SKATER & GOALIE OF THE WEEK #10

Dave_TaylorMarkus_MattssonBlake_DunlopRichard_Sevigny

CLARENCE SKATER TEAM GP GOALS ASISSTS POINTS PM  +/-  SOG S%
Taylor, Dave SAS 3 4 6 10 11 8 8 50%
                   
CLARENCE GOALIE TEAM GP GOALS AGAINST G.A. AVERAGE SAVES SAVE %
Mattsson, Markus SAS 3 7 2.35 66 .904
                   
WALES SKATER TEAM GP GOALS ASSISTS POINTS PM  +/-  SOG S%
Dunlop, Blake MAC 3 2 7 9 2 7 6 33%
                   
WALES GOALIE TEAM GP GOALS AGAINST G.A. AVERAGE SAVES SAVE %
Sevigny, Rochard PHI 2 6 3.03 49 .891

CapJack Rangers
Weekly Preview: CapJack has been making some changes lately – primarily to stop giving up as many goals (but still adding some punch). They acquired Risto Siltanen D, and Roggie Vachon, G. This is the first week Vachon has donned a Rangers jersey – and his 1st home game, only home game this week and it’s against the team that nobody seems to like – Philadelphia. Hope they brought some cheese steaks… They already gave us Siltanen!
Philadelphia Firebirds @ CapJack Rangers This game belonged to Bridgman from the city of brotherly love. He loved to cross-check. He loved to slash, he loved to fight (unfortunately he got the better of Marsh in the fight) – he accumulated 9 of the 33 penalty minutes the Broad Street Bullies amassed. That gave the Rangers 5 PPlays – they converted on 1. But that was 1 more than the Firebirds scored (0-2).

So how aboot the rest of the game? FIRST PERIOD – tied, 2-2. Gare scores within the first minute but then Philly jabs two home, Hardy and Langway, before we get halfway done. But Trottier evens it up at 12:24. Moving to period 2 – the Rangers strike early and often (kind of like voting in Chicago). MacMillan and DeBlois scored inside of the 1st 4 minutes. This gives CapJack a 4-2 lead. Rangers employ a seldom used tactic – shadowing – and they have Trottier closely hounding Dionne – heck they’re fighting for the scoring title might as well dance together – and it works. Dione only scores twice in this game. He scores his 1st less than 2 minutes after the Rangers grab the 4-2 lead. Then 20 minutes later (just under 6 minutes into the 3rd) he gets his 2nd goal and the Firebirds tie it up! Wonder how many he’d have scored if he hadn’t been shadowed. But if Dionne can score 2 – so can a Ranger and this time it was DeBlois as he scores with 11 to go to make it 5-4. Then a defensive struggle breaks out – although the Firebirds were pretty offensive (in so many ways) and they fired 21 shots at Vachon in the 3rd – but apart from the Dionne goal in the 3rd, he stopped all the rest when it was necessary, including the final minute with the XTra attacher on for Philly. We’ll take that results for his home opener.
STARS:
3. CAP – Trottier 1 goal, 1 assist
2. PHI – Dionne 2 goals
3. CAP – DeBlois 2 goals
Both teams had 4 notables – both goalies were mentioned, but heck if you give up 4 and 5 goals, I won’t mention them – although that 3rd period by Vachon was special. Bridgman had 9 minutes of penalties, but Maruk actually topped that with 12 – but he got them all in one event – boarding plus misconduct late in the 2nd.
The following players each tallied 3 points (all assists) – Carlyle (PHI), Mulvey (CAP) and Schutt (CAP)

Weekly Summary: 1 home game and we beat the team from Philadephia – always nice to beat a front runner! Silatanen recorded an assist against his former team and Vachon won his Rangers home opener!
Saskatoon Cyclone
Weekly Preview: It’s snake week in Saskatoon as it is all about the SSSSSSSSSS with Silk City and Syracuse coming to town. It should be an interesting week in firgid north-central Saskatchewan with recently acquired Markus Mattsson in nets against the Whales and Bulldogs who have very good goaltending in Donnie Edwards and Bob Sauve.
Silk City Wales @ Saskatoon Cyclone The first period was a test for the Cyclone specialty teams as they spent the opening 10 minutes shotless as they were constant killing penalties with Rick Green off for cross-checking juggernaut Mark Messier and then pacifist Kent-Erik Andersson getting the gate with a double-minor for scuffling with Perry Turnbull and Barry Beck after a whistle. Must have been pretty bad for the Swede to draw two penalties while the Whales didn’t get one as the sneaks went all Gandhi on the Cyclone.

The Cyclone penalty-killers (mostly Bob Gainey and Wayne Gretzky working their talented asses off) were equal to the task and probably should have stayed out there as when things went back to even strength Brian Sutter stole the puck at centre ice from Merlin Malinowski, made a nice move at the blueline and then fired a blistering slapper through defenceman Rick Green’s legs and passed the thoroughly screened Saskatoon goaltender at the 9:27 mark for a 1-0 Silk City lead. It was Sutter’s 16th of the season and Mattsson’s first goal allowed in the green and gold of a Cyclone.

The lead lasted all of 28 seconds as Wayne Gretzky won the post-goal faceoff, passed the puck back to Kevin Lowe who fed it over to Dave Taylor who was flying down the right wing and Taylor ignored the drop-pass option to Gretzky and instead correctly opted to feed it to Jacques Richard skating into the slot and Richard made no mistake sliding it under Bob Sauve and into the Silk City net to tie it up 1-1. For Richard it was #23 on the year as he got sucked into Taylor’s wake as the Kings’ winger continued to rack up points at a torrid pace.

Saskatoon got a break with a little more than 5 minutes to go in the period when Larry Murphy took a ridiculous penalty for elbowing Dennis Ververgaert (who would do that to poor Dennis???!). The penalty had two effects:
(1) it started the ball rolling on the Cyclone getting intimidated by the big bad Whales; and,
(2) it set things up nicely for Perry Turnbull who pulled a Houdini on Dave Maloney at the blueline while killing the penalty and then raced in all alone on Mattsson and fired it past him for a short-handed goal. It was Turnbull’s 10th of the year and Bob Bourne had to be helped from the ice and missed the rest of the game after stubbing his toe doing a ceremonial east African victory dance after the goal.

This time it took the Cyclone only 20 seconds to respond as once again Gretzky won the post-goal faceoff at centre ice, slid the puck to Taylor as he sped in and then dropped it back to Kevin Lowe who whipped it over Sauve’s trapper and almost through the Silk City twine to tie it 2-2. It was Lowe’s 9th of the year.

The 2nd period saw the Whales continue to bully the Cyclone and hoping to capitalize on the fact that Mattson was in net they pelted him with 15 shots in the next 20 minutes.

Warren Miller was a little too overzealous in scaring off the Cyclone and backchecking and nabbed a 2-minute penalty for trying to land Brent Ashton like a prize BC sockeye salmon. Honestly, hooking Brent Ashton? Why bother, dude?

Anyway, 90 seconds into the penalty (at 15:17 of the period) Taylor picked up his 3rd point of the night and 19th goal of the season when he connected on a nice passing play from Gretzky and Lowe who was doing his best impression of Paul Coffey I guess.

One minute later and on his next shift, Coffey … I mean Lowe … took advantage of a defensive breakdown in the Whales’ zone and dipped in from the blueline, took a pass from Keith Acton and then popped a wrist shot through Sauve’s legs to make it 4-2 Saskatoon. It was Lowe’s 10th of the year … no really!

Saskatoon did its best to turn the free-wheeling 2nd period into a grinding, slow-paced 3rd period and for the most part succeeded. They held the Whales to 9 shots (and actually managed 11 themselves) and things remained scoreless until the Whales pulled their goalie with just under two minutes left.

It was none other than Rick Ley – all of ZERO goals in real life – who triggered pandemonium in the rink when the Saskatooners watched Gretzky and Taylor circle around the empy Whales’ net 12 times waiting for Ley to make it up ice and then banked it off the glacial defenceman and into the vacant Silk City net to end it 5-2. All that and a win for Mattson … almost too much to handle.

Shots: SCW 30 – SAS 28

Stars:
1. SAS, Kevin Lowe 2 G, 2 A
2. SAS, Dave Taylor 1G, 3 A
3. SAS, Wayne Gretzky 3 A

Notables … Sauve was a cryptic +0.8 to elevate his rating to 9.1 (the highest I have seen) for the game while Mattsson was a cool -0.5 to drop him to a lowly 5.2. Given that Sauve allowed 4 goals on 27 shots (.852 save pct) while Mattsson allowed 2/30 (.933) I’m even more convinced while the grades are lovely they don’t mean squat … else the Cyclone shooters were just incredibly lucky.

Syracuse Bulldogs @ Saskatoon Cyclone This game pitted Olympian god … no not Zeus, but close … Jim Craig (a +0.8 to give him a 7.3) versus meek and mild Markus Mattsson (-0.5 again for God’s sake) in another goaltending mismatch.

Sure enough, Mattsson earned every tenth of that 0.5 grade reduction as he allowed the first shot he faced – a wrist shot from quite a ways out by Paul Gagne – to elude him and find its way to the back of the net. It was Gagne’s 10th … but didn’t trigger much dancing since the two teams were saving all their energy for hating each other. Curt Fraser and Bob Murdoch earned assists on the goal.

It was gut-clench time for the Cyclones who braced themselves for some spectacular sieve-like goaltending for the rest of the game.

In what was a hint of things to come, the normally composed duo and unlikely combo of Tim Young and Dave Taylor whaled the tar out of one another at centre ice at 6:42.

The fight got the crowd and the Cyclone going and at 8:49 Kent-Erik Andersson and his checking merrymen of Bob Gainey and Keith Acton backchecked the crap out of the Bulldogs’ forwards and stormed up ice and deposited the puck behind Craig to even it at 1-1. For Anderson, it was #12.

At 13:30, the same line penned the Bulldogs in their own zone and a hard check on Murdoch by Gainey forced Syracuse to cough up the puck to Andersson who slid the puck to Acton in the slot and boom … goal#4 on the year for Acton and a 2-1 lead.

The period ended 2-1 with Mattsson shaky but unbeatable after the first shot. Saskatoon held the edge 12-9 in shots.

The 2nd period featured a lot of shots (15-10 for Saskatoon) but about 20 times as many punches.

The appetizer (4:03): Al Hill and Keith Acton scuffle after a whistle each landing a roughing penalty.

The main course (or more appropriately main event)(4:19): With Merlin Malinowski trying to set up a play behind the Bulldogs’ net, Syracuse defenceman Reed Larson and Cyclone’s blueliner Dave Maloney become unglued and start trading punches. They are eventually separated, but the jawing back and forth continues and then triggers both benches to go berserk. The ice is flooded with madly punching bodies and while Wayne Gretzky huddled in a corner of the Saskatoon net fearing for his life the two teams vented big time on each others’ heads. In the aftermath, Howard (Texas Ranger) Walker for Syracuse and Rick (Cuddles) Vaive landed fighting majors and game misconducts as the first possessed pair to leave their benches and tango on the ice. Also snared in the net as the catch of the day were Bulldogs Doug Halward, Fraser, and Murdoch and their dance partners Gainey, Jacques Richard and Dennis Ververgaert of Saskatoon. Thanks to Boy Scout troop 912 of southern Saskatoon for spending the next 10 minutes matching gloves to their owners (mysteriously several Bulldogs received only one orphan glove after the altercation and their mates never to be found … unless you happen to be ice-fishing in the North Saskatchewan River after the game.

The Dessert (7:38): With Al MacAdam trying to zip by burly defenceman Rick Green, Green decided the best way to slow him down was to smack him right in the gob. MacAdam objected and went bonkers shedding his gloves like a demented snake wriggling out of its skin (one of which nailed linesman John D’Amico) and started to trade punches with Green. Green was having none of that though and the fight ended abruptly with him landing a haymaker on McAdam’s temple and the Bulldogs’ forward went down like meat on the side of a boat. Each went off for fighting with McAdam getting an extra 10 for hitting the linesman with his glove.

With the refs down to one functioning whistle at this point in the game only two more penalties were called (Rick Ley and Andersson minors in the 3rd period) and the teams were allowed to skitter around at will on the ice leading to goals, goals and more goals.

With lots of line-juggling going on as a result of the game misconduct to Vaive, poor Dave Taylor found himself double shifted and on a line with Merlin Malinowski and Marc Tardif. At 11:23, right after a line change the new linemates raced into the Bulldogs end and Taylor took a pass from Malinowski and blasted it past Craig to make it 3-1 Saskatoon.

Then at 15:47, another up-ice rush by the checking line ends with Andersson firing a pass from Acton past Craig for his 2nd goal of the game and 13th of the year to make it 4-1.

Greztky wins the ensuing faceoff at centre ice and the Cyclone fall back to organize a push towards the Bulldogs’ goal and Taylor and Maloney exchange passes and then feed it to Gretzky who one-times it past Craig to make it 5-1 … ending Craig’s evening a little earlier than planned and giving Gretzky his 28th of the year.

Donnie Edwards came in to replace Craig and that put an end to the 2nd period scoring in a big way as he made several great saves including a stop of a breakaway by Richard late in the period.

Down 5-1 the Bulldogs entered the 3rd period on a mission, but unfortunately that mission appeared to be to act as much like a gutted fish as they could. They amassed all of three shots in a period that was all Saskatoon and even the great Edwards in net couldn’t save them.

It went to 6-1 at 11:13 when Malinowski and Taylor capitalized on some downright criminally bad stickhandling by Pierre Larouche. Malinowski stripped the sniper of the puck at the Cyclone blueline and then he and Taylor raced up ice unmolested passing back and forth and back and forth ending with Taylor beating Edwards in close for his 2nd of the game and 21st of the year.

One faceoff and 11 seconds later, Acton took a pass from Joel Quenneville and launched a slapshot past Edwards for his 5th of the year and make it 7-1.

One thing about hatred is that it leaves little room for mercy I guess … Taylor completed his hattrick at 14:14 when he took a centre ice pass from Gretzky and skated in on his own and beat Edwards with a wrist shot stick side low to make it 8-1.

And that was that. A brutal game with a brutal score.

Stars:
1. SAS, Dave Taylor 3 G, 1 A
2. SAS, Keith Acton 2 G, 2 A
3. SAS, Kent-Erik Andersson 2 G, 1 A

Mattsson recovers nicely from the crappy start to stop the next 21 shots in the win.

Weekly Summary: A wild homestand for Saskatoon with two games that were entertaining in their own way. It could not have been better scripted for goaltender Markus Mattsson who came to Saskatoon with no expectations and exceeded them spectacularly in the first two games he played anyway when he won twice and allowed only 3 goals in the process.
Philadelphia Firebirds
Weekly Preview: Philly has only one game this week but its against the Champion Pittsburgh squad.
Pittsburgh Spirit @ Philadelphia Firebirds 1st- Philly comes out flying and hitting and Peter lee gets his team leading 21st goal. With the team up by one Hockey God Paul Holmgren tips in a Randy Carlyle blast for a PP goal ( Houle off for tripping)
With time running out Lafluer gets stones on a break away by Sevigny.
2nd – Maloney pulls the Spirit within one with his 17th. 30 seconds later MArcel Dionne gets his 21st from Rick Martin. But before the crowd sits down Hegman gets his 5th from Huber and Hedberg. Minute later Peter Lee gets his 22nd from Carylye and Dionne..phew carzy 2 minutes
3rd- Again Sevigny stones Guy Lafluer on a break away . But the Spirit wont be denied as Petersson gets his 30th from Redmond and Guy “stoney” Lafluer. But that’s as close as the Spirit will move Pittsburg and John Anderson gets an EN to seal the win for PhillyPHILLY 5 PITT 301. Lee
02. Dionne
03. CarlyleNoteables…Lindy Ruff 17 PIM ( we are so proud!)
Weekly Summary: Big win for Philly as Pittsburgh is the elite of the league.
Silk City Wales
Weekly Preview: The Whales have one home game this week as the high-powered Adams Division-leading Mackinac Island Moose visit. Mike Palmateer shut out the Whales in a 2-0 Moose win in their previous visit to the Worm Hole this season.
Mackinac Island Moose @ Silk City Wales The Whales come out on the attack and score three goals in the first thirteen minutes of the game and take a 4-1 lead to the dressing room after one. The Moose come storming back and goals from Boudreau and Barber in the first three minutes of ths second make it a 4-3 game. Barry Becks scores shortly after and Bob Bourne adds a short-handed goal to give the Whales their three goal lead again. But fifteen seconds after Bourne’s goal, Brian Propp scores on the power play to make it a 6-4 game as the teams went into the dressing room after two.

Midway through the third period, the Whales habit of lax defense with third period leads looks like it is going to cost them as Mike O’Connell scores to bring the Moost to within one at 6-5. But late in the third, the fourth line comes up big as Jean-Francois Sauve (in his first action of the season) reminds the home crowd that he is more than the #1 goalie’s brother to make it 7-5. Perry Turnbull scores his second of the game on a Mark Messier helper (Messier’s fourth assist of the game)to put the game out of reach and Silk City wins 8-5.

1st Star – Larry Murphy (SCW), 2G
2nd Star – Perry Turnbull (SCW), 2G
3rd Star – Bob Bourne (SCW), G & A

Weekly Summary: The Whales win their home game this week against the powerful Moose. The offense turned it up a notch with fourteen of the eighteen dressed skaters scoring at least one point, and leading socrer Rick Kehoe was not among them.
Columbus Owls
Weekly Preview: With changes made (but same sad goalies) the Owls play one home game this period.
Syracuse Bulldogs @ Columbus Owls Syracuse breaks 1-1 tie with 2 goals early in the 3rd to post a 3-2 win over the Owls. Johnstone (14) and Larson (12) score 1:33 apart. Jarvis (8) scores late for Columbus but too little too late.
Weekly Summary: The changes made keeps games close but not enough to post a win.
Charlestown Chiefs
Weekly Preview: Three juicy games at home this week; tap the keg!
CapJack Rangers @ Charlestown Chiefs The beer was flat. So were the Chiefs.

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 14:25 SH CAP DeBlois (7), assisted by Trottier (42) and Siltanen (18)
1 15:15 EV CHA McKegney (15), assisted by Savard (15) and Tremblay (18)
1 17:19 EV CHA Lyle (5), assisted by Bailey (1) and Tremblay (19)
2 5:52 PP CAP Schutt (18), assisted by Mulvey (7)
2 19:58 EV CAP DeBlois (8), assisted by Schutt (26) and Mulvey (8)
3 6:43 EV CAP Vadnais (1), assisted by Mulvey (9) and Schutt (27)
3 19:27 EV CHA Paiement (14), assisted by Bourque (14) and Gardner (30)

Star 1: CAP DeBlois 2 G
Star 2: CAP Schutt 1 G, 3 Pts
Star 3: CAP Vadnais 1 G

GWG: Carol Vadnais

Notables: CAP Mulvey 3 assists, Vachon 34 saves
CHA Gardner 15 faceoffs won

Columbus Owls @ Charlestown Chiefs Team management switched the kegs from Stroh’s to Rolling Rock. It worked.

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 11:43 EV COL Stoughton (20), assisted by Zuke (22)
1 16:20 EV CHA Paiement (15), assisted by Gardner (31) and Bourque (15)
1 16:48 EV CHA Lyle (6), assisted by Bailey (2) and Gradin (21)
2 1:53 EV CHA Gradin (6), assisted by Lyle (6) and Tremblay (20)
2 3:36 PP CHA Bourque (13), assisted by Potvin (17) and Steve Tambellini (5)
2 18:07 SH CHA Savard (17), unassisted
3 8:38 EV COL Goulet (15), assisted by Milbury (5)
3 16:51 EV CHA Bourque (14), assisted by Tremblay (21) and Lyle (7)
3 17:30 PP CHA Bailey (1), assisted by McCarthy (5) and Paiement (40)

Injuries: Kerr(CHA)-game

Star 1: CHA Bourque 2 G, 3 Pts
Star 2: CHA Lyle 1 G, 3 Pts
Star 3: CHA Gradin 1 G, 2 Pts

GWG: Thomas Gradin

Notables: COL None
CHA None (you score 7 goals and no notables?! Suck it, Trebek).

Ohio Legends @ Charlestown Chiefs Rolling Rock still on tap. Never underestimate the value of good beer.

Scoring Summary
Per Time Str Team
1 2:17 EV CHA McDonald (7), assisted by Potvin (18) and McKegney (13)
1 11:52 PP OHI Callighen (6), assisted by Kerr (6)
2 12:31 EV CHA Savard (18), assisted by Coffey (12) and McDonald (19)
2 16:15 EV CHA Steve Tambellini (4), assisted by Kallur (9)
2 16:57 EV OHI Williams (16), assisted by Rochefort (6)
3 5:14 EV CHA Paiement (16), assisted by Mike McEwen (14) and Gardner (32)
3 17:31 EV OHI Williams (17), assisted by Federko (21)
3 19:08 EN CHA Paiement (17), assisted by Potvin (19) and McDonald (20)

Injuries: Sharpley(OHI)-game

Star 1: CHA Paiement 2 G
Star 2: CHA McDonald 1 G, 3 Pts
Star 3: OHI Williams 2 G

GWG: Wilf Paiement

Notables: OHI Roberts 16 PIM
CHA Riggin 31 saves

Weekly Summary: A disappointing loss in the first game is overshadowed by two solid wins to close out the week.
New Castle Ducks
Weekly Preview: The struggling New Castle Ducks play all three of their games this week at home, hoping that playing in The Duck Pond gets their season turned around
Chicago Underground @ New Castle Ducks CHI 5 NEW 3 The Underground jump out to a 3-0 lead, featuring two goals by Clark Gillies (21,22). New Castle then makes it a game scoring two unanswered goals to close within 1, at 3-2, with 14:12 left in the game. Two minutes after the Ducks scored, Chicago’s Ric Seiling lit the lamp behind Bunny Larocque to make it 4-2 Chicago. Mike Bossy’s 23rd of the year made it 5-2 before Nick Fotiu scored with one second left to make the final score 5-3.
The Ducks outshot the Underground 35-12 but Pete Peeters was as sensational in the Chicago goal as Larocque was weak in the New Castle goal ( 5 goals on just 12 shots).THREE STARS:
1-CHI Gillies 2G, 1 A
2-CHI Bossy, 1G , 1 A
3- CHI Seiling 1G
3
Silk City Wales @ New Castle Ducks SC 6 NEW 2 The Ducks look for a win against a somewhat struggling Whales team but it was not to be. Although the Ducks outshot their opponent once again (33-23), the scoreboard was a different story. This game was over almost before it started as Silk City scored twice in the first 1:42 as Sutter and Turnbull put the puck past Billy Smith.
After Steve Kasper scored to make it 2-1, The Whales regained the two goal margin on a power play goal by Bobby Bourne. Once again, New Castle closed to within 1 when Mike Allison scored his 21st to make it 3-2 midway through the second period.
In the third period the Ducks poured it on, outshooting Silk City 14-3 but Bob Sauve stoned the Ducks as he made 31 saves. And, finally at 18:15 a goal by LaValle made it 4-2. Messier’s empty net goal sealed the deal at 18:54
Messier won 16 faceoffs, scored 2 golas, had 2 hits, was +3 and had 8 penalty minutes. New Castle’s Harold Snepts drew 20 minutes in penaltiesTHREE STARS:
1- Bourne 1G, 1 A
2- Messier 2 G
3- Turnbull 1 G
CapJack Rangers @ New Castle Ducks NEW 7 CAP 3 Is it too little too late? Coach Raylesberg finally shook up his line combinations putting Ryan Walter at LW on the #1 line with Bobby Clarke and Rick Middleton. He dropped Mike Allison to the #2 line with Steve Kasper and Vaclav Nedomansky. And boy did the move pay off! Middleton scored twice in the first 1:11, the first goal coming at the 21 second mark, to give the Ducks a very early 2-0 lead.
Cap Jack cut the lead in half on a first period goal by Bryan Trottier but it was all Ducks after that. Steve Kasper and Ryan Walter scored in the first period to make it 4-1 New Castle as the period ended.
The Ducks continued to pour it on in the second period scoring three unanswered goals: by Nedomansky, Ralph Klassen and Walter’s second of the game. With a 7-1 lead going to the third period, two goals by the Rangers only changed the final score and not the outcome.Rogie Vachon had a tough night in the CapJack goal, even though he did make 32 saves while allowing 7 goals.Walter and Bobby Clarke, playing on the same line for the first time this season, each were +4.THREE STARS:
1- NEW Middleton 2G 2 A
2- NEW Walter 2G 1 A
3- CAP Gare 1G 1 A
Weekly Summary: The Ducks start the week in their usual manner, dropping two games. Then, with the line shakeup in place, the Walter-Clarke-Middleton line dominated all game as New Castle shocked the Rangers 7-3. The “new look” Ducks are looking forward to next week, having gained 2 points out of a possible 6 in the week just ended.
Pittsburgh Spirit
Weekly Preview: 1st place Spirit host Brooklyn and St. Clair Shores this week while the two “Guys” are still “hurt”.
Brooklyn Harbor Rats @ Pittsburgh Spirit Brooklyn wins on the strength of a big 3rd period. Final 6-3 Brooklyn wins. Baker gets a start in goal and doesn’t pull his weight.
Saint Clair Shores Saints @ Pittsburgh Spirit Pittsburgh, not happy about the last game’s loss, comes back and wins against St. Clair Shores 5-3.
Weekly Summary: 2 of 4 points at home… with the lead we have, we’ll take it. Should be getting the two “Guys” back soon, which will only mean good things for the Spirit!
Ohio Legends
Weekly Preview: Three more opportunities for the expansion Ohio Legends to pick up wins.
Philadelphia Firebirds Ohio 3, Philadelphia 2
Saskatoon Cyclone Saskatoon 6, Ohio 4

Five goals in the first 4:45 and then things slowed down.

Charlotte Dynamo @ Ohio Legends Ohio 4, Charlotte 3
Weekly Summary: Sorry to abbreviate this, but wrote the full stories as usual and then the page wiped out and I had to start over.
Brooklyn Harbor Rats
Weekly Preview: Chicago and Columbus are the last teams to visit Brooklyn before the Christmas break
Chicago Underground @ Brooklyn Harbor Rats The Underground, trailing 3-1 late in the 2nd period, get goals from Bossy and Goring, less than 3 minutes apart, to even the score heading to the 3rd. It stays that way until with just under 5 minutes remaining, Dave Keon nets his second of the night as Greg Millen notches his 17th win in a 5-3 Harbor Rats victory. Bobby Smith added 3 more assists to his league leading total.
Columbus Owls @ Brooklyn Harbor Rats The Harbor Rats go into the Christmas break in style, chasing Owls goalie Doug Soetaeart with 6 goals in the first period and coasting to an easy 9-2 win over the league’s worst team. Darryl Sutter and Dave Christian each score a pair of goals, while Anton Stastny collects 4 assists.
Weekly Summary: A pair of home wins for Brooklyn who head into the Christmas break having dropped just 5 games since November 1st. Bobby Smith is on fire, with 56 assists in just 38 games. The blueline has also played well, with Paul Reinhart (14-19-33), Behn Wilson (7-23-30) and Kevin McCarthy (6-17-23) all contributing offense while helping netminder Greg Millen post 18 wins. Let’s hope the Harbor Rats remain hot after the break.
Charlotte Dynamo
Weekly Preview: The Dynamo, mired in the basement of the Patrick Division, hosted the Saints of St. Clair Shores during its lone home contest during this stretch.
Saint Clair Shores Saints @ Charlotte Dynamo The Dynamo dominated the middle phase of this contest, exploding for five unanswered goals to turn back the Saints, 6-3. Bob Kelly’s goal just 1:23 into the game provided Saint Clair with a short lived 1-0 lead before the Dynamo five-goal rampage: Second period goals by Wayne Cashman and Ian Turnbull put the Dynamo ahead 2-1. Then, first star Derek Smith came to life for Charlotte scoring just his sixth and seventh goals of the season to put Charlotte ahead 4-1, and a Tom Rowe goal 5:18 into the third gave the Dynamo a four-goal cushion. Late goals by Wayne Babych and Robbie Ftorek closed the gap but St. Clair could get no closer.

Characteristic of this era, a vintage brawl erupted midway through the first period, which featured Charlotte’s Laurie Boschman and the Saints defensive goon Al Hangselben throwing down. Both were ejected, forcing the sides to play short handed, a development that apparently favored Charlotte considering how the remainder of the game unfolded. Two other players on each side also threw fisticuffs and received fighting penalties during the tussle.

Weekly Summary: With lots of strategic early-season scratches behind them, the Dynamo is showing signs of getting its footing.
Mackinac Island Moose
Weekly Preview: The Moose (19-11-6) hosts St. Clair Shores (12-17-7) and The Charlotte Dynamo (12-18-6).
Saint Clair Shores Saints @ Mackinac Island Moose Moose 7, Saints 3 – Still smarting from the beat down in Chicago, the Moose get on top early with a nifty face off play in the offensive zone, Propp winning the drop and then drifting into open position as Dunlop and Park pass it around and back to Propp for the scoring blast. The Saints respond quickly in a couple of minutes on a zone entry with Delorme deflecting a shot from Wilson, making it 1-1 just before 5 minutes have elapsed. While all that was going on some old buddies were renewing friendships and a lovefest breaks out. First Christoff and Park hook up for some fist on face action earning 2 minutes each, and then Nilan v. Boutette in a more intense interaction nets each of them 5 minutes. No scoring as a result of either, but when Ferguson gets whistled for holding, the Saints work a deliberate power play and cash in just as the penalty expires with Thompson hitting a long distance bomb to make it 2-1 Saints. The rest of the period bleeds out and the period ends with the Saints up by 1.

The second period sees much less in the hostilities department and a lot more in the Moose attack. The Moose even it up early just after a line change on a zone entry with Napier deflecting a shot from Russell past the goalie to make it tied at 2. The teams play fairly even for another 10 minutes before the Moose get a pair of redirection goals from Boudreau and Propp within 2 minutes of each other, making the turnaround successful, now at 4-2 Moose. The Saints get a chance to cut the lead on a penalty by Propp, but the Moose PK units are up to the challenge and the 2nd period ends at 4-2 Moose.

3rd period opens with fans on edge, waiting to see if the Saints would come out aggressive to cut into the lead, or if the Moose could keep the momentum up. The suspense drags on 9 minutes before they get their answer in the form of a Park to Napier bang bang play, making it 5-2 home team. 5 minutes later the Saints finally respond with a goal by Christoff to cut the lead back to 2. With the Saints going all out the final minutes of play, the Moose capitalize on a powerplay (Napier hat trick) and get another really late as Dunlop scores to make the final 7-3.

1st star – Napier 3g hat trick
2nd – Dunlop 1g3a 4 pts.
3rd Propp 2g1a

Charlotte Dynamo @ Mackinac Island Moose Moose 5, Dynamo 4 – Apparently feeling pretty good after the last game, plus having Gilles Meloche in net, the Moose let their guard down in the first period. Turnbull starts the scoring off early. Then after some 4 on 4 action due to a couple fights (Clackson and Lever, Hospodar and Boutette), the Dynamo add a couple more (Simmer PP and Johathan). Now down 3-0 in the first, and looking very out matched, the Moose get a bit of a spark and are able to put a mark on the board with a last minute goal by Kurri to generate a little energy before heading into the locker room for the 1st intermission. 3-1 Dynamo.

The Moose defense stiffens in the 2nd period and holds the Dynamo to only 3 SOG in the period. The fight is not totally out of the visitors however, as Turnbull takes after Russell early, creating a 4 on 4 that goes nowhere. After that, the Moose focus on some playmaking and it pays off as Napier and Watson each light the lamp, erasing the Dynamo lead. Later we get a rematch between Hospodar and Boutette, which ends in a draw, but earning both combatants 5 minutes of rest time. The Dynamo defense also stiffens and the rest of the period is scoreless. Tied at 3

Waiting to see who was going to have the fire in the 3rd period did not take long, as Simmer puts the Dynamo up early. The teams match up even for another 8 minutes before the Moose tie it on a Ferguson goal, and then take the lead only minutes later when Napier gets his 2nd of the game, and 5th of the week. The Dynamo crank it up as the clock winds down, but Meloche is up to the task, hanging on for the 5-4 come from behind win.

1st star – Napier 2g1a
2nd – Watson 1g2a
3rd – Simmer 2g

Weekly Summary: 4 points in 2 home games for the Moose, always a good week.

Napier has a career homestand with 5 goals (1 hat trick) and 1 assist, while Dunlop also got 6 points with 1 goal and 5 assists (3 to Napier).

Vermont Foresters
Weekly Preview: 3 home games for vermont before the break with charlotte, syracuse and chicago coming to the bjc
Charlotte Dynamo @ Vermont Foresters charlotte comes into vermont and starts tony esposito against murray bannerman for the foresters. the first period went back and forth for 12 minutes until vermonts 4th line strikes first, with don luce scoring his 3rd of the year. 2 minutes later maxwell netted his first of the year giving vermont a 2-0 lead. it remained that way until just 13 seconds left when dale hunter scored his 5th and vermont had a 3-0 lead at the end of the first. then 2nd period played even and scoreless until late when mike foligno scored his 5th on a perfect pass from nilsson and a 4-0 lead. while charlotte outshot vermont 14-7 in the final period they could not get one past bannerman and he gets a shutout against the charlotte dynamo. charlotte outshot vermont 35-27, 19-12 in scoring chances, double the toa but were outhit 22-8 and went 0-7 on the powerplay as vermonts defense played one of their best games of the season.
Syracuse Bulldogs @ Vermont Foresters syracuse arrives at the bjc trying to derail the foresters and turn to usa olympic hero jim craig to face richard brodeur. bryan maxwell scored his 2nd goal in as many games early in the first period to give the home team the lead. johnstone answered for the bulldogs less than 2 minutes later to tie it at 1. less than 4 minutes later, mark howe blasted one past craig to give vermont a 2-1 lead. 30 seconds later, don marcotte made it 3-1 for the home team. it stayed that way until late in the period when reggie leach tallied his 15th to end the first at 4-1. it remained that way until 12:30 of the 2nd when larouche scored to bring the bulldogs within 2. 4 minutes later ivan boldirev scored to make it a 1 goal game late in the second. but lukowich scored with less than 90 seconds to go in the period and reggie leach his 2nd of the game with 29 seconds to go and a 6-3 lead. kent nilsson made it 7-3 1:10 into the 3rd and reggie leach completed the hat trick 1:15 later to make it 8-3. stan smyl scored a goal for syracuse to make it 8-4 for the final score. vermont controlled the action outshooting syracuse 41-24 and went 2-4 on the powerplay while killing off both bulldogs powerplays. leach had 3 goals and nilsson had 1g and 4a.
Chicago Underground @ Vermont Foresters chicago comes into vermont for the last game before the break. kent nilsson gets the home team ahead 1-0 with a powerplay goal 2:11 into the game. peter stastny answers on the powerplay at 7:45 tying the score at 1. at 10:02 reggie leach scored another powerplay goal making it 2-1. a little more than 2 minutes later craig ramsey scored on a breakaway shorthanded giving the foresters a 3-1 lead. late in the period though peter mcnab scored to end the opening period 3-2. ric seiling scored the only goal of the 2nd tying the score at 3 heading into the final period. morris lukowich scored 7:04 into the 3rd giving the home team a 4-3 lead. vermont held off the underground even with a late powerplay for chicago and finished the 1st half with 3 home wins. nilsson had 1g and 2a and vermont went 2-4 on the powerplay and chicago was held to 1-6 on the powerplay and mike eaves had 2 assists.
Weekly Summary: a great finish to a mediocre first half for the foresters. nilsson had 2g 7a for the week and reggie leach 4 goals.