would be fitting after this week of playing "Who own de team" with the media.

I just saw the ref signal crosscheck, but I am still waiting to see who is getting sent off. Nobody seems to know. It's a Bear but so far we have retrieved a guy from the bench, who was not the culprit, then eventually Sloan was fingered as the guilty party. FINALLY. PECOOOO POWER PLAY, here we go. Let's get a PECOOOO POWER PLAY Shot on Goal. YES -- Laliberte cased in a rebound (possibly blocked by someone other than the goalie, as they only credited us with one shot) and we are within one goal again. 4-3 Bears. Maroon and DeSantis assisted.

Nodl never came back from the dressing room, although the trainer did. That's never a good sign.

But at the end of the perod, the score is Bears 4, Phantoms 3, and the SOG are Phantoms 9, Bears 25.