Chirps from Center Ice

Technical difficulties hounded me all night tonight on AHL Live. It was on my end with my internet service provider just being painfully painfully slow in buffering the action in Rochester tonight. Suffice to say, I wasn’t able to watch more than :30 of live action, so I gave up and simply relied on radio on 102.3 The Mountain.

Brad Thiessen v. Tyler Plante in goal this evening. Tim Wallace, Ryan Craig and Andrew Hutchinson had the A’s tonight. Brett Sterling was back from injury. Corey Potter tweaked something in the morning skate so Joey Mormina skated on D in his place. This was all before AHL Commissioner Dave Andrews. Whatever Potter had radio called, “not serious”.

Before the game was 9:30 old, Rochester was up 3-0. Ryan Del Monte even strength, Michael Duco on a power play after a Chris Collins hold to snap the penalty kill streak then Bill Thomas after a Brett Sterling slash.

At this point, we are down 0-3, and are 0-2 on the penalty kill and flirting with disaster. John Curry per radio had the stomach flu so Thiessen needed to ride the storm out. What happened next was a thing of beauty.

Chris Collins with the answer goal with 4:30 left to play in the first period. Then, Eric Tangradi cleanly puts an American into the boards. Michael Duco takes exception and fights the Big Dog, but Eric doesn’t throw punches and is rather body slammed to the ice. Referee Marcus Vinnerborg assessed a 5-minute fighting major and a high sticking call (could have called him for instigating) and Brett Sterling, back from injury, makes the Amerks pay. 3-2.

Second period saw fisticuffs in front of Tyler Plante’s crease. Apparently Mr. Plante doesn’t know who Jesse Boulerice is as per radio (again I was not able to see on AHL Live due to internet issues) Plante swung his stick at Boulerice. Jesse took exception and in the dogpile, outside of Plante’s crease he took some swings. Dumb. Momentum shift right there for WBS. Later, Chris Conner scored to tie the game at three.

Third period Eric Tangradi took a 4 minute double minor for a high stick. I thought at this point if Rochester was going to score, it was going to be here. No. Dustin Jeffrey, long known as a quality penalty killer, intercepted a pass and scored a shorthanded goal to make it 4-3 WBS.

After that, radio described Rochester buzzing all over Thiessen’s net in the offensive zone. Likely a forgettable game for Andrew Hutchinson as his name was called after some turnovers. Thiessen settled down and turned all the shots aside.

Tim Wallace scored at 16:52 of the third to make it 5-3 and it’s over right? Not so fast. Almost 30 seconds later, Scott Timmins makes it interesting to make it 5-4 unassisted. Rochester pulled Plante after a timeout but wasn’t able to get the equalizer, and Wilkes-Barre is a clean 9-0-0-0 to start the season.

Should be interesting to see what Bombulie thought of this game, as JB reported no issues in buffering from his home. I love the way we battled. It is obvious that this team can battle back from just about anything. If you are a Wilkes-Barre fan you are loving this.

Stars were 3) Duco, 2) Collins, 1) Wallace.

Elsewhere in the East, Norfolk beat Charlotte in a shootout, 3-2. Bingo, in front of 13,000+ at the Bell Centre in Montreal lost to Hamilton 5-2, Albany defeated Worcester 3-2 in a shootout and tomorrow’s opponent the Syracuse Crunch were defeated by the Springfield Falcons 3-2 in a shootout.

Points wise, we are four to the good over the nearest competition at this point which is Norfolk, with 18 points to their 14. They play Charlotte again tomorrow. Hershey is dormant until Sunday and can get leaped over in the points by Albany if the Devils defeat Rochester tomorrow.

That is about all. The boys are on the way back home probably as you read this. Get ready for some fun tomorrow vs. Syracuse. Let’s Go Pens!