It’s a trend.
Long trip. Sleep enticing. Sleep good. Thoughts first:
–Playing 15 skaters and trying to come back against Providence is one thing, with all due respect to the Bruins. Trying to do it against Portland is, to borrow from Smokey Robinson, quite a different subject.
–Too many people left open tonight. Two quick goals put Bridgeport way too deep in the hole.
–That said, they battled (–Art Howe).
–How about that two-minute power-play shift for the first unit? They were out for the second minute of one power play, then Portland took another minor, and Baseggio kept them out, and it took them another minute and a half to score, Hamilton’s goal. Portland had blocked three shots on that extended shift, so Hamilton’s goal was the first shot the unit took.
–Hamilton has goals in five in a row, which ties a team record. It’s his third time; Roche, Hunter and Papineau have also done it. Masse has a goal in three in a row.
–Even with the new, flashy white numbers, Cole Jarrett got a minus on the first Portland goal. Pretty sure it was Hamilton. (The ‘A’ on both must have thrown them off.)
–Close to a sellout at the CCCC, including a busload of BPT boosters…
–With Masi Marjamaki out (knee — day to day), Paul Flache played right wing again. He had a couple of really good shifts in the second period, including one on which he threw a big hit and forced two turnovers, leading to a scoring chance. To use an old Greg Cronin line, you noticed him.
–Justin Papineau: Soreness in the shoulder was apparently the determining factor in keeping him out this weekend. They’re hoping for next weekend.
–Portland is deep and scary. That said, there were some folks up there (not team folks, just folks) counting out Hartford when the Pack trailed in Norfolk tonight. The Pack came back. The Pack will not go away. If Hartford and Portland meet in the playoffs, I hope the games in Hartford are scheduled for nights I’m off.
–Sunday will be an interesting day for the East Division standings, particularly in the “GP” column at about 8 p.m. (Maybe I’ll be back then. Maybe I’ll be up then.)
LINEUPS
BRIDGEPORT
F: Thompson-Koalska-Hamilton (A)
Masse-Regier-Flache
Tunik-Lee-Tallari
D: Pettinen-Jarrett (A)
Larocque-Caldwell
Rourke (A)-Pratt
PORTLAND
F: Penner-Konopka (A)-Shannon
Ferguson-Gavey (C)-Bembridge
Peters (A)-Pohanka-Parenteau
Bittner/Landry
D: O’Brien-Rome
Huskins-Kondratiev
Smid-K. Smith
–State champions: ND-Fairfield, Hand and Cheshire. Interesting trio.
Posted by mike on March 19, 2006 04:31 AM
Comments
Congratulations to ND of Fairfield and especially Marty Roos. He deserves this title. Great job!
Posted by: prussell at March 19, 2006 12:33 PM