From the vault: Two disallowed

While trying to sleep last night (bless you, Tim Horton; your coffee’s too good to pass up), and thinking about how Matt Keith said the puck went off his chest (still haven’t seen a good replay), what popped to mind but another night the Sound Tigers had two goals disallowed, including one — get this — off Derek Bekar’s chest…

Behold below the fold, from Jan. 2, 2004, about the events of Dec. 31, 2003 (too late for the way-early edition…)…


BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — In a couple of ways, the last two days of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ seven-game road trip seemed like October revisited: mild weather outside during the day, offbeat plays going against the team at night.

In part because of those plays, Bridgeport came home Wednesday night carrying its first two-game losing streak since the second and third games of the season. After an overtime loss Tuesday in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Bridgeport lost 2-0 to the Senators here Wednesday.

Like the last time Bridgeport lost its second in a row — a 2-1 Senators win in Bridgeport Oct. 13 — there was controversy. Referee Gordon Dwyer disallowed two apparent Sound Tigers goals in the first two periods.

That followed Tuesday’s game-winner for the Penguins, which went off the post, off goalie Rick DiPietro and into the net.

Dwyer waved off Derek Bekar’s goal with 7:03 left in the first period because, Bridgeport coach Greg Cronin said, the referee believed Bekar directed the puck in with his chest.

“I’ve never heard of that in my life,” Cronin said. “(Bekar) gets cross-checked from behind and it bounces up off his chest — how is that not a goal?”

In the second period, Ben Guite wasn’t given credit for a goal on a play that appeared to be the inverse of the pivotal Oct. 13 call.

In that game, Binghamton’s Tony Tuzzolino took a shot from the right circle that appeared on replay to go off the near post and deflect away, but it was ruled a goal by referee Dan O’Rourke.

Wednesday, Guite took a shot from the left circle that appeared to go off the right post, go into the net and bounce out. Guite, who saw the shot hit the post and then the vertical bar in the back of the net, celebrated as he was knocked over by a defenseman.

“I thought it was in. So did everyone else in the rink,” Guite said. “Everyone went silent. Everyone realized it was a goal.”

The goal judge, who lit the red light and left it on, apparently thought it was in. Dwyer did not, though, and his was the only opinion that mattered.

“(Dwyer) never asked the goal judge,” Cronin said. “It’s an embarrassment for the league. It’s an embarrassment for the game. He should be embarrassed.”

Bridgeport lost an overtime game Oct. 24 against Hartford when referee Scott Hoberg gave Dominic Moore a goal that appeared to hit the crossbar.

After that, the Sound Tigers did not lose another game until Dec. 17, recording at least one point in the standings in 22 consecutive games.

“When we went on that 22-game streak, we were getting a lot of breaks,” Guite said. “Everything kind of evens out in the end.”

Breaks or not, the Sound Tigers scored just one goal in two games. Bridgeport failed on all 10 of its power plays in the last two games, and Denis Hamel scored on a short-handed breakaway on the Sound Tigers’ first opportunity.

DiPietro returned to the New York Islanders after the game after stopping 52 out of 55 shots in two games.

“It was a good chance to get down and see all these guys. I’ve got a lot of good friends down here. It was good to see Cro and Bags (assistant coach Dave Baseggio) again,” DiPietro said. “It was a good opportunity for me to come down and play.”

Kevin Colley, who had been expected to sit out, played Wednesday, still bugged by the virus sweeping through the team. Alan Letang sat out his first game of the year.

“(The bug) didn’t take anything out of us (Wednesday),” Cronin said. “We got (expletived) by the officiating tonight, and that’s a fact.”

Bridgeport finished its seven-game trip with a 4-2-0-1 record. Both regulation losses were Ray Emery shutouts at the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena, including a 2-0 win Dec. 26.

Both Binghamton games went to the third period with the Senators leading 1-0 before they scored into an empty net with one second left.

Michael Fornabaio