Second (exh.) game liveblog
Welcome to Saint Anselm College.
Sullivan Arena even has a New Haven Coliseum feel: the benches are on opposite sides, with the home bench next to the penalty boxes. No stands behind the visitors, though. Section 14 is an emergency exit and the New England College banner.
Lineups shortly, though we've got some assumptions. The game is streaming tonight on the Isles' Web site with Phil on the call and Jamie on the camera.
Here's this morning's story from the paper, partly on Ty Wishart and partly on Bridgeport's depth on defense. Speaking of which, the Department of Defense would like me to note that I should've called Fort Dix "Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst."
Providence let Art Bidlevskii go, Mark Divver reports. Meanwhile, Matt Gilroy is going to Hartford, from Larry Brooks.
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: John Persson-David Ullstrom (A)-Colin McDonald (A)
Nino Niederreiter-Brock Nelson-Kirill Kabanov
Mike Halmo-Johan Sundstrom-Sean Backman
Brett Gallant-Jason Clark-Max MacKay
(Matt Watkins-scratch)
D: Matt Donovan-Travis Hamonic (A)
Aaron Ness-Jon Landry
Marc Cantin-Nathan McIver
G: Kevin Poulin
Kenny Reiter
MANCHESTER
F: Richard Clune-Marc-Andre Cliche (C)-David Meckler
Nikolay Prokhorkin-Andrei Loktionov-Jordan Nolan
Tanner Pearson-Jordan Weal-Brian O'Neill
Andy Andreoff-Linden Vey-Tyler Toffoli
D: Andrew Bodnarchuk-David Kolomatis
Jake Muzzin-Andrew Campbell (A)
Thomas Hickey (A)-Nick Deslauriers
G: Martin Jones
J.F. Berube
R: Binda. L: MacDonald, Ross.
--Takes 20 seconds to get the puck out of the neutral zone off the draw, but it's on.
--Brandon Kozun didn't take the first rushes and was listed as a scratch, but he's apparently playing for Manchester. Not sure who's scratched instead. (Prokhorkin, apparently)
--Poulin has had to make some good saves one-on-one. He's been sharp.
--McDonald and Ullstrom nearly connect on a short-handed rush that draws a hooking penalty. The penalty goes on the wrong side. Both penalties get cleared. McIver's penalty time goes back up... but at 1:21 instead of 1:01. The Bridgeport bench yells "hey!" in unison in midseason form.
--A parade of penalties ends with Kabanov fanning on a one-timer off a Hamonic setup. They trade penalties one more time in the last 1:15. No score after one. Monarchs outshoot them 12-5. Spent more time in their end in the first than they did in long stretches of last night's game.
--Still Poulin and Jones for the second. Bridgeport's a man short on the bench. Think it's MacKay.
--Niederreiter takes an elbow from Andreoff. Getting quick repairs at the bench.
--Hamonic missing, too -- didn't see him go.
--Poulin remains very sharp.
--Halmo fought Andreoff as the latter got out and got an unsportsmanlike minor. Gallant fought. MacKay and Hamonic haven't returned. Bridgeport had nine on the bench and five on the ice for a bit.
--Behind the play, Clune had Ness down and was throwing at him. Cantin jumped in as the officials got there to break it up.
--Clune gets a double roughing minor and the game. Cantin gets just two.
--Still scoreless after two. Bridgeport carries 18 seconds of penalty time to the third. Poulin has 25 saves. Bridgeport has 11 shots.
--Hamonic and MacKay will not return. Not disclosed what happened.
--Counterattack off a blocked shot for Manchester, and Jordan Nolan scores on a wrister from the right circle 28 seconds into the third. 1-0 Monarchs.
--Five and a quarter periods into the preseason, and Kabanov looks frustrated already. It's not long after he slams a door before Loktionov and the Monarchs make it 2-0.
--Nolan and McIver go at it at 7:07; both land a couple of good ones.
--A 2-0 Manchester final. Final shots 41-17 Manchester, so 39 Poulin saves.
--Scott Pellerin said Hamonic and MacKay were taken out with "slight little injuries. ... precautionary reasons." Hamonic declined to comment.
Will format and have a little more after a ride:
Bridgeport 0 0 0--0
Manchester 0 0 2--2
First Period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Deslauriers, Mcr (elbowing), 2:12; McIver, Bpt (interference), 9:49; Muzzin, Mcr (hooking), 10:48; Niederreiter, Bpt (high-sticking), 12:27; Nolan, Mcr (goaltender interference), 12:57; Niederreiter, Bpt (hooking), 18:45; Toffoli, Mcr (slashing), 19:11.
Second Period -- No scoring. Penalties -- Andreoff, Mcr (elbowing), 6:18; Halmo, Bpt, minor-major (unsportsmanlike conduct, fighting), 8:40; Andreoff, Mcr, major (fighting), 8:40; Cantin, Bpt (interference), 12:35; Gallant, Bpt, major (fighting), 15:15; Kolomatis, Mcr, major (fighting), 15:15; Bodnarchuk, Mcr (interference), 15:15; Cantin, Bpt (roughing), 18:18; Clune, Mcr, double minor-game misconduct (roughing), 18:18.
Third Period -- 1, Manchester, Nolan 1 (Loktionov), :28. 2, Manchester, Loktionov 1 (Kolomatis, Kozun), 4:28. Penalties -- McIver, Bpt, major (fighting), 7:07; Nolan, Mcr, major (fighting), 7:07; Donovan, Bpt (holding), 17:23.
Shots on goal -- Bridgeport 5-6-6--17. Manchester 12-13-16--41.
Power play opportunities -- Bridgeport 0 of 7, Manchester 0 of 6.
Goaltenders -- Bridgeport, Poulin 0-1-0 (41 shots-39 saves). Manchester, Jones 1-0-0 (9-9), Berube (10:56 second, 8-8).
Attendance -- 617. Referee -- Binda. Linesmen -- Ross, B.MacDonald.
.....
The promised "more later":
"I thought our energy level just wasn't there at the start of the game," Scott Pellerin said. "We were a little flat. I thought we responded, came and played and battled."
Aaron Ness agreed about the start. "We just took too long to find our legs," Ness said.
The results never quite changed for Bridgeport, facing a strong Manchester lineup. They didn't generate many scoring chances at all, got outshot 41-17. "Manchester's a solid defensive team," Pellerin said, and he'd know them as well as anybody. "They had a lot of experience. I thought our guys responded."
No one has jumped out at Pellerin, surprised him compared to what he saw in practices, he said. There are tweaks to be made, work on firming up the command of the systems, now getting a couple of key players fully healthy.
For Ness, "it's nice to get a couple of games and get back in the flow." For a guy like John Persson, it was just getting back into game-speed competition for the first time since That Night in Hartford. "High-tempo -- it felt good," he said. "I'm very excited to get it going. It's been slower, with the lockout, but it was a good week for all of us."
Especially for Bridgeport's goaltenders, who stopped 73 of 76 in two nights. Kevin Poulin looked darn sharp, and said he'd been working with Mike Dunham and Steve Valiquette on shots just like the ones he got tonight, which made them feel routine.
"I felt great," Poulin said. "I had a great summer of training, a couple of practices -- I felt right, but actually, I was a little nervous for the first shot."
He stopped it and at least 24 more before they beat him. Poulin's goals against were on a rush (might well have been odd-man, definitely in quick transition off a blocked shot) and on a good-play, bad-angle rebound by a quite skilled player.
"He made some Grade-A saves all night long. He kept second chances to a minimum," Pellerin said. "It's good to see that from both our goaltenders."
There was quite a bit of mixing and matching, between the penalty parade and the absence of MacKay for a good piece of the night. Different combos, different positions.
Linkage here and there: our bit on Brock Nelson from Saturday's paper. A few of the Monarchs came over to greet Pellerin after the game; Ian Clark asked him about it as part of his story.
So that's the preseason. Well, that was a whirlwind 26 hours, huh? Hoping to get at least one more chance to see the group before they get to work for real. We'll again keep an eye out as best we can from afar.
...
Saint Anselm's mailing address says Manchester. Apparently some datelines from there say Manchester. Google Maps says Goffstown. Ian's dateline said Goffstown. I assume I was in one of two places tonight. I know where it'll be a week from Friday night: the state capital.
Oh, yeah: I'm fine with calling that an infield fly. But you don't care.
posted by Fornabaio at
2:14 AM
