It has been a week since I've returned from my brief 5 day excursion to Portland, ME and Manchester, NH. Because of the "great fire" at the corner of Hollywood and Vine, our offices (Capitol Records) are closed today, and I have a few spare moments (hours) to reflect on my journey and the things I had planned to blog about.
I had a wonderful time. New England is so different from Southern California, and it was particularly flawless during my travels. I arrived just past midnight on the morning of Friday the 19th. I had flown Jet Blue out of Burbank to JFK (and the horror on that flight was that both the DirecTV and the XM was not working at my seat) and then switched planes and went on from New York up to Portland. I hopped a cab to a local airport hotel, and slept 5 hours. Woke up semi-refreshed (technically it was 3AM for me...) and went to one of my "recovery" meetings (that I attend daily while remaining anonymous.) Headed back to the hotel, checked out and grabbed my rental vehicle and drove a couple of hours north to a town called Camden, ME, where I was to spend the day/night with my dear friends Marc and Kim and their 2 year old son Ethan. They had relocated from the San Fernando Valley late last year, and this was my first time seeing them since the move. Marc and I have been friends since 1972, and we've had our professional lives intersect time and time again so this was the one day of no hockey I allowed myself on this whirlwind excursion.
Saturday morning I was up at the crack of dawn again, and ambled downstairs, threw my luggage into the car and headed to Manchester, a good 3.5 hour drive south. This was my fourth trip to Manchvegas, and I actually have a pretty good feel for the area, so my arrival was not complicated in the least. I arranged dinner plans with my friend Marlene, and drove to the hotel. Checked in, and found one of my "meetings," and headed downtown for some spirituality prior to my meal and Monarchs.
The Monarchs were down two games to none to a Providence Bruins team that dominated the Eastern portion of the AHL all season long. Finnish goaltender Tuukka Rask has been the real deal since being acquired from the Maple Leafs, who drafted him in the first round in 2005, and then dealt him for Raycroft prior to his arrival in North America. Personally, I always seem to have a love affair with Finnish goaltenders, believing that Niittymaki, Toivonen and Rask are all blue chip prospects, with star potential. Of course, having watched Kings goaltending for over 30 years, I could be wowed by Score-O...
Anyway, great to see Marlene, great to see so many Monarchs fans I have met over the years, and great to be back in the Verizon Wireless Arena, where my cell phone coverage is spotty despite my service provider of the same name.
The fans are already aggravated as the ref is the hated Francois St. Laurent, who, as legend has it, has been screwing the Monarchs out of wins for as long as the team has been in operation. Personally, I'm not sure of this fact, but I do know that watching a game that has one ref is a major adjustment after watching games with two for the better part of the last few seasons. Just one goal is scored in the first two periods, and it's from the Bruins T.J. Trevalyan, but at one point in the first period, Kanko blisters a shot that from where I was sitting (to the left of the Bruins net) sure looked like it had gone under the crossbar, but it flew out quickly and play continued. The team celebrated, the crowd celebrated, the red light went on, but the goal judge offered a shrug when questioned, and without video review in the AHL, St. Laurent waved off the tally and the Monarchs were without a goal. Later the Monarchs put one behind Rask, but a goaltender interference call that may or may not have been justified was all that stood behind the "1" going up on the Monarchs portion of the scoreboard. Oh well. Life goes on. Midway through the third, the baby B's Wacey Rabbit (how can you not LOVE a guy named Wacey Rabbit... that Wascal) scored to make it 2-0 and then the fun began. Eight seconds after the goal, coincidental minors made it a 4 on 4 skating situation, and then five seconds after that, Bruins defenseman Jonathan Sigalet got called for interference and the Monarchs were on the power play. On the ice were Teddy Purcell and Matt Moulson (already both minus 2) and defensemen Troy Milam and Peter Harrold (already both minus 1) - and it was Milam scoring from Purcell and Harrold to get the 'Narchs on the board less than a half minute later. While it was the third puck to get by Rask, it was the first that counted, and the lead was cut in half. A couple minutes later, Bruins rookie winger Byron Bitz (no player with the last name Kibbles listed in the Hockey DB... shame) was flagged for tripping, and less than a minute later the Monarchs tied the game on a Moulson goal from Purcell and Milam. As you all know, overtime ensued and while the parent Bruins were engaged in a real goalfest against Montreal just a short drive down the freeway from Manchester, the baby B's pulled out an overtime victory themselves, with Jeff Hoggan scoring one of those improbable goals, banking the puck from behind the net off goaltender Bernier's rear. Bernier never moved, never flinched... the puck was in seemingly harmless position and then a split second later it was dribbling behind the goal line and the celebration began. Oh, and yes, Purcell, Milam, Harrold and Moulson were on the ice at the time, so despite the two power play tallies, that was a nifty minus TEN between the four of them. It was hard to say any Monarch was particularly impressive in this game, aside from Bernier, who really did match Rask's performance virtually shot for shot. Rask had 33 saves, Bernier had 31 and the highlights for me were:
* Oscar Moller's first pro game. A good first period and some very strong work with Zeiler and Murray. Periods two and three he was less visible, but he made an early impression.
* Kanko's determination. I've never been a huge believer in the guy, but after Bernier, he was clearly the most interested party in a Monarchs uniform.
* Playing the part of Carmen Sandiego, please welcome Lauri Tukonen... has he fallen that far down the depth chart as to be a healthy scratch for a home playoff game while Moller, Westgarth, Cliche, Murray, Ryan, Kanko and company get the call?
One game down, two games to go, and one more thing about this night that I can write about, but it gets its own entry, just so I can title it properly.
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