by
Jeff Parzych
Chris Higgins scored 3:47 into overtime to lead the Hamilton Bulldogs to a 3-2 win over the Syracuse Crunch in American Hockey League action Saturday night.
On home ice, head coach Gary Agnew expects his club to come out with a sense of urgency. After surrendering a goal twelve seconds into Saturday's contest against the Hamilton Bulldogs that sense of urgency increased two fold.
A harmless shot off the stick of recently signed blueliner Dan Focht turned into a prime scoring opportunity when Crunch netminder Karl Goehring lost the puck amidst a sea of legs in front of the Syracuse net. An opportunistic Gavin Morgan pounced on the loose biscuit and flipped a shot over the prone Goehring giving the Bulldogs and early 1-0 lead.
Syracuse dominated play for the remaining nineteen minutes and change of the opening period, out shooting Hamilton 22-3 over that time. The Crunch's dormant power play also awoke in the opening frame, resulting in a Mark Hartigan tally to tie the game at one.
The play started when Jamie Pushor denied a Bulldog clearing attempt by keeping the puck in the zone at the blue line. His shot from the point was denied, but Mark Hartigan jumped on a loose puck in the slot and slipped a shot five-hole past Yann Danis. The goal, the second of the year for Hartigan, was only the third power play tally for the Crunch in 41 attempts.
Late in the second period Hamilton regained the lead with a power play goal of their own. Two-time CHL player of the year Corey Locke batted a Marc-Andre Thinel cross crease feed just over the goal line for his third of the season and a 2-1 Bulldog advantage.
The Crunch evened things up yet again in the third with some great individual efforts from Andre Lakos, Mike Pandolfo and Joe Motzko. Lakos kicked things off when he bailed out his goaltender by sweeping away a puck that had gotten behind Goehring.
He cleared the puck out to the blueline and that is where Mike Pandolfo blocked a Hamilton drive from the point, creating a two on one with Joe Motzko going the other way. Pandolfo saucered a gorgeous pass to Motzko who patiently buried the puck top shelf for the shorthanded tally and a tie hockey game.
That score remained until late into the extra session. With the puck in the Bulldog zone Crunch forward Matthais Trattnig was hogtied in the corner, taking him out of the play, creating an odd man break for Hamilton. On that break Marc-Andre Thinel fed Chris Higgins, who beat Goehring, giving the Bulldogs the 3-2 win.
Yann Danis went the distance for Hamilton, recording 44 saves on the night. Karl Goehring stopped 23 shots in a losing effort for Syracuse.
Crunch Ice Pack:
Date:October 30, 2004
Where:War Memorial at Oncenter
Opponent:Hamilton Bulldogs
Attendance:4,489
Boxscore:
First Period-Scoring-1. Hamilton, Morgan 1 (Focht, Ott), :12. 2. Syracuse, Hartigan 2 (Moran, Jackman), 8:18, (pp). Penalties-Jancevski, Ham (interference), 7:42; Hainsey, Ham (holding), 10:24; Hartigan, Syr (holding the stick), 18:15.
Second Period-Scoring-3. Hamilton, Locke 3 (Thinel, Milroy), 13:38, (pp). Penalties-Trattnig, Syr (high stick), 1:59; Plante, Ham (obs. hooking), 2:37; Kostitsyn, Ham (hooking), 5:30; Motzko, Syr (holding), 7:29; Tollefsen, Syr (interference), 11:44; Morgan, Ham (fighting), 14:45; Reich, Syr (fighting), 14:45; Daley, Ham (roughing), 16:39; Motzko, Syr (roughing), 16:39; Panzer, Syr (tripping), 16:54; Jancevski, Ham (slashing), 20:00.
Third Period-Scoring-4. Syracuse, Motzko 2 (Pandolfo, Lakos), 7:22, (sh). Penalties-Johnson, Syr (boarding), 1:36; Johnson, Syr (roughing), 6:15.
Overtime-Scoring-5. Hamilton, Higgens 2 (Thinel), 3:47. Penalties-No penalties.
Shots on Goal:Hamilton, 4-7-10-5--26; Syracuse, 22-11-13-0--46.
Power Play Opportunities:Hamilton, 1-7; Syracuse, 1-5.
Goalies-Hamilton, Danis (4-1-0), 46 shots-44 saves; Syracuse, Goehring (0-2-0), 26 shots- 23 saves.
Referee-Ryan Fraser (14); Linesman- Mike Baker (11), Derek Sylvester (76)
Three Stars:
1. Chris Higgens: Scores game-winner on odd man break courtesy of a horrible no call from Referee Ryan Fraser.
2. Joe Motzko: Tied game in third with short-handed tally. Motzko was strong all game.
3. Yann Danis: 44 saves on the night. Carried the Bulldogs on his back all night long.
I Hear Voices:
"It's frustrating because we know we are getting the chances. We are getting the shots on net and creating a lot of opportunities which is fine, but eventually they are going to start falling." --Mark Hartigan on the Crunch's missed opportunities.
"We can't panic and start changing our game. We are getting the shots and going to the net and creating our opportunities so we are not going to change our game and we are going to keep playing the same way we play." --Hartigan on what needs to be done to start converting.
"We started generating opportunities on the power play and then we started doing too much on the power play. We just need to get a shot from the point, go to the net and start crashing away. That is the key to our power play, put the puck on net." --Hartigan on converting with the man advantage.
"I was standing there and the guy just pulled my jersey and I lost my balance. I couldn't do anything and away they went." --Matthais Trattnig on the no-call that led to the game-winning goal.
"Pando made a great block and got to the loose puck. Then he made a great pass under the sliding defenseman and I had a wide open net to tap it into." --Joe Motzko on his shorthanded goal.
"I have been gripping the stick a little tight lately so I decided to hold off a little bit there." --Motzko on how patient he was converting on his break with Pandolfo.
Lineups:
Hamilton:Goal:Dan Ellis, Yann Denis.Defense: Dan Jancevski, Andrew Archer, Trevor Daley, Phillipe Plante, Matt Shasby, Jean-Phillipe Cote, Dan Focht, Ron Hainsey. Forwards: Gavin Morgan, Tomas Plekanec, Jason Ward, Andrei Kostitsyn, Benoit Dusablon, Jonathon Ferland, Duncan Milroy, Marc-Andre Thinel, Michael Lambert, Cory Urquhart, Raitis Ivanans, Benjamin Carpentier, Steve Ott, Chris Higgens, Corey Locke.
Syracuse:Goal:Karl Goehring, Pascal Leclaire.Defense: Zenith Komarniski, Andre Lakos, Jamie Pushor, Aaron Johnson, Prestin Ryan, Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, Francois Beauchemin. Forwards: Joe Motzko, Jeremy Reich, Tim Jackman, Mark Hartigan, Matthias Trattnig, Raffaele Sannitz, Alexander Svitov, Brandon Sugden, Greg Mauldin, Mike Pandolfo, Jeff Panzer, Steve Goertzen, Brad Moran.
Pre-game Skate:
Scratched for the Crunch were defenseman Zenith Komarniski (neck) and Greg Mauldin (mouth). The Bulldogs scratched defensemen Andrew Archer and Jean-Phillipe Cote, centers Benoit Dusablon and Cory Urquhart and left wing Michael Lambert.
Short Shifts:
Right wing Greg Mauldin participated in warm-ups on Saturday and could have played, but the Crunch decided to not risk it and sat Mauldin for Saturday's game. Mauldin was scheduled to see a dentist Saturday afternoon about the injury he suffered Friday evening……Mauldin's injury opened the door for center Raffaele Sannitz to make his War Memorial debut…….Corey Locke's power play goal in the second period was the first the Crunch have surrendered on home ice this season……The Crunch's 22 shots in the first period along with their 46 shot total were both season highs for the Crunch.
On Deck:
The Crunch hit the Thruway on Sunday for a late afternoon tilt against the biggest rival, the Rochester Americans. Last night the Amerks downed Hershey 5-1 at the Giant Center on the strength of three power play goals. Game time is set for 4:00 P.M.