Phantoms vs. Portland Pirates 2-20-09: First Period

Scratches: DeSantis, Klotz
Starting Lineup: Aubin, Ratchuk, Curry, Matsumoto, Laliberte, Maroon

Ratchuk is the Birthday Boy today. He's 21. They get younger and younger in this league, I swear. My husband has a nutty theory that the players stay in the same age range and it's US getting older every year. But I don't feel a bit older, so that can't be right. Have you ever heard something so ludicrous? No, I insist that it's the players getting younber and soon we'll be4 fielding a team full of Mites on Ice. Yeah, that's the ticket. :D

Best sign of the night so far: "How many pucks would a Ratchuk chuck if a Ratchuk could chuck pucks? & Score?" Hee hee hee!

Frank Miceli's induction into the Phantoms Hall of Fame took place prior to the game, It was a really nice ceremony. The one downer was that, as Darth Luukko was included among the dignitaries from the organization, there was booing on the couple of occasions when his name came up. Fortunately, as other individuals' names were announced shortly thereafter, we could resume cheering in short order.

We only have two scratches tonight: DeSantis and Klotz. I'm presuming that means the team is largely healthy, which is a good thng.

SCOOOOORE! Sirianni scores 2:15 into the first period, with an assist from the Birthday Boy Ratchuk! :) Nice! SOG are Phantoms 5, Pirates 0.

A minute and change later, Guenin gets called for hookng, so we get to put our PKing on display. Raduns, Maroon, Bartulis, and Kukkonen are out. Next up, Nodl, Ross, Syvret, and Curry. Ross clears it all the way to the opposing net, just as we reach the one minute mark of the PK. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Bartulis, and Kukkonen take over. OH, lucky for us the Pirate who tried to cash in a rebound hit the side of the net. At the end of the PK, the SOG are Phantoms 5, Pirates 1.

Ratchuk absolutely buries a guy right by the Phantoms bench. Following that, Szwez lays out and blocks a sot, and his efforts send the puck out of our zone. Nice work, guys. Within a shift or two of this, it's our turn to go onto the PP. Two minutes later, the score remained 1-0, Good Guys, and the SOG were now 8-2 in favor of the Phantoms.

Boy, these auction sweaters have numers that are jolly hard to read at a distance, mosty because of the orage stripes that match the hue of the numbers on the back just a hair too well.

With 4:42 remaining in the period, the SOG are Phantoms 9, Pirates 3.

NICE move by Kane, lying on his side at the red line, to sweep his stick and direct the puck to an attacking Phantom before any Pirates could come and take it away.

At the end of the first period, the score is 1-0 Phantoms, and the SOG are 10-5, also in favor of the Phantoms.