The Phantoms are starting Scott Munroe tonight with Syvret, Guenin Ross, Kane, and Sirianni,
Bartulis/Kukkonen with Matsumoto/Laliberte/Maroon are next.
JVR!!!! His first pro goal!!! Freakin' beauty of a play -- he beat out the defenseman to get in front of the goal, shot, took the rebound and buried it. OH yeah! :)
The Phantoms go shorthanded and the farging video is freezing. Syvret kept a puck out, and from the sound of it, he made a save that will go into the stats as a blocked shot. But we all know it's a save. ;)
We had a PP of our own shortly afterward, and while we didn't score, we got some high-quality opportunities. If we keep that up, we will be adding to the goal tally.
Again, just as the teams return to full strength, there's another penalty. This time it's against the Phantoms. Guenin goes for cross-checking.
NICE stop by Munroe! Late in the PK, Matsumoto was only kept from a breakaway by the opposite-side Albany defender, who shadowed Matsumoto all the way and managed to break up a scoring chance without incurring a penalty. NICE play by McBain.
However, the teams are back at full strength, and Kalinski/Szwez nearly teamed up for a goal. Unfortunately for us, Peters added another couple of circus saves to his total tonight. The game remains 1-0 Phantoms.
With 5:13 left in thbe period, the Phantoms lead the River Rats in shots, 11-8.
Syracuse has taken a 1-0 lead over Binghamton. GOOD. Keep it up, Crunch!
The Phantoms wound up on a PK for six seconds before Nygel Pelletier whistled a River Rat for tripping AND Kukknen for interference... how Kukkonen could have interfered with anyone while he was the one getting tripped is an interesting mental exercise.
We ended the period at a 4 on 3 disadvantage. There'll be some more PK time remaining at the start of the second period.
The Phantoms lead on the scoreboard 1-0, and on the shot clock 12-8.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Phantoms vs. Norfolk Admirals, 4-5-09
Scratches: Duchesne, Lehtivuori, Sloane, DeSantis, Klotz, Beaulieu, Kempe, Bellamy
Starting lineup: Munroe, Bartulis, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
The induction of Peter White into the Phantoms hall of fame took place prior to the game.
Matsumoto's line remains the same Szwez/Kalinski/JVR are also a line. The D pairs are the same as normal. The three remaining forwards are Raduns, Gratton, and Clackson and they are a line too.;
Two and a half minutes in, the Phantoms have the only shot on goal.
JVR parked at the crease's edge to try and screen the goalie/corral a rebound. Good thinking on his part. His line drew a penalty during that shift. So we are on the PECOOOOOO POWER PLAY with the Ross line, Syvret, and Kukkonen.
OMG OMG OMG Ratchuk does an end-to-end rush reminiscent of his first pro goal, and BURIES the biscuit for a 1-0 lead!
I didn't even have time to type in that we were shorthanded, with Bartulis off, before Laliberte and Matsumoto break in and score SH Laliberte from Guenin and Matsumoto, ALLL RIIIIIIGHT!!!
This was followed by a superb save by Munroe when the Admirals get the puck into our end – Muny is pumped to do HIS part to earn us that playoff spot, too. :)
Matsumoto makes another break Shorthanded, or at least we were shorthanded when he started rushing the puck. It was a 1-on-2 break, and the Admirals defenders included hooking among their attempts to keep him from scoring. So we get another PECOOOOOO POWER PLAY. Ross's line goes out with Curry and Ratchuk. We proceed to get a switch, as Kane goes up the tunnel holding his wrist. JVR comes out to replace him.
We go to 4 on 4 for 1:20 as Sirianni gets called for interference. That leaves Ross and JVR out with Kukkonen and Bartulis for the start of the 4 on 4. Kukkonen, BTW, still has jaw protection attached to his helmet Net up, Matsumoto/Laliberte with Syvret/Guenin as we go to the SH situation. Then Raduns/Kalinski.
Good, Kane and the trainer return to the bench.
Kalinski goes barreling up the ice on a 2 on 1 as our penalty expires. We got a couple of chances out of it, but no goal. Norfolk's goalie made a great save to keep the score at 2-0.
Aaaaw, JVR narrowly missed getting his first pro goal – he was breaking in on goal With Intent, but no dice this time. If he keeps that up, though, we'll see that pro point before the game is out.
Boy, did Ratchuk move fast to get to a loose puck near our net. We have had games in this season where we haven't gotten to stray disks first, but this is not turning out to be a night like that. Great!
LALIBERTE!!!! From Matsumoto and Maroon! Matsy's shot created a rebound that went way off to the side, but Laliberte was there to slam it over the prone goalie.
We proceed to get the Battle of the #15s, as Clackson and Brookbank go. Clackson gets the extra two for roughing. Gratton will sit in his stead. It was a somewhat long tilt that had Brookbank trying to pin Clackson in close and throw head shots. Clackson gave up a lot of size and reach, but apparently not much strength, because he fought out of the bear hug and got in some punches of his own. Brookbank seemed to throw more than Clackson, if we want to go by punch count, but I would say the quality of the shots was about even. I would say
“draw”, or :”slight edge, Brookbank”.
Raduns, Kalinski, Guenin, and Syvret are out on the PK for the final minute of the period.
At the end of the period, the teams are back at even strength, the Phantoms lead 3-0, and the SOG are Phantoms 12, Admirals 10.
WTH? A center-ice scrum that eventually separated into just Gratton and Henley looked fightish, till Henley.... turned and skated away mid-fight. If he was trying to make Gratton get the Betteann 17 (two for instigation and a ten-minute misconduct on top of the 5 for fighting), the ploy failed. All he got was booed and the players got coincidental majors.
I'm still not sure what triggered that outburst, though, really. All I know is that both Clackson and Gratton are in the sin bin at the moment, and I'm not too happy about it. I don't want to see shenanigans going on out there with our two best fighters in the box. Fortunately, though, Clacker should be done with his two-minute extra penalty soon. His waltz partner is already finished with his fie minutes and came out at the last stoppage in play.
Szwez is on the ice with Kalinski and JVR. Which tells me, among other things, that we are letting our other most physical guy be out there while we await Clackson's return.
Maroon was denied on a POINT BLANK shot by a superb save. No matter what the demeanor of his teammates, their netminder Kowalski most definitely came to play.
Ross made a slick play, looking like he was about to crash the net with the puck, only to jam on the brakes and let the defender go past him. He got a clear shot on goal off, but unfortunately an Admiral was in better position to get to the resulting rebound before Sirianni could fire it home. Nice move, though. :)
Here we go on a PK, as Szwez gets called for hooking. Ross and Kane proceed to break out in a 2 on 1. We don't get a shot but we come darn close and we kill some time off the clock into the bargain.
Back at our end, Guenin blocks a shot.
Next up: Matsumoto/Laliberte with Bartulis and Kukkonen.
The Admirals appear to have tried to turn it on during this period, as they went from being outshot to outshooting us. As the period ends Kane shoots on a 2-on-0 and Kowalski makes the save. The score remains 3-0 Phantoms. SOG are Phantoms 17, Admirals 24.
Yikes, Laliberte and an Admiral I can't identify crashed into one another and the boards at the blue line and both went down stunned. Laliberte got up slowly, but the Admiral got some assistance from the trainer before getting up. What do you know, it's #15, Brookbank, who also got called for roughing. However, someone else is serving his penalty (Buck), so we will have to see if Brookbank returns to the game.
POSTAGE, dang it. We had a few chances so far during this PP, but the most recent one found iron. Then Norfolk made a shorthanded rush, at which point Guenin blocked a shot.
Surprise, we get another PP moments after the previous one ends. Let's try this again, shall we? We got some more opportunities in this man advantage, but all we did was close the gap on the shot clock a bit more. With 10:4 remaining in the period, the SOG are now Phantoms 25, Admirals 28.
BOY did Guenin ever block a shot. That's at least the third time he has laid out flat on the ice to cut off a shooting lane. This time, he swept his stick and cleared the oncoming puck out of harm's way.
On Norfolk's next attempt, our defender took the body and the puck slid gently in toward Munroe all by itself. He easily sticked it aside.
Our rush with 8:01 remaining in the period resulted in yet another penalty against Norfolk, so let's see about cashing in this latest PECOOOOO POWER PLAY. We start with th Matsumoto line, Curry, and Ratchuk. Yiii... on our next shift, Kukkonen's shot from the top of the slot nearly nailed Kane at the crease's edge. Fortunately, everyone was in one intact piece by the end of that sequence. Ross's line is out with Syvret and Kukkonen... as the PP expires, Kalinski, Szwez, and JVR are out with Curry and Ratchuk. With 5:34 remaining, SOG are even at 28-28.
Just as we reach the final minute of the period, Guenin gets called for slashing. So we get to wrap up this game on the PK. At least we can ice the puck at will. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Kukkonen, and Bartulis are out.
Or we could go to 4 on 4 instead, with 36.2 remaining. Ross and JVR are out with Ratchuk and Curry.
And there we go – the game is over, we've won our remaining game in hand, and now it's the Phantoms who are in 4th place by one point. We have a game in Albany on Wednesday, one at home on Friday vs. Hershey on Friday, and a game in Hershey on Saturday. Count them all as must-wins for us to control -our own destiny and secure that final playoff berth.
GO PHANTOMS!
Starting lineup: Munroe, Bartulis, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
The induction of Peter White into the Phantoms hall of fame took place prior to the game.
Matsumoto's line remains the same Szwez/Kalinski/JVR are also a line. The D pairs are the same as normal. The three remaining forwards are Raduns, Gratton, and Clackson and they are a line too.;
Two and a half minutes in, the Phantoms have the only shot on goal.
JVR parked at the crease's edge to try and screen the goalie/corral a rebound. Good thinking on his part. His line drew a penalty during that shift. So we are on the PECOOOOOO POWER PLAY with the Ross line, Syvret, and Kukkonen.
OMG OMG OMG Ratchuk does an end-to-end rush reminiscent of his first pro goal, and BURIES the biscuit for a 1-0 lead!
I didn't even have time to type in that we were shorthanded, with Bartulis off, before Laliberte and Matsumoto break in and score SH Laliberte from Guenin and Matsumoto, ALLL RIIIIIIGHT!!!
This was followed by a superb save by Munroe when the Admirals get the puck into our end – Muny is pumped to do HIS part to earn us that playoff spot, too. :)
Matsumoto makes another break Shorthanded, or at least we were shorthanded when he started rushing the puck. It was a 1-on-2 break, and the Admirals defenders included hooking among their attempts to keep him from scoring. So we get another PECOOOOOO POWER PLAY. Ross's line goes out with Curry and Ratchuk. We proceed to get a switch, as Kane goes up the tunnel holding his wrist. JVR comes out to replace him.
We go to 4 on 4 for 1:20 as Sirianni gets called for interference. That leaves Ross and JVR out with Kukkonen and Bartulis for the start of the 4 on 4. Kukkonen, BTW, still has jaw protection attached to his helmet Net up, Matsumoto/Laliberte with Syvret/Guenin as we go to the SH situation. Then Raduns/Kalinski.
Good, Kane and the trainer return to the bench.
Kalinski goes barreling up the ice on a 2 on 1 as our penalty expires. We got a couple of chances out of it, but no goal. Norfolk's goalie made a great save to keep the score at 2-0.
Aaaaw, JVR narrowly missed getting his first pro goal – he was breaking in on goal With Intent, but no dice this time. If he keeps that up, though, we'll see that pro point before the game is out.
Boy, did Ratchuk move fast to get to a loose puck near our net. We have had games in this season where we haven't gotten to stray disks first, but this is not turning out to be a night like that. Great!
LALIBERTE!!!! From Matsumoto and Maroon! Matsy's shot created a rebound that went way off to the side, but Laliberte was there to slam it over the prone goalie.
We proceed to get the Battle of the #15s, as Clackson and Brookbank go. Clackson gets the extra two for roughing. Gratton will sit in his stead. It was a somewhat long tilt that had Brookbank trying to pin Clackson in close and throw head shots. Clackson gave up a lot of size and reach, but apparently not much strength, because he fought out of the bear hug and got in some punches of his own. Brookbank seemed to throw more than Clackson, if we want to go by punch count, but I would say the quality of the shots was about even. I would say
“draw”, or :”slight edge, Brookbank”.
Raduns, Kalinski, Guenin, and Syvret are out on the PK for the final minute of the period.
At the end of the period, the teams are back at even strength, the Phantoms lead 3-0, and the SOG are Phantoms 12, Admirals 10.
WTH? A center-ice scrum that eventually separated into just Gratton and Henley looked fightish, till Henley.... turned and skated away mid-fight. If he was trying to make Gratton get the Betteann 17 (two for instigation and a ten-minute misconduct on top of the 5 for fighting), the ploy failed. All he got was booed and the players got coincidental majors.
I'm still not sure what triggered that outburst, though, really. All I know is that both Clackson and Gratton are in the sin bin at the moment, and I'm not too happy about it. I don't want to see shenanigans going on out there with our two best fighters in the box. Fortunately, though, Clacker should be done with his two-minute extra penalty soon. His waltz partner is already finished with his fie minutes and came out at the last stoppage in play.
Szwez is on the ice with Kalinski and JVR. Which tells me, among other things, that we are letting our other most physical guy be out there while we await Clackson's return.
Maroon was denied on a POINT BLANK shot by a superb save. No matter what the demeanor of his teammates, their netminder Kowalski most definitely came to play.
Ross made a slick play, looking like he was about to crash the net with the puck, only to jam on the brakes and let the defender go past him. He got a clear shot on goal off, but unfortunately an Admiral was in better position to get to the resulting rebound before Sirianni could fire it home. Nice move, though. :)
Here we go on a PK, as Szwez gets called for hooking. Ross and Kane proceed to break out in a 2 on 1. We don't get a shot but we come darn close and we kill some time off the clock into the bargain.
Back at our end, Guenin blocks a shot.
Next up: Matsumoto/Laliberte with Bartulis and Kukkonen.
The Admirals appear to have tried to turn it on during this period, as they went from being outshot to outshooting us. As the period ends Kane shoots on a 2-on-0 and Kowalski makes the save. The score remains 3-0 Phantoms. SOG are Phantoms 17, Admirals 24.
Yikes, Laliberte and an Admiral I can't identify crashed into one another and the boards at the blue line and both went down stunned. Laliberte got up slowly, but the Admiral got some assistance from the trainer before getting up. What do you know, it's #15, Brookbank, who also got called for roughing. However, someone else is serving his penalty (Buck), so we will have to see if Brookbank returns to the game.
POSTAGE, dang it. We had a few chances so far during this PP, but the most recent one found iron. Then Norfolk made a shorthanded rush, at which point Guenin blocked a shot.
Surprise, we get another PP moments after the previous one ends. Let's try this again, shall we? We got some more opportunities in this man advantage, but all we did was close the gap on the shot clock a bit more. With 10:4 remaining in the period, the SOG are now Phantoms 25, Admirals 28.
BOY did Guenin ever block a shot. That's at least the third time he has laid out flat on the ice to cut off a shooting lane. This time, he swept his stick and cleared the oncoming puck out of harm's way.
On Norfolk's next attempt, our defender took the body and the puck slid gently in toward Munroe all by itself. He easily sticked it aside.
Our rush with 8:01 remaining in the period resulted in yet another penalty against Norfolk, so let's see about cashing in this latest PECOOOOO POWER PLAY. We start with th Matsumoto line, Curry, and Ratchuk. Yiii... on our next shift, Kukkonen's shot from the top of the slot nearly nailed Kane at the crease's edge. Fortunately, everyone was in one intact piece by the end of that sequence. Ross's line is out with Syvret and Kukkonen... as the PP expires, Kalinski, Szwez, and JVR are out with Curry and Ratchuk. With 5:34 remaining, SOG are even at 28-28.
Just as we reach the final minute of the period, Guenin gets called for slashing. So we get to wrap up this game on the PK. At least we can ice the puck at will. Matsumoto, Laliberte, Kukkonen, and Bartulis are out.
Or we could go to 4 on 4 instead, with 36.2 remaining. Ross and JVR are out with Ratchuk and Curry.
And there we go – the game is over, we've won our remaining game in hand, and now it's the Phantoms who are in 4th place by one point. We have a game in Albany on Wednesday, one at home on Friday vs. Hershey on Friday, and a game in Hershey on Saturday. Count them all as must-wins for us to control -our own destiny and secure that final playoff berth.
GO PHANTOMS!
Today's game blog will be sent postgame
My goal is to attend the auction postgame, so I will be sending the blog post after that.
The fans booed the "One Game Left" announcement when the banners were updated.
It's currently the first intermission and we lead 3-0 in a feisty game. GO PHANTOMS!!!
The fans booed the "One Game Left" announcement when the banners were updated.
It's currently the first intermission and we lead 3-0 in a feisty game. GO PHANTOMS!!!
Phantoms and Phantoms Phan Club at Norfolk Admirals 4-4-09
Hooray! When we stopped at the rest area on the way home, I figured out why my freaking wireless internet was acting up.
So here, without further ado, is the blog file from Saturday night's game.
----
Here we are at Scope Arena, Section 213. It's in the penalty-box-side corner which, IIRC, we defend twice. That's fine by me... I've always preferred spending time in the general vicinity of my team's netminder, ever since the days when I had an immense case of hero-worship for Bernie Parent. :)
Here come the Admirals, and wouldn't you know it? They're warming up on our end of the ice. Shoot. Oddly enough, they entered the ice from a door at the other end of the arena, near the Zamboni tunnel, and skated all the way to this end to warm up. Meanwhile, the Phantoms entered the ice from a door that's pretty much directly in front of our section, and skated down to the opposite side of the ice to warm up. Bizarre,
I hadn't realized, until Mark read through the Admirals' game program, that this is Norfolk's final home game of the season. Their remaining games, including the one in Philly tomorrow night, are all on the road.
I brought only the smaller of my two SLR lenses with me. Some arenas are fussy about people carrying cameras with detachable lenses, and I figured that I would rather reduce the odds of getting into a debate with guards at the door. As it turned out, it was a non-issue anyway as the guard did not go through the bag with a fine-tooth comb.
'
I see Jeff Szwez warming up with the team. Last night, he was absent from the lineup. Also on the ice for pregame -warmups are Josh Gratton and Josh Beaulieu. I know that we are allowed to warm up with one or two more players than we actually dress, so I will hold off on predicting who's in tonight's game until the scratches are announced.
Scratched: 2 6 8 12 23 24 36 37 Liquorice, Sloane, DeSantis, Klotz, Kempe, Bellamy, Hersley, Kalinski – that was unexpected, to put it mildly.)
Starting lineup: Aubin, Guenin, Syvret, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
Yep, this is definitely the end where we SHOOT twice. Why the teams' benches are on the opposite end of the rink from the entrances they use is utterly beyond me.
]Syvret and Kane come in on a 2 on 1, and YEAAAH we score on the very first shot of the game! Kane from Syvret and Ross. Fantastic! Norfolk proceeds to buzz around our net in an attempt to equalize the score. But Aubin is up to the challenge.
Eeee, we just executed a pas in front of our own net that must have made Fred Shero turn over in his grave. One of his maxims was to never have a cross-ice pass in front of your own net. First of all, one of our guys had to et creative to keep an Admiral from picking off the puck in the slot, and second, Aubin was wandering off to one side so the net was wide open.; Gaaah. My blood pressure. Fortunately, nothing bad came of it.
Nor did any mishaps occur courtesy of the Admiral who took the puck in his own neutral zone and started hustling up the middle. Syvret and I think Ratchuk combined to chase him down and bat the puck off his stick from behind. Nice D by our boys, and as an added benefit, no penalty-worthy maneuvers were committed.
Oh, Clackson came a hair's breadth from scoring from the very top of the crease. Only the quick thinking of an Admiral defender, who blocked the shot attempt with a strategically-placed stick, kept he puck from going on net at ooint-blank range.
OK, go figure... Kalinski was announced as a scratch, yet there he is on the ice with Szwez and JVR. Someone goofed up the list of scratches. I suspect it was Beaulieu's name, and not Kalinski's, that should have been announced.
OH OH OH how did we not score into the wide freaking open goal? Helenius was behind the net, only to have the puck decide to be uncooperative and go to a Phantom out in front. A Norfolk defender made what we all know was a save, though it will go on record as a blocked shot. However, we get the puck back and SCOOOOORE the next time around! Curry from Clackson and Ross! 2-0 Phantoms!'
'
SOG with 6:57 remaining in the period are even at 6-6.
With just under a minute left in the frame, Brookbank goes for interference and we get the first PP of the game. We have had only one SOG since we scored the second goal, while Norfolk has had 9.
We actually spent most of that final 55.5 seconds in our own end, but eventually the period ended with the Phantoms leading 2-0. We will have about 1:05 of powerplay time remaining at the start of the second period. SOG: Phantoms 7, Admirals 15.
We are on a delayed penalty right now and it is taking forever for a Phantom to get control and stop play. And BLOODY HADES, don't you know that the Ads get repeated scoring chances until one goes in? Aubin was down and someone was able to flip the puck over his outstretched glove. Aw, it was our old pal Zingoni. Gee, amigo, spare a thought for your former team, would ya? ;)
Well, at least we don't have to kill a penalty, Though e had a hair-raising moment soon after getting scored on whee t looked like Aubin's angle was off and something might sneak n at the post. Fortunately, that one stayed out.
Sirianni clangs one loudly off the post while trying to break in 2 on 2 with Ross. Drat. But at least it got us into the Norfolk end for a while. That goal against was the result of spending way too much time on D and not enough time on the attack.
SOG with 13:09 left in the period: Admirals 17, Phantoms 10.
Argh. Not only are we going on a PK, but it appears that we are going on a two-man disadvantage. What the flying leap is going on here? Kalinski goes for unsportsmanlike conduct and Curry goes for interference.
Blast. There goes the tying goal. 2-2. IMO, it's BOGUS to call unsportsmanlike conduct call at a time like that, IMO, but what can you do? We still are at a 5-on-4 PK.
OK, we did kill the rest of that penalty, but the score remains 2-2. SOG are Admirals 23, Phantoms 11.
Whoa, Clackson nearly gave us the lead again with another shot attempt from just outside the crease, No dice... THIS time. If he keeps crashing the net like that, those pucks re going to tart going in for him.
Eeeeee yi yi yi, did we dodge a bullet when a Norfolk bomb of a shot hit the post with about 3 and a half minutes left in the frame! Hey, if we can get b ounces like that around our own net, it's time to test the bounces that we get in front of Norfolk's net. We have spent too much darn time at this end in this period.
Surprise, we have a PP . We were nearly 30 seconds into the man advantage before the announcement was made. OK, now it's REALLY time to test the bounces in front of the Ads' net! GO PHANTOMS!
GRRR we had a mad scramble in front of Helenius but it came to naught.
Blah, another PK on the way with 37 seconds left in the period. Maroon goes for tripping.
At the end of the second period, the score is 2-2, the SOG are Admirals 26, Phantoms 21, and the Phantoms have 1:23 of PK time remaining when the third period begins.
We killed the infraction, and a few minutes later Sirianni's shot found iron. Gack. Still 2-2.
What in the blue blazes is going on? The ref's arm was up, but nobody has ny idea who the infraction was against. BOTH goalies attempted to head to the bench for an extra attacker. Finally we find out that the Admirals are the team going shorthanded, We need to hit the NET with these attempts. AAH, like THAT! SCOOORE on the PP abnd the Phantoms take the lead back! :) Boyd KANE from Syvret and Ross (who has three assists tonight).
Ohhhh, SO CLOSE to doubling the lead, but the dratted puck wouldn't cooperate during a huge goalmouth scramble in front of Helenius. Eeee. Still 3-2 Phantoms.
We have a little tweaking going on... Raduns is out with Szwez and Kalinski.
A nice stop by Helenius keeps the Ads within a goal.
JVR is out with Matsumoto and Laliberte; that's DEFINITELY a line tweak, and a significant one. What
s up with Maroon?
The Ross line is its normal grouping.
I think I see Maroon on the end of our bench, but that doesn't bguarantee that he'sb well enough to play. Or maybe coach just wants to see what JVR is made of. We hae 5:27 left in the period and SOG are Ads 33, Phantoms 28.
We are seeing a WHOLE LOT of the Ross and Matsumoto lines (the latter with JVR in place of Maroon). Coach definitely wants his top forwards out at crunch time. Syvret and Guenin, and Kukkonen/Bartulis, are in heavy rotation as well. Hee, so of course now he makes a fibber out of me and sends out the Kalinski/Szwez/Raduns. ;) That's OK.
There goes Helenius with a minute and a half left. The Phantoms call timeout with 29.1 seconds left in the period.
Laliberte puts the game on ice with an ENG with 0.4 seconds left! Phantoms win 4-2!
Binghamton also won, so we are still one point behind them. However, we have our game-in-hand on Sunday, in our third contest in three days against Norfolk. So here's to seeing us take that contest and pull ahead of the Senators!
Go Phantoms!
So here, without further ado, is the blog file from Saturday night's game.
----
Here we are at Scope Arena, Section 213. It's in the penalty-box-side corner which, IIRC, we defend twice. That's fine by me... I've always preferred spending time in the general vicinity of my team's netminder, ever since the days when I had an immense case of hero-worship for Bernie Parent. :)
Here come the Admirals, and wouldn't you know it? They're warming up on our end of the ice. Shoot. Oddly enough, they entered the ice from a door at the other end of the arena, near the Zamboni tunnel, and skated all the way to this end to warm up. Meanwhile, the Phantoms entered the ice from a door that's pretty much directly in front of our section, and skated down to the opposite side of the ice to warm up. Bizarre,
I hadn't realized, until Mark read through the Admirals' game program, that this is Norfolk's final home game of the season. Their remaining games, including the one in Philly tomorrow night, are all on the road.
I brought only the smaller of my two SLR lenses with me. Some arenas are fussy about people carrying cameras with detachable lenses, and I figured that I would rather reduce the odds of getting into a debate with guards at the door. As it turned out, it was a non-issue anyway as the guard did not go through the bag with a fine-tooth comb.
'
I see Jeff Szwez warming up with the team. Last night, he was absent from the lineup. Also on the ice for pregame -warmups are Josh Gratton and Josh Beaulieu. I know that we are allowed to warm up with one or two more players than we actually dress, so I will hold off on predicting who's in tonight's game until the scratches are announced.
Scratched: 2 6 8 12 23 24 36 37 Liquorice, Sloane, DeSantis, Klotz, Kempe, Bellamy, Hersley, Kalinski – that was unexpected, to put it mildly.)
Starting lineup: Aubin, Guenin, Syvret, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
Yep, this is definitely the end where we SHOOT twice. Why the teams' benches are on the opposite end of the rink from the entrances they use is utterly beyond me.
]Syvret and Kane come in on a 2 on 1, and YEAAAH we score on the very first shot of the game! Kane from Syvret and Ross. Fantastic! Norfolk proceeds to buzz around our net in an attempt to equalize the score. But Aubin is up to the challenge.
Eeee, we just executed a pas in front of our own net that must have made Fred Shero turn over in his grave. One of his maxims was to never have a cross-ice pass in front of your own net. First of all, one of our guys had to et creative to keep an Admiral from picking off the puck in the slot, and second, Aubin was wandering off to one side so the net was wide open.; Gaaah. My blood pressure. Fortunately, nothing bad came of it.
Nor did any mishaps occur courtesy of the Admiral who took the puck in his own neutral zone and started hustling up the middle. Syvret and I think Ratchuk combined to chase him down and bat the puck off his stick from behind. Nice D by our boys, and as an added benefit, no penalty-worthy maneuvers were committed.
Oh, Clackson came a hair's breadth from scoring from the very top of the crease. Only the quick thinking of an Admiral defender, who blocked the shot attempt with a strategically-placed stick, kept he puck from going on net at ooint-blank range.
OK, go figure... Kalinski was announced as a scratch, yet there he is on the ice with Szwez and JVR. Someone goofed up the list of scratches. I suspect it was Beaulieu's name, and not Kalinski's, that should have been announced.
OH OH OH how did we not score into the wide freaking open goal? Helenius was behind the net, only to have the puck decide to be uncooperative and go to a Phantom out in front. A Norfolk defender made what we all know was a save, though it will go on record as a blocked shot. However, we get the puck back and SCOOOOORE the next time around! Curry from Clackson and Ross! 2-0 Phantoms!'
'
SOG with 6:57 remaining in the period are even at 6-6.
With just under a minute left in the frame, Brookbank goes for interference and we get the first PP of the game. We have had only one SOG since we scored the second goal, while Norfolk has had 9.
We actually spent most of that final 55.5 seconds in our own end, but eventually the period ended with the Phantoms leading 2-0. We will have about 1:05 of powerplay time remaining at the start of the second period. SOG: Phantoms 7, Admirals 15.
We are on a delayed penalty right now and it is taking forever for a Phantom to get control and stop play. And BLOODY HADES, don't you know that the Ads get repeated scoring chances until one goes in? Aubin was down and someone was able to flip the puck over his outstretched glove. Aw, it was our old pal Zingoni. Gee, amigo, spare a thought for your former team, would ya? ;)
Well, at least we don't have to kill a penalty, Though e had a hair-raising moment soon after getting scored on whee t looked like Aubin's angle was off and something might sneak n at the post. Fortunately, that one stayed out.
Sirianni clangs one loudly off the post while trying to break in 2 on 2 with Ross. Drat. But at least it got us into the Norfolk end for a while. That goal against was the result of spending way too much time on D and not enough time on the attack.
SOG with 13:09 left in the period: Admirals 17, Phantoms 10.
Argh. Not only are we going on a PK, but it appears that we are going on a two-man disadvantage. What the flying leap is going on here? Kalinski goes for unsportsmanlike conduct and Curry goes for interference.
Blast. There goes the tying goal. 2-2. IMO, it's BOGUS to call unsportsmanlike conduct call at a time like that, IMO, but what can you do? We still are at a 5-on-4 PK.
OK, we did kill the rest of that penalty, but the score remains 2-2. SOG are Admirals 23, Phantoms 11.
Whoa, Clackson nearly gave us the lead again with another shot attempt from just outside the crease, No dice... THIS time. If he keeps crashing the net like that, those pucks re going to tart going in for him.
Eeeeee yi yi yi, did we dodge a bullet when a Norfolk bomb of a shot hit the post with about 3 and a half minutes left in the frame! Hey, if we can get b ounces like that around our own net, it's time to test the bounces that we get in front of Norfolk's net. We have spent too much darn time at this end in this period.
Surprise, we have a PP . We were nearly 30 seconds into the man advantage before the announcement was made. OK, now it's REALLY time to test the bounces in front of the Ads' net! GO PHANTOMS!
GRRR we had a mad scramble in front of Helenius but it came to naught.
Blah, another PK on the way with 37 seconds left in the period. Maroon goes for tripping.
At the end of the second period, the score is 2-2, the SOG are Admirals 26, Phantoms 21, and the Phantoms have 1:23 of PK time remaining when the third period begins.
We killed the infraction, and a few minutes later Sirianni's shot found iron. Gack. Still 2-2.
What in the blue blazes is going on? The ref's arm was up, but nobody has ny idea who the infraction was against. BOTH goalies attempted to head to the bench for an extra attacker. Finally we find out that the Admirals are the team going shorthanded, We need to hit the NET with these attempts. AAH, like THAT! SCOOORE on the PP abnd the Phantoms take the lead back! :) Boyd KANE from Syvret and Ross (who has three assists tonight).
Ohhhh, SO CLOSE to doubling the lead, but the dratted puck wouldn't cooperate during a huge goalmouth scramble in front of Helenius. Eeee. Still 3-2 Phantoms.
We have a little tweaking going on... Raduns is out with Szwez and Kalinski.
A nice stop by Helenius keeps the Ads within a goal.
JVR is out with Matsumoto and Laliberte; that's DEFINITELY a line tweak, and a significant one. What
s up with Maroon?
The Ross line is its normal grouping.
I think I see Maroon on the end of our bench, but that doesn't bguarantee that he'sb well enough to play. Or maybe coach just wants to see what JVR is made of. We hae 5:27 left in the period and SOG are Ads 33, Phantoms 28.
We are seeing a WHOLE LOT of the Ross and Matsumoto lines (the latter with JVR in place of Maroon). Coach definitely wants his top forwards out at crunch time. Syvret and Guenin, and Kukkonen/Bartulis, are in heavy rotation as well. Hee, so of course now he makes a fibber out of me and sends out the Kalinski/Szwez/Raduns. ;) That's OK.
There goes Helenius with a minute and a half left. The Phantoms call timeout with 29.1 seconds left in the period.
Laliberte puts the game on ice with an ENG with 0.4 seconds left! Phantoms win 4-2!
Binghamton also won, so we are still one point behind them. However, we have our game-in-hand on Sunday, in our third contest in three days against Norfolk. So here's to seeing us take that contest and pull ahead of the Senators!
Go Phantoms!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Heading Home :)
The Phantoms won a heck of a game in Norfolk, but I'm having issues trying to post the game writeup. I'll post it when I get home, either in a few hours or tomorrow.
Go Phantoms! :)
Go Phantoms! :)
A little self-promotion
This message was sent using the Picture and Video Messaging service from Verizon Wireless!
To learn how you can snap pictures and capture videos with your wireless phone visit www.verizonwireless.com/picture.
Note: To play video messages sent to email, QuickTime� 6.5 or higher is required.
Getting close!
We just passed a sign that read "Norfolk 70 miles". It's not quite 4 hours since we left (at 8:30 AM).
It's a beautiful day, but windy as all heck. Philly was windy, MD was windy, and I won't be surprised if Norfolk has high winds as well.
It's a beautiful day, but windy as all heck. Philly was windy, MD was windy, and I won't be surprised if Norfolk has high winds as well.
Friday, April 3, 2009
Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals, 4-3-09: Third Period and OT
Nuts. Looks like the original file I was creating for the third period got lost. We have about eight minutes remaining in the frame, and the score is now tied 2-2. A loose puck near our net got cashed in by Norfolk, followed not long afterward by a lovely goal by Sirianni.
I like some of the things we are doing in this second half of the third period. Rochester is currently beating Bingo 3-0, so we have got to come out with determination and pick up two points tonight. GOT to. No alternatives.
Sirianni and Kane create all kinds of havoc in front of the Norfolk net. Eventually someone sent the puck into the corner, where Sirianni retrieved it for Ross at the half-boards. No dice on that shift. The Matsumoto line comes out and makes a bit more noise for the Phantoms. But Norfolk starts heading up ice with the puck, just in time to earn themselves a bench minor for having too many men on the ice. So the Phantoms are getting a very timely PP with 3:26 remaining in the period. Ross's line is out with Syvret and Kukkonen. Freaking Norfolk keeps clearing the puck; we change shifts and the Matsumoto line comes out. TRIPPING on Norfolk and here we go with a 5-on-3 advantage. Ross's line is out. Norfolk's first clearing attempt hit the official and stayed in. The 5 on 3 expires but the Phantoms have gvot a PP for the better part of the rest of regulation time. Offside. :headdesk:
One minute left in the period, and we are having issues getting into the Ads' end. Matsumoto's line is out with Syvret and Ratcbhuk. Just as time expires, Helenius freezes the puck. We are headed to OT. We definitely have gotten at least one point from this contest.
Oh, wait, they add 1.5 seconds to the clock to compensate for the amount of time before the buzzer that Helenius held the puck. AAAH and we shoot just wide off the faceoff. Oh, my gosh, we came that close to winning in regulation. But now we really ARE going into OT. No kidding. I mean it this time.
Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Syvret and Guenin. Now Ross and Sirianni with Bartulis and Kukkonen. And now it's Norfolk's turn to go offside.
ROSS SCORES!!! We win in OT and what a freaking beauty of a goal it was! He got himself in on a breakaway and roofed the puck. Wow... so if Rochester cooperates and wins this game in regulation, and they are ahead 4-0 over Bingo with 13 minutes left in their third period, we could very well be only one point behind Binghamton by the time this night is over. GO AMERKS! Beat the Sens!
Stars: #3 Sirianni; #2: Quick (Admirals) and #1:Ross
I like some of the things we are doing in this second half of the third period. Rochester is currently beating Bingo 3-0, so we have got to come out with determination and pick up two points tonight. GOT to. No alternatives.
Sirianni and Kane create all kinds of havoc in front of the Norfolk net. Eventually someone sent the puck into the corner, where Sirianni retrieved it for Ross at the half-boards. No dice on that shift. The Matsumoto line comes out and makes a bit more noise for the Phantoms. But Norfolk starts heading up ice with the puck, just in time to earn themselves a bench minor for having too many men on the ice. So the Phantoms are getting a very timely PP with 3:26 remaining in the period. Ross's line is out with Syvret and Kukkonen. Freaking Norfolk keeps clearing the puck; we change shifts and the Matsumoto line comes out. TRIPPING on Norfolk and here we go with a 5-on-3 advantage. Ross's line is out. Norfolk's first clearing attempt hit the official and stayed in. The 5 on 3 expires but the Phantoms have gvot a PP for the better part of the rest of regulation time. Offside. :headdesk:
One minute left in the period, and we are having issues getting into the Ads' end. Matsumoto's line is out with Syvret and Ratcbhuk. Just as time expires, Helenius freezes the puck. We are headed to OT. We definitely have gotten at least one point from this contest.
Oh, wait, they add 1.5 seconds to the clock to compensate for the amount of time before the buzzer that Helenius held the puck. AAAH and we shoot just wide off the faceoff. Oh, my gosh, we came that close to winning in regulation. But now we really ARE going into OT. No kidding. I mean it this time.
Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Syvret and Guenin. Now Ross and Sirianni with Bartulis and Kukkonen. And now it's Norfolk's turn to go offside.
ROSS SCORES!!! We win in OT and what a freaking beauty of a goal it was! He got himself in on a breakaway and roofed the puck. Wow... so if Rochester cooperates and wins this game in regulation, and they are ahead 4-0 over Bingo with 13 minutes left in their third period, we could very well be only one point behind Binghamton by the time this night is over. GO AMERKS! Beat the Sens!
Stars: #3 Sirianni; #2: Quick (Admirals) and #1:Ross
Phantoms at Norfolk Admirals, 4-3-09; Second Period
Nuts. About a minute into the second period, we have a scramble at the Phantoms' net that appears to have put the puck into our net when one of our players slid into the net and the puck was under *him*.The end result is that the score is tied at 1 goal apiece.
We came close to regaining the lead on the following shift, with a feisty sequence in front of Norfolk's net, but this time the puck stayed out. It's still 1-1.
I am not liking the number of chances Norfolk has been getting in the past few minutes. We withstood an early onslaught in the first, and I would like to see us not only do so again, but start providing some onslaught material of our own.
Here comes a PECOOOO POWER PLAY for the Phantoms. I like the opportunities we are generating, but for the fact that the darn Ads' D has been on the ball with clearing rebounds before we can cash them in. I would love to see us start to go in for the kill during this man advantage.
The PP is over, but we are still cycling the puck in the Norfolk end. I am having a hard time seeing (on the computer screen) if one of our guys is missing a stick, as Norfolk finally gets hold of the puck and carries it out. The Phantoms respond with a LONG pass up to JVR -- not unlike the kind of play he was preparing himself for during Wednesday's game. The most we could make of our next opportunities on goal was an offensive-zone draw, however.
Oh here we go with the feed getting choppy. First it was both the video and audio, but then the audio returned to normal. Fortunately, within a minute, so did the video. Sort of. The video is coming and going.
We have an Admiral who appears to be down for the count in the Norfolk end. He had tripped Matsumoto, no call, shortly before, but the problem is that we couldn't see on screen what happened when the play started to head up ice toward the Phantoms side. There was no replay. Fortunately, the player, Kinrade, did eventually get helped to his feet and headed up the tunnel with the trainer in tow.
We are getting ready to go on the PK again, Josh Gratton heads off for elbowing with about three minutes remaining in the period.
Fortunately, OUR D has been religious about getting to rebounds first at OUR net. Because that's what saved our necks during this very active PK that we just had. The score remains 1-1 late in the second period. And that is how the period ends.
We came close to regaining the lead on the following shift, with a feisty sequence in front of Norfolk's net, but this time the puck stayed out. It's still 1-1.
I am not liking the number of chances Norfolk has been getting in the past few minutes. We withstood an early onslaught in the first, and I would like to see us not only do so again, but start providing some onslaught material of our own.
Here comes a PECOOOO POWER PLAY for the Phantoms. I like the opportunities we are generating, but for the fact that the darn Ads' D has been on the ball with clearing rebounds before we can cash them in. I would love to see us start to go in for the kill during this man advantage.
The PP is over, but we are still cycling the puck in the Norfolk end. I am having a hard time seeing (on the computer screen) if one of our guys is missing a stick, as Norfolk finally gets hold of the puck and carries it out. The Phantoms respond with a LONG pass up to JVR -- not unlike the kind of play he was preparing himself for during Wednesday's game. The most we could make of our next opportunities on goal was an offensive-zone draw, however.
Oh here we go with the feed getting choppy. First it was both the video and audio, but then the audio returned to normal. Fortunately, within a minute, so did the video. Sort of. The video is coming and going.
We have an Admiral who appears to be down for the count in the Norfolk end. He had tripped Matsumoto, no call, shortly before, but the problem is that we couldn't see on screen what happened when the play started to head up ice toward the Phantoms side. There was no replay. Fortunately, the player, Kinrade, did eventually get helped to his feet and headed up the tunnel with the trainer in tow.
We are getting ready to go on the PK again, Josh Gratton heads off for elbowing with about three minutes remaining in the period.
Fortunately, OUR D has been religious about getting to rebounds first at OUR net. Because that's what saved our necks during this very active PK that we just had. The score remains 1-1 late in the second period. And that is how the period ends.
Phantoms @ Norfolk Admirals, 4-3-09: First Period
Per the pregame comments, Jeff Szwez is out of the lineup tonight with a "boo-boo" (LOL!); he is replaced by Josh Gratton who is back in the lineup after abdominal issues. Kukkonen is back from "minor surgery" and will be taking the place of Jason DeSantis., who is back in Philadelphia with a leg muscle injury.
Ross/Kane/Sirianni
Matsumoto/Laliberte/Maroon
Gratton/JVR/Kalinski
Raduns/Beaulieu/Clackson
Guenin/Syvret
and presumably BaRtulis/Kukkonen and Curry/Ratchuk are the other two D pairs, though they haven't been officially read back to us.
It's nearly impossible to do a live blog right now, between having the Phantoms on the computer and the Flyers on television. But I will jot down significant details here and there... such as JVR's first professional penalty.
RATCHUK from CLACKSON! Oh, NICE! Beaulieu and a Norfolk defenseman were providing the screen, and we take a 1-0 lead just past the 15-minute mark.
However, we go on our third PK soon afterward. So we will see what comes of this. We successfully killed the previous two infractions, giving up four SOG in the process. Round 3 will now ensue.
Kalinski and Raduns get a SH opportunity, and draw a hooking infraction into the bargain. So we will be at 4 on 4 for a while, and then the Phantoms will get about a minute's worth of PP time.
OH so close to doubling our lead... some nice defense by a Norfolk player is the only reason that David Laliberte didn't roof a puck over Helenius. He had his stick placed in just the right position to keep Laliberte from getting the shot off; otherwise, he had the whole top 2/3 of the net to aim at.
Nice save by Munroe to keep it 1-0 in- the final minute of the period.
At the end of the first period, the Phantoms lead 1-0.
Ross/Kane/Sirianni
Matsumoto/Laliberte/Maroon
Gratton/JVR/Kalinski
Raduns/Beaulieu/Clackson
Guenin/Syvret
and presumably BaRtulis/Kukkonen and Curry/Ratchuk are the other two D pairs, though they haven't been officially read back to us.
It's nearly impossible to do a live blog right now, between having the Phantoms on the computer and the Flyers on television. But I will jot down significant details here and there... such as JVR's first professional penalty.
RATCHUK from CLACKSON! Oh, NICE! Beaulieu and a Norfolk defenseman were providing the screen, and we take a 1-0 lead just past the 15-minute mark.
However, we go on our third PK soon afterward. So we will see what comes of this. We successfully killed the previous two infractions, giving up four SOG in the process. Round 3 will now ensue.
Kalinski and Raduns get a SH opportunity, and draw a hooking infraction into the bargain. So we will be at 4 on 4 for a while, and then the Phantoms will get about a minute's worth of PP time.
OH so close to doubling our lead... some nice defense by a Norfolk player is the only reason that David Laliberte didn't roof a puck over Helenius. He had his stick placed in just the right position to keep Laliberte from getting the shot off; otherwise, he had the whole top 2/3 of the net to aim at.
Nice save by Munroe to keep it 1-0 in- the final minute of the period.
At the end of the first period, the Phantoms lead 1-0.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Phantoms vs. Albany River Rats, 4-1-09
Scratches: Duchesne, Lehtivuori, Kukkonen, Sloane, Klotz, Gratton, Kempe, Bellamy.
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Guenin, Syvret, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
Matsumoto, Maroon, and Laliberte are out with Bartulis and DeSantis. DeSantis made an alarming-sounding crash hitting the boards, came up lame, and got helped up the tunnel. Shoot, 87 seconds into the freaking game and we are down a guy.
Two seconds after the next faceoff, Szwez went with #3 on the River Rats, Olson, in a MARATHON fight. I can't believe how long it took the linesmen to step in. I give them a draw for both being standing by the end of that tilt. That's the longest fight I've seen in quite a while.
NUTS. With 16:55 left in the period and the shots on goal at Albany 3, Phantoms 0, the River Rats ricochet a puck into the Phantoms net for an early lead. Man, this game is not starting off as we would have wanted it to.
I can pretty much forget listing the D pairs tonight, as we are down to five blueliners for the time being. This will probably be the case for the duration of the game, as our trainer has returned to the bench but not DeSantis.
But forward lines, I can list. They include Kalnski/van Riemsdyk/Szwez and Clackson/Beaulieu/Raduns.
Phlex came out with a sign pregame, in lieu of his usual large Phantoms flag. The sign says "THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES" on both the front and the back. Sigh. For the first time tonight, when the countdown banners were updated to show 2 games remaining, the fans booed the total.
I think JVR's reflex is "get in deep and someone will pass him the puck" If I had to make a guess, I would think that's what his college team's strategy was. Given his skill level, it probably worked well for them. But it's a reflex he will have to shed here. (As guys like Jeff Carter before him had to do when they turned pro.) He wasn't far enough ahead of the play just now for me to call it "cherry picking", as he was only one zone away from the puck, but he did head over to patrol the far blue line while the puck was still on the Phantoms side of the red line.
Aaaaa, Sirianni nearly kept his goal streak going with a point-blank attempt! That puck stayed out, but the next shift had better fortunes, and CURRY buried the disk with assists from Matsumoto and Laliberte! :) 1-1 and the SOG are Phantoms 5, River Rats 6.
DANG IT. Albany puts one in less than a minute later.They got it on a wraparound with Munroe hugging the far post. Very aggravating to let the Rats back into the lead that fast.
Color me Not Pleased that we are giving up the number of shots that we have. So far with five and a half minutes left in the period, we have six SOG to Albany's 12. We are going to have to spend more time in the River Rats end if we hope to take this game. Man alive, this section and our neighboring section are puck magnets tonight.
Guenin blocked a shot. We have an interesting half a line combo out there as Kane and Sirianni are with Kalinski.
And Albany scores again as we can't seem to get the puck out of our zone.; Argh. 3-1 Bad Guys. SOG Phantoms 6, River Rats 13.
We also apparently are about to go on the first PK of the game... or ar we? I see one guy in each sin bin, so let's see what the call is. Kane is in the box for us and gets two for roughing and two for tripping, while the River Rat only gets two for roughing, so I guess it IS a PK after all. Kalinski, Ross, Syvret,and Guenin are out.
Ross made a nice clearing attempt, which was only outdone by a River Rat's extension of his stick to keep the disk in. Guenin laid out flat on the ice to close off a shooting lane. Boy, this is a long shift for all concerned. FINALLY with 24 seconds left we get a clear and change. Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Bartulis and Curry. There goes another puck into the neighboring section.
Finally, the penalty is killed. We only gave up two shots during the PK. Kane returns to the bench and Maroon comes out to replace him.
NICE save by Munroe in the final minute of the period. On the next faceoff, we have Raduns, Szwez and JVR. Raduns looks like he is getting waved out of the circle, with Szwez coming up in bhis place.
The period is over. SOG are Albany 16(!), Phantoms 6. The score is 3-1, Albany.
----
The starting line was tweaked: JVR was out in place of Kane with Sirianni and Ross. He got a nice shot off on our next rush, earning us an offensive-zone draw.
We seem to have some spring in our step to start this period. Even when Bartulis's keep-in attempt nearly went awry thanks to a Rier Rat's stick, Matsumoto was right there to get the puck before an Albany payer could clear it.; We kept the puck long enough for Laliberte to score, assisted by Maroon and Matsumoto, on our next shot on goal! 3-2 River Rats.
JVR is out again with Kalinski/Szwez. But the next time Ross/Sirianni came out, their usual linemate Kane was with them.
NUTS Kane came this-close to a goal but the flipping puck went just wide when the River Rats netminder managed to get between the puck and the net. The goalie was flat on the ice at the time. A little while later, Guenin fooled fans on the far side into thinking he had scored, but unfortunately the puck was on the outside of the twine. This time. The Matsumoto line is out now, and they are buzzing around the net With Intent.
Next shift, JVR/Kalinski/Szwez were out. JVR pulled a bit ahead of the pack again, but he followed the Fred Shero maxim of not being more than one zone away from the puck.
Next up, a PK as Ross goes. Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Guenin (who blocked a shot) and Bartulis. Nice glove save by Munroe. Raduns heads up on a SH 1-on-2, and shaves a few extra seconds off the clock.
Upon exiting the sin bin, Ross and Matsumoto create some havoc in the Albany end for a bit. We are at even strength again.
With 4:57 left in the period, the SOG are Phantoms 14, River Rats 28. AAAAAA and our 15th shot was GOLDEN -- it went a-bouncing along like the dot on a karaoke display, and hopped right past Manzato into the net to tie the game! Laliberte from Guenin and Maroon, and we have a whole new game at 3-3. We also get a PP moments later for our first PECOOOO POWER PLAY of the night.
JVR is out with Sirianni Ross Kane and Syvret (four forwards). We never really got set up. Next faceoff, Syvret stayed out and was joined by Curfry and Matsumoto's line. Laliberte and Masumoto are attacking the net like they want to Terminate it with Extreme Prejudice. Back to even strength, and it's the turn of Clackson/Szwez/Kalinski to make some noise around the River Rats net.
ROSSCO Is in the HOUSE!!! And the PUCK is in the NET!!! Oh, I saw that one coming from the second he got the puck. He moved across the goalmouth until the goalie committed, then fired it home. Assists from Kane and Sirianni.
WHEW, what a period! At the second intermission, the Phantoms lead 4-3, and the SOG are Phantoms 20, River Rats 30.
----
We've certainly come out fiesty to start the period. Clackson got into a face-washing contest with a River Rat right in front of the Phantoms bench. No penalties were called, but we did end up with one helmet-free River Rat when all was said and done.
Munroe just stopped a BOMB of a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle. NICE reflexes, Scott!
Oh, here we go with another PECOOOO POWER PLAY. Ratchuk and Syvret are out with the Matsumoto line. The end result, two minutes later, was not a lot happened at either end of the ice during that PP, but we did manage to chew two more minutes of the clock. Personally, I would rather see us playing for blood right about now, but if we keep the Albany opportunities to a bare minimum, we are doing our job.
Or even better, we could GET A HAT TRICK!!!! Here comes the rain of headgear even as I type! Laliberte scores his 25th from Matsumoto and Syvret! 5-3 Phantoms! SWEET goal!
One more thing that JVR will be developing is his strength. Some of that will be due to continuing to mature physically, and some will be because he'll be working with Jim McCrossin. He just was contending physically with a River Rat and eventually lost the battle for the puck. When he has a bit more experience and off-ice training under his belt, he will be winning that kind of battle.
OMG great save Munroe! with about five minutes remaining.
Matsumoto's line is buzzing around the Albany net again, drawing OOOHs from the crowd. But the puck stayed out.
OMG MATSUMOTO! What a freaking highlight-reel goal! He stole the puck at the top of the slot, deked the goalie out of his skates, and padded our lead to three goals! Assist to Jeff Szwez. Beautiful!
With 62 seconds left, Beaulieu and a Rat I couldn't see got into a bout. (Turns out it was Olson again.) From-the boards near the Albany bench, all of a sudden we saw gloves sailing all the way to the center ice faceoff circle. Beau's jersey looked like it detached in the back, but we will see what's up with the penalties. Ah, OK, both guys get just the 5 for fighting, so no problem, and no extra penalty for Beaulieu due to the detached jersey.
And the game is over! The three stars are all linemates, not surprisingly, given their performance in this game. #3: Maroon; #2: Matsumoto, #1: Laliberte.
Next up: Two games in Norfolk on Friday and Saturday, followed by a home game vs. Norfolk on Sunday. GO PHANTOMS!
Starting Lineup: Munroe, Guenin, Syvret, Kane, Sirianni, Ross
Matsumoto, Maroon, and Laliberte are out with Bartulis and DeSantis. DeSantis made an alarming-sounding crash hitting the boards, came up lame, and got helped up the tunnel. Shoot, 87 seconds into the freaking game and we are down a guy.
Two seconds after the next faceoff, Szwez went with #3 on the River Rats, Olson, in a MARATHON fight. I can't believe how long it took the linesmen to step in. I give them a draw for both being standing by the end of that tilt. That's the longest fight I've seen in quite a while.
NUTS. With 16:55 left in the period and the shots on goal at Albany 3, Phantoms 0, the River Rats ricochet a puck into the Phantoms net for an early lead. Man, this game is not starting off as we would have wanted it to.
I can pretty much forget listing the D pairs tonight, as we are down to five blueliners for the time being. This will probably be the case for the duration of the game, as our trainer has returned to the bench but not DeSantis.
But forward lines, I can list. They include Kalnski/van Riemsdyk/Szwez and Clackson/Beaulieu/Raduns.
Phlex came out with a sign pregame, in lieu of his usual large Phantoms flag. The sign says "THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES" on both the front and the back. Sigh. For the first time tonight, when the countdown banners were updated to show 2 games remaining, the fans booed the total.
I think JVR's reflex is "get in deep and someone will pass him the puck" If I had to make a guess, I would think that's what his college team's strategy was. Given his skill level, it probably worked well for them. But it's a reflex he will have to shed here. (As guys like Jeff Carter before him had to do when they turned pro.) He wasn't far enough ahead of the play just now for me to call it "cherry picking", as he was only one zone away from the puck, but he did head over to patrol the far blue line while the puck was still on the Phantoms side of the red line.
Aaaaa, Sirianni nearly kept his goal streak going with a point-blank attempt! That puck stayed out, but the next shift had better fortunes, and CURRY buried the disk with assists from Matsumoto and Laliberte! :) 1-1 and the SOG are Phantoms 5, River Rats 6.
DANG IT. Albany puts one in less than a minute later.They got it on a wraparound with Munroe hugging the far post. Very aggravating to let the Rats back into the lead that fast.
Color me Not Pleased that we are giving up the number of shots that we have. So far with five and a half minutes left in the period, we have six SOG to Albany's 12. We are going to have to spend more time in the River Rats end if we hope to take this game. Man alive, this section and our neighboring section are puck magnets tonight.
Guenin blocked a shot. We have an interesting half a line combo out there as Kane and Sirianni are with Kalinski.
And Albany scores again as we can't seem to get the puck out of our zone.; Argh. 3-1 Bad Guys. SOG Phantoms 6, River Rats 13.
We also apparently are about to go on the first PK of the game... or ar we? I see one guy in each sin bin, so let's see what the call is. Kane is in the box for us and gets two for roughing and two for tripping, while the River Rat only gets two for roughing, so I guess it IS a PK after all. Kalinski, Ross, Syvret,and Guenin are out.
Ross made a nice clearing attempt, which was only outdone by a River Rat's extension of his stick to keep the disk in. Guenin laid out flat on the ice to close off a shooting lane. Boy, this is a long shift for all concerned. FINALLY with 24 seconds left we get a clear and change. Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Bartulis and Curry. There goes another puck into the neighboring section.
Finally, the penalty is killed. We only gave up two shots during the PK. Kane returns to the bench and Maroon comes out to replace him.
NICE save by Munroe in the final minute of the period. On the next faceoff, we have Raduns, Szwez and JVR. Raduns looks like he is getting waved out of the circle, with Szwez coming up in bhis place.
The period is over. SOG are Albany 16(!), Phantoms 6. The score is 3-1, Albany.
----
The starting line was tweaked: JVR was out in place of Kane with Sirianni and Ross. He got a nice shot off on our next rush, earning us an offensive-zone draw.
We seem to have some spring in our step to start this period. Even when Bartulis's keep-in attempt nearly went awry thanks to a Rier Rat's stick, Matsumoto was right there to get the puck before an Albany payer could clear it.; We kept the puck long enough for Laliberte to score, assisted by Maroon and Matsumoto, on our next shot on goal! 3-2 River Rats.
JVR is out again with Kalinski/Szwez. But the next time Ross/Sirianni came out, their usual linemate Kane was with them.
NUTS Kane came this-close to a goal but the flipping puck went just wide when the River Rats netminder managed to get between the puck and the net. The goalie was flat on the ice at the time. A little while later, Guenin fooled fans on the far side into thinking he had scored, but unfortunately the puck was on the outside of the twine. This time. The Matsumoto line is out now, and they are buzzing around the net With Intent.
Next shift, JVR/Kalinski/Szwez were out. JVR pulled a bit ahead of the pack again, but he followed the Fred Shero maxim of not being more than one zone away from the puck.
Next up, a PK as Ross goes. Matsumoto and Laliberte are out with Guenin (who blocked a shot) and Bartulis. Nice glove save by Munroe. Raduns heads up on a SH 1-on-2, and shaves a few extra seconds off the clock.
Upon exiting the sin bin, Ross and Matsumoto create some havoc in the Albany end for a bit. We are at even strength again.
With 4:57 left in the period, the SOG are Phantoms 14, River Rats 28. AAAAAA and our 15th shot was GOLDEN -- it went a-bouncing along like the dot on a karaoke display, and hopped right past Manzato into the net to tie the game! Laliberte from Guenin and Maroon, and we have a whole new game at 3-3. We also get a PP moments later for our first PECOOOO POWER PLAY of the night.
JVR is out with Sirianni Ross Kane and Syvret (four forwards). We never really got set up. Next faceoff, Syvret stayed out and was joined by Curfry and Matsumoto's line. Laliberte and Masumoto are attacking the net like they want to Terminate it with Extreme Prejudice. Back to even strength, and it's the turn of Clackson/Szwez/Kalinski to make some noise around the River Rats net.
ROSSCO Is in the HOUSE!!! And the PUCK is in the NET!!! Oh, I saw that one coming from the second he got the puck. He moved across the goalmouth until the goalie committed, then fired it home. Assists from Kane and Sirianni.
WHEW, what a period! At the second intermission, the Phantoms lead 4-3, and the SOG are Phantoms 20, River Rats 30.
----
We've certainly come out fiesty to start the period. Clackson got into a face-washing contest with a River Rat right in front of the Phantoms bench. No penalties were called, but we did end up with one helmet-free River Rat when all was said and done.
Munroe just stopped a BOMB of a shot from the bottom of the faceoff circle. NICE reflexes, Scott!
Oh, here we go with another PECOOOO POWER PLAY. Ratchuk and Syvret are out with the Matsumoto line. The end result, two minutes later, was not a lot happened at either end of the ice during that PP, but we did manage to chew two more minutes of the clock. Personally, I would rather see us playing for blood right about now, but if we keep the Albany opportunities to a bare minimum, we are doing our job.
Or even better, we could GET A HAT TRICK!!!! Here comes the rain of headgear even as I type! Laliberte scores his 25th from Matsumoto and Syvret! 5-3 Phantoms! SWEET goal!
One more thing that JVR will be developing is his strength. Some of that will be due to continuing to mature physically, and some will be because he'll be working with Jim McCrossin. He just was contending physically with a River Rat and eventually lost the battle for the puck. When he has a bit more experience and off-ice training under his belt, he will be winning that kind of battle.
OMG great save Munroe! with about five minutes remaining.
Matsumoto's line is buzzing around the Albany net again, drawing OOOHs from the crowd. But the puck stayed out.
OMG MATSUMOTO! What a freaking highlight-reel goal! He stole the puck at the top of the slot, deked the goalie out of his skates, and padded our lead to three goals! Assist to Jeff Szwez. Beautiful!
With 62 seconds left, Beaulieu and a Rat I couldn't see got into a bout. (Turns out it was Olson again.) From-the boards near the Albany bench, all of a sudden we saw gloves sailing all the way to the center ice faceoff circle. Beau's jersey looked like it detached in the back, but we will see what's up with the penalties. Ah, OK, both guys get just the 5 for fighting, so no problem, and no extra penalty for Beaulieu due to the detached jersey.
And the game is over! The three stars are all linemates, not surprisingly, given their performance in this game. #3: Maroon; #2: Matsumoto, #1: Laliberte.
Next up: Two games in Norfolk on Friday and Saturday, followed by a home game vs. Norfolk on Sunday. GO PHANTOMS!
JVR is here
James van Riemsdyk is here and is wearing #22 for tonights game.
Andreas Nodl is called up to the Flyers and made the trip to Toronto with the team.
There will be one big postgame blog update after the game, as my internet connectiity is spotty at best.
Andreas Nodl is called up to the Flyers and made the trip to Toronto with the team.
There will be one big postgame blog update after the game, as my internet connectiity is spotty at best.
We're getting JVR!
I just got the text msg from the Flyers:
"The Flyers have signed prospect James van Riemsdyk to an entry level contract. Van Riemsdyk, the second overall pick in 2007, will report to the Phantoms."
"The Flyers have signed prospect James van Riemsdyk to an entry level contract. Van Riemsdyk, the second overall pick in 2007, will report to the Phantoms."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
