Feeling (bar) Down: Hartford postgame

“It was an obvious goal, that goal that was disallowed,” Mike Halmo said. “At the same time, we had ample chances.”

Well, that was easy. See you Tuesday.

…..

(Been a while since I pulled that one out, no?)

Bridgeport, Alan Quine, Halmo: They’re insistent that they led this 2-1 Hartford overtime win 2-1. With 12:29 left in regulation, Quine beat his man on the right side after Halmo fired a puck cross-ice to him. Quine then beat Hellberg and went backhand up top. The puck (goes in/hits the crossbar), then appears to hit the left post.

There’s an angle that was shown briefly on the video screen that may at least appear to show the puck in. It’s not entirely clear that the entire puck was over the entire line, because the loops attaching the twine to the frame block the very edge of the puck, the angle isn’t directly overhead, and the video’s just OK. In fairness, it’s not clear that this frame is the initial point of contact, either; just the first frame we got. And it’s certainly not clear that this is the “official” overhead, by any means, so whatever Tom Chmielewski and Tim Mayer saw, it was evidently enough to overturn the initial “goal” call.

It’s pretty wild, though: Greg Cronin, in situations like that, always used to talk about body language. Hellberg and the other Wolf Pack players on the ice seem pretty resigned. Quine celebrates. The only guy who seems upset is Mat Bodie, who happens to be right at the left post. Guess he got an audience, got it reviewed and got it taken off the board.

And all that said: 0-for-7, over two minutes of five-on-three time, a couple of four-on-three chances. And nothing to show for it. The second period is a Hartford-dominated period without it. (Coincidentally, the first was Bridgeport’s period, and it trailed after one; the second was Hartford’s, but for the PP shooting gallery, and Scott Mayfield’s little end-to-end tied it up.)

So the race gets a little tighter.

…..

Will likely next catch up with them Monday. Happy Easter if we don’t chat sooner. May drop a little updated playoff race look tomorrow night as teams use up their games in hand.

Would prescout Portland’s game tonight, but the Pirates play tomorrow, too, as does the rest of the league except Bridgeport and I think it was Rockford. Sena Acolatse sat out tonight for the hit Wednesday on Scott Mayfield. The Pirates came back to win in the third, which is the bigger thing for Bridgeport. Portland and Hartford are both four back now. With Portland having two games in hand and perhaps out of its little doldrums, could be trouble. (That said, this is just Bridgeport’s second losing streak since The January Losing Streak, so, you know, win your games, momentum’s as good as your next day’s starter, whatever.)

WBS (Mouillierat) and Hershey (some other dude in OT, whatever, but Ness in regulation) won in overtime, so their division lead is five over Providence, which lost in Allentown, and one more to Bridgeport. Syracuse won, so they’re four behind Portland and Hartford for the effective last playoff spot, though Rochester has games in hand.

Playoff races. What a concept.

Lots of recent birth announcements: Big congratulations to Josh Heller, Dustin Jeffrey and Matt Donovan.

West Haven’s Lisa Giovanelli will be the GM of the NWHL’s Connecticut Whale; she remains assistant coach as well.

RIP, referee Butch Mousseaux, who died from injuries he suffered in an on-ice fall last week. He was one of the linesmen in Game 5 of the 2002 Calder Cup Final, the Bridgeport-Chicago double-overtime season-ended.

And RIP, Garry Shandling (a very underrated theme song).

Michael Fornabaio