Turned around
This post will hopefully move back home shortly. Thanks for your patience.
Where to start? At first, my game story was basically about overtime and the second period. That wasn't fair to a third period that turned the night around (and scrapped my first gamer, which written after the second period, and the DNA of which is all over the final story).
But where is this team? Is it the tenacious team of the last 15 minutes, or is it the one that sleepwalked through another Cy Young-winning period? (19-3? 21-4?) The same things keep showing up, the same chain reaction that has buried this team since November: no forecheck, quick rush, lax coverage, with a heaping helping of turnovers.
The goals on back-to-back shots let them weather the first period, and then Dubielewicz going 18-for-19 let them weather the second period. And then two power plays later, they woke up. That extended shift -- Boguniecki nails two guys trying to hit him, Berry rocks a guy with a hip check, and the crowd all of a sudden feels like chanting -- that might have been the shift of the year, just because it woke everyone up. It's been a while since that barn had life to it, a real energy, and T-shirts weren't involved.
The overtime was crazy, too, with the post at one end, then the near three-on-one the other way. It took a shootout, and it took Brandon Nolan to finish it*, but it finished with Bridgeport winning its fourth in a row for the first time in a year.**
Gave Dubielewicz a rest tonight. He asked me a question, actually, as he walked out of the room. "What'd Albany do?" LeagueStat had been pretty slow, stuck with about four minutes left, but I told him Hershey was up 4-0 late. He gave a long nod and let slip a little smile and said something upbeat and kept walking.
It's a long walk to go, but every point is gonna mean something.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Nilsson-Colliton (A)-Boguniecki
Marjamaki-Comeau-Nolan
Pitton-Regier-Nokelainen
G. Johnson/J. Johnson
D: Fata-Berry
Wotton (C)-Fraser
Malec-Rourke (A)
LOWELL
F: Ryznar-Pihlman-Marshall
Minard-Pelley (A)-Clarkson
Voros-Vrana-Bergfors
LaCouture-(Gionta-scratch)-Tallackson
D: McGillis (C)-Fahey
Malmivaara-Fraser
Mottau (A)-Greene
I had five of the 19 Lowell second-period shots coming on the power play, and 12 of the 41 overall. Several more, like Friday, blocked.
Only just now caught that Nicklas Bergfors had 10 shots. Guess that's why I kept noticing the guy.
Got downstairs, and the boys were huddled around the TV as Jeff Tambellini prepared to take his shootout attempt. It didn't register immediately how deep they were into the thing. Thank goodness that didn't happen in Bridgeport. We got deadlines, ya know.
Didn't catch exactly how bad linesman Glen Cooke got hurt -- a puck deflected up and caught him, it appeared, in the side of the head, perhaps around the right ear -- but it was nice to see him back for the shootout. (Best part of the shootout, in fact. But you knew I was gonna say that.)
Friday's game got Bridgeport back to Real .500, 9-9-5, at home, so Saturday's keeps the Tigers there at 9-9-6; overall, they're 18-21-10. And by the way, just in case the Sound Tigers make up 21 points by the end of the year and the first couple of tiebreakers don't work out, Bridgeport clinched the season series with Hershey.
Courtesy of Tim Leone, Harrisburg Patriot-News: Dubielewicz was 2-3 with a 3.58 GAA, .890 SP against Hershey last year. This year, by my math: 3-0, 2.27, .953 with two 50-save games.
Ken Wiebe up in Winnipeg writes a bit on ol' buddy Ryan Caldwell. Looking forward to seeing Koalska tomorrow.
Finally, Roy Sommer on Jamie Koharski.
*-Neat little note from Nolan in the gamer, BTW, and it was an afterthought question that got it.
**-Five in a row, actually, Feb. 4-Feb. 15, 2006.
Where to start? At first, my game story was basically about overtime and the second period. That wasn't fair to a third period that turned the night around (and scrapped my first gamer, which written after the second period, and the DNA of which is all over the final story).
But where is this team? Is it the tenacious team of the last 15 minutes, or is it the one that sleepwalked through another Cy Young-winning period? (19-3? 21-4?) The same things keep showing up, the same chain reaction that has buried this team since November: no forecheck, quick rush, lax coverage, with a heaping helping of turnovers.
The goals on back-to-back shots let them weather the first period, and then Dubielewicz going 18-for-19 let them weather the second period. And then two power plays later, they woke up. That extended shift -- Boguniecki nails two guys trying to hit him, Berry rocks a guy with a hip check, and the crowd all of a sudden feels like chanting -- that might have been the shift of the year, just because it woke everyone up. It's been a while since that barn had life to it, a real energy, and T-shirts weren't involved.
The overtime was crazy, too, with the post at one end, then the near three-on-one the other way. It took a shootout, and it took Brandon Nolan to finish it*, but it finished with Bridgeport winning its fourth in a row for the first time in a year.**
Gave Dubielewicz a rest tonight. He asked me a question, actually, as he walked out of the room. "What'd Albany do?" LeagueStat had been pretty slow, stuck with about four minutes left, but I told him Hershey was up 4-0 late. He gave a long nod and let slip a little smile and said something upbeat and kept walking.
It's a long walk to go, but every point is gonna mean something.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Nilsson-Colliton (A)-Boguniecki
Marjamaki-Comeau-Nolan
Pitton-Regier-Nokelainen
G. Johnson/J. Johnson
D: Fata-Berry
Wotton (C)-Fraser
Malec-Rourke (A)
LOWELL
F: Ryznar-Pihlman-Marshall
Minard-Pelley (A)-Clarkson
Voros-Vrana-Bergfors
LaCouture-(Gionta-scratch)-Tallackson
D: McGillis (C)-Fahey
Malmivaara-Fraser
Mottau (A)-Greene
I had five of the 19 Lowell second-period shots coming on the power play, and 12 of the 41 overall. Several more, like Friday, blocked.
Only just now caught that Nicklas Bergfors had 10 shots. Guess that's why I kept noticing the guy.
Got downstairs, and the boys were huddled around the TV as Jeff Tambellini prepared to take his shootout attempt. It didn't register immediately how deep they were into the thing. Thank goodness that didn't happen in Bridgeport. We got deadlines, ya know.
Didn't catch exactly how bad linesman Glen Cooke got hurt -- a puck deflected up and caught him, it appeared, in the side of the head, perhaps around the right ear -- but it was nice to see him back for the shootout. (Best part of the shootout, in fact. But you knew I was gonna say that.)
Friday's game got Bridgeport back to Real .500, 9-9-5, at home, so Saturday's keeps the Tigers there at 9-9-6; overall, they're 18-21-10. And by the way, just in case the Sound Tigers make up 21 points by the end of the year and the first couple of tiebreakers don't work out, Bridgeport clinched the season series with Hershey.
Courtesy of Tim Leone, Harrisburg Patriot-News: Dubielewicz was 2-3 with a 3.58 GAA, .890 SP against Hershey last year. This year, by my math: 3-0, 2.27, .953 with two 50-save games.
Ken Wiebe up in Winnipeg writes a bit on ol' buddy Ryan Caldwell. Looking forward to seeing Koalska tomorrow.
Finally, Roy Sommer on Jamie Koharski.
*-Neat little note from Nolan in the gamer, BTW, and it was an afterthought question that got it.
**-Five in a row, actually, Feb. 4-Feb. 15, 2006.
posted by Fornabaio at
2:10 AM
1 Comments:
figured something was wrong with the Original Blog....
Cooke got it in the ear. And then when that post was hit in OT the puck nearly deCAPPated Bannefield...
Kerry Fraser was there with his brother (Jamie's Dad) He is short!!
By
Anonymous, at 10:29 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home