Turning points: Portland from afar/after the fact

So this thing this afternoon appears to have turned sharply in the last minute of the second period.

Bridgeport led 2-1 when the Sound Tigers, breaking up the left wing, had Matt Mangene take a hit from Joel Hanley. Phil called it an elbow. Terry Koharski did not. The teams scrummed. Mangene got up and went after Hanley. Mangene got the only penalty. Jordan Szwarz scored on a rebound. Tie game.

Then Lucas Lessio slashed Scott Mayfield in the hand midway through the third to take a penalty. On the power play, Mayfield turned the puck over, Andy Miele found a trailing Randy Jones, Jones scored, ballgame.

Randy Jones came into the game with 216 AHL games and 365 NHL games. Bridgeport’s 18 skaters came into the game with, as a group, 1,316 AHL games and 50 NHL games. (I know, we do this a lot, but there’s a reason.)

And Jones’ short-handed game-winner was totally the coolest thing that happened to Clarkson hockey all day, I assume.

…..

(That assumption is faulty. Holy cro. Quite the scene over at QU; fun game to watch.)

Brock Montpetit makes his pro debut:

F: Walters-A.Clark-Persson
Broda-Root-Langlois
Mangene-Langkow-Vaughan
Gallant (A)-Montpetit-Johnson
(Wetmore-scratch)
D: Ness (A)-Mayfield
Finley (A)-Cantin
LeBoeuf-Newton
G: Poulin
Reiter

R: T.Koharski. L: Colby, Wahl.

I’m not saying good/bad/indifferent (there may be some of all three), just numbers. But with Terry Koharski this year, Bridgeport is 2-8, he’s been one of two refs for three match penalties (the Cornell Rule-48 on Backman in Manchester, and the two Cantin Rule-48s), he was one of two refs for the night-after-Christmas gong show against Hartford that got Justin Johnson suspended the first time, and Bridgeport’s two wins were at Utica (power plays 3-0 Utica) and here for Springfield (power plays 13-6 Springfield).

Ryan Walters took seven shots, one of which became his first pro goal. He’s got 12 shots in two games. At this pace he could lead the active team in shots by the end of the year. Maybe the end of the week. (Not really. But still.)

They practice tomorrow.

Michael Fornabaio