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| Into the Fire: Springfield Trip |
12/12/05, By Mandi LaVoie
As we headed towards Springfield into an amazingly fiery sunset I guess we should have known how the game would end up. On
Saturday, December 10th the Manchester Monarchs Booster Club had it's second road trip of the season. Now road trips are
always fun and this one would be no exception. We had a really luxurious bus and everyone got cozy and ready to watch some
movies. The first choice of the night was "The Replacements." After quite a few tries, the DVD just wouldn't play it so it was
replaced with "Madagascar." Well this movie worked for a bit and then kept freezing up. ML Belforti tried "The Replacements"
again and for some reason the second time was the charm.
Every once in a while on this trip you could hear bells. No, it wasn't the holiday spirit or anything, it was the new bright purple
MMBC cow bells! If we hit a bump or someone moved something it sounded like "Elsie" the cow was walking around.
We got to Springfield just before the doors opened. When we got off the bus there were some of the members of the Springfield
Falcons booster club to greet us. We all chatted for a bit and then went into the Mass Mutual Center. The arena was recently
renovated and is set up well and very clean. Everyone found their seats and wandered around to see where things were in the
arena. Many of us went next to the Monarchs bench to watch warm-ups and take pictures. It was fun to have the whole bunch of
us use the bells when the Monarchs first hit the ice during the line-up introductions. I think due to the bells and the fact that the
MassMutual Center was nowhere near capacity made us sound LOUD!
Both teams came out playing hard and seemed very evenly matched. Jason Jaspers started out the scoring for the Falcons on
the power play at the 11:30 mark following a huge pileup in front of the Manchester net. Just a few minutes later at 14:54 Petr
Kanko riled up all of the Monarchs fans with a beauty of a shorthanded goal on a breakaway, beating goalie Gerald Coleman top
shelf to tie the game at one. Ryan Craig made it 2-1 Falcons at the 19:19 mark with an assist from Jaspers.
The second period belonged to the Monarchs. Just 16 seconds into the second frame, Jeff Guiliano scored on the rebound with
some help from Noah Clark and Marty Wilford. Noah Clark scored on the power play at the 3:07 mark on assists from Brad
Smyth and Wilford. During the period, Adam Hauser made some great saves and the Monarchs seemed to be getting stronger.
End of the second, 3-2 Monarchs.
Springfield struck first in the third period. Doug O'Brien scored at 7:53 with assists from Jaspers and Dennis Packard to tie the
game at three. Jeff Tambellini thrilled the Monarchs fans by putting the exclamation point on a perfect set up from Connor
James and Kanko at 12:38 to once again put the Monarchs up by one. Jaspers recorded his fourth point of the night, tying the
game once again for the Falcons at 13:17 on assists from Craig and Anders Eriksson. There were some interesting referee calls
towards the end of the third. The Monarchs unfortunately ended up with the short end of the stick and struggled to hold off
Springfield. For a bit, the Falcons had a 5-3 advantage. The late penalties took their toll on the Monarchs defense and Craig (four
points on the night) slipped the game winner past Hauser on the power play at the 18:56 mark with assists from Eriksson & Norm
Milley. Final score 5-4 Springfield. It was a tough loss.
The Springfield Falcons Booster Club brought four of the biggest pizzas I have ever seen over to us for the trip home. The pizza
was really good even though the spirits weren't. They also gave us a big box of chocolate chip cookies that were all in little
baggies tied up with ribbons. It was really thoughtful of them! We watched the end of "The Replacements" on the way home.
The movie was about a team of "replacement" football players who take over a team when the NFL goes on strike. What it all
comes down to in the movie is the "heart" of the team. In the movie, because of that "heart" the team wins the big game. We
know that the Monarchs have that heart - that spirit. In fact we've seen it all season so far. Hey, you can't win them all.
As we headed towards Springfield into an amazingly fiery sunset I guess we should have known how the game would end up. On
Saturday, December 10th the Manchester Monarchs Booster Club had it's second road trip of the season. Now road trips are
always fun and this one would be no exception. We had a really luxurious bus and everyone got cozy and ready to watch some
movies. The first choice of the night was "The Replacements." After quite a few tries, the DVD just wouldn't play it so it was
replaced with "Madagascar." Well this movie worked for a bit and then kept freezing up. ML Belforti tried "The Replacements"
again and for some reason the second time was the charm.
Every once in a while on this trip you could hear bells. No, it wasn't the holiday spirit or anything, it was the new bright purple
MMBC cow bells! If we hit a bump or someone moved something it sounded like "Elsie" the cow was walking around.
We got to Springfield just before the doors opened. When we got off the bus there were some of the members of the Springfield
Falcons booster club to greet us. We all chatted for a bit and then went into the Mass Mutual Center. The arena was recently
renovated and is set up well and very clean. Everyone found their seats and wandered around to see where things were in the
arena. Many of us went next to the Monarchs bench to watch warm-ups and take pictures. It was fun to have the whole bunch of
us use the bells when the Monarchs first hit the ice during the line-up introductions. I think due to the bells and the fact that the
MassMutual Center was nowhere near capacity made us sound LOUD!
Both teams came out playing hard and seemed very evenly matched. Jason Jaspers started out the scoring for the Falcons on
the power play at the 11:30 mark following a huge pileup in front of the Manchester net. Just a few minutes later at 14:54 Petr
Kanko riled up all of the Monarchs fans with a beauty of a shorthanded goal on a breakaway, beating goalie Gerald Coleman top
shelf to tie the game at one. Ryan Craig made it 2-1 Falcons at the 19:19 mark with an assist from Jaspers.
The second period belonged to the Monarchs. Just 16 seconds into the second frame, Jeff Guiliano scored on the rebound with
some help from Noah Clark and Marty Wilford. Noah Clark scored on the power play at the 3:07 mark on assists from Brad
Smyth and Wilford. During the period, Adam Hauser made some great saves and the Monarchs seemed to be getting stronger.
End of the second, 3-2 Monarchs.
Springfield struck first in the third period. Doug O'Brien scored at 7:53 with assists from Jaspers and Dennis Packard to tie the
game at three. Jeff Tambellini thrilled the Monarchs fans by putting the exclamation point on a perfect set up from Connor
James and Kanko at 12:38 to once again put the Monarchs up by one. Jaspers recorded his fourth point of the night, tying the
game once again for the Falcons at 13:17 on assists from Craig and Anders Eriksson. There were some interesting referee calls
towards the end of the third. The Monarchs unfortunately ended up with the short end of the stick and struggled to hold off
Springfield. For a bit, the Falcons had a 5-3 advantage. The late penalties took their toll on the Monarchs defense and Craig (four
points on the night) slipped the game winner past Hauser on the power play at the 18:56 mark with assists from Eriksson & Norm
Milley. Final score 5-4 Springfield. It was a tough loss.
The Springfield Falcons Booster Club brought four of the biggest pizzas I have ever seen over to us for the trip home. The pizza
was really good even though the spirits weren't. They also gave us a big box of chocolate chip cookies that were all in little
baggies tied up with ribbons. It was really thoughtful of them! We watched the end of "The Replacements" on the way home.
The movie was about a team of "replacement" football players who take over a team when the NFL goes on strike. What it all
comes down to in the movie is the "heart" of the team. In the movie, because of that "heart" the team wins the big game. We
know that the Monarchs have that heart - that spirit. In fact we've seen it all season so far. Hey, you can't win them all.
| Copyright © 2003-2006 Manchester Monarchs Booster Club. All Rights Reserved. |
