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| When It Rains, It Pours - Hartford Trip 2005 |
10/10/05
A boat could have gotten us to Hartford. Everyone arrived on time in the downpour on Saturday, October 8th to catch the bus for
the first road trip of the year for the Monarchs Booster Club. Somehow everyone made it through the summer without hockey
but was really excited to see the Monarchs get going again. Along the way, we watched "Are We There Yet?" And of course
that's what we were all thinking! What was the "new" team going to be like? Would Joe Rullier be playing for Hartford that
night? Believe it or not - I think the first game of the season is really a nail biter for the fans too!
We arrived in Hartford with a few minutes to go before they opened the doors. It was really, really hot in the lobby - in fact we
were starting to wonder if we were going to have to see a floor hockey game instead! It was much cooler in the Hartford Civic
Center though, and the ice looked just fine. It was fun watching warm-ups and trying to see how well I had done studying the new
names. I did better than I thought I would. I think some of the new guys were pretty surprised to see so many of us there for the
first game of the season since it was on the road. Yes, Rullier was playing for Hartford and he was wearing #7. We noticed that
he did look over towards the Monarchs a few times. Even though we have some really young rookies this year, I still think he had
more pre-game jitters than anyone on the ice!
Before the game, the Hartford Wolf Pack honored long time player, AHL all-star, and now assistant coach, Ken Gernander by
retiring his number #12. The ceremony was very moving - even for the Monarchs fans in attendance. Gernander recalled
wanting to play hockey as a kid because a neighbor played and told him that he would get, "free tape, laces and bubblegum." (I
thought that would be a great title of his autobiography if he wrote one someday!) He later said that, "it is said that you play for
the name on the front of your jersey - not the name on the back." I think everyone can relate to that!
The Monarchs started off the scoring 6:59 into the first period on a goal from defenseman Marty Wilford on the power play with
help from Noah Clark and Lauri Tukonen. Just a few minutes later, Connor James stepped out of the penalty box, grabbed the
puck and broke in on Al Montoya, beating him at 11:58 - 2-0 Monarchs, much to the delight of the Monarchs fans! Jarkko
Immonen scored for the Wolf Pack on the power play at 14:23 with assists from Fedor Fedorov and Jake Taylor. At the end of the
first period it was 2-1 Monarchs. Both teams took a while to get going in the second period. James scored his second goal of the
game at 18:41 with assists from Jeff Giuliano and Joey Mormina to give the Monarchs a two goal lead again. It was short lived as
Craig Weller slipped one by Adam Hauser on the power play at the 19:01 mark with some help from Martin Grenier and Bruce
Graham to keep the Wolf Pack within one, 3-2 Monarchs at the end of the second period. There seemed to be a really high
number of odd penalty calls throughout the game. They ended up starting to unravel the Monarchs during the third period. 6:18
into the third, the Wolf Pack tied it up on a goal from Ivan Baranka with assists from Federov and Graham while Brad Smyth was
serving a bench minor for delay of game for the Monarchs. And then came the kicker. With under a minute to go in the third
period - and the Monarchs serving a too many men on the ice penalty the unthinkable happened. Immonen was able to deflect a
Joe Rullier slap shot from the blue line past Adam Hauser to give the Wolf Pack the only lead they would need in the game. Final
score 4-3 Wolf Pack. Shots on goal: Monarchs 25, Wolf Pack 37.
It was a heartbreaker, but hey the Wolf Pack had to win their home opener, right.....aaaaagh. The bus trip back was pretty quiet.
We watched a really great movie called "Second Hand Lions." That title doesn't describe the Monarchs this season. Instead, we
have some very young lions that I just know will start to roar. I can't wait for fans at the Verizon wireless arena to see some
young lions like Konstantin Pushkarev and Lauri Tukonen get going!
Before we hit the New Hampshire border - our driver let the team bus pass us. There were some fun thoughts on how to cheer
the team up and make them laugh, however things like that you can only learn by going on a road trip!
A boat could have gotten us to Hartford. Everyone arrived on time in the downpour on Saturday, October 8th to catch the bus for
the first road trip of the year for the Monarchs Booster Club. Somehow everyone made it through the summer without hockey
but was really excited to see the Monarchs get going again. Along the way, we watched "Are We There Yet?" And of course
that's what we were all thinking! What was the "new" team going to be like? Would Joe Rullier be playing for Hartford that
night? Believe it or not - I think the first game of the season is really a nail biter for the fans too!
We arrived in Hartford with a few minutes to go before they opened the doors. It was really, really hot in the lobby - in fact we
were starting to wonder if we were going to have to see a floor hockey game instead! It was much cooler in the Hartford Civic
Center though, and the ice looked just fine. It was fun watching warm-ups and trying to see how well I had done studying the new
names. I did better than I thought I would. I think some of the new guys were pretty surprised to see so many of us there for the
first game of the season since it was on the road. Yes, Rullier was playing for Hartford and he was wearing #7. We noticed that
he did look over towards the Monarchs a few times. Even though we have some really young rookies this year, I still think he had
more pre-game jitters than anyone on the ice!
Before the game, the Hartford Wolf Pack honored long time player, AHL all-star, and now assistant coach, Ken Gernander by
retiring his number #12. The ceremony was very moving - even for the Monarchs fans in attendance. Gernander recalled
wanting to play hockey as a kid because a neighbor played and told him that he would get, "free tape, laces and bubblegum." (I
thought that would be a great title of his autobiography if he wrote one someday!) He later said that, "it is said that you play for
the name on the front of your jersey - not the name on the back." I think everyone can relate to that!
The Monarchs started off the scoring 6:59 into the first period on a goal from defenseman Marty Wilford on the power play with
help from Noah Clark and Lauri Tukonen. Just a few minutes later, Connor James stepped out of the penalty box, grabbed the
puck and broke in on Al Montoya, beating him at 11:58 - 2-0 Monarchs, much to the delight of the Monarchs fans! Jarkko
Immonen scored for the Wolf Pack on the power play at 14:23 with assists from Fedor Fedorov and Jake Taylor. At the end of the
first period it was 2-1 Monarchs. Both teams took a while to get going in the second period. James scored his second goal of the
game at 18:41 with assists from Jeff Giuliano and Joey Mormina to give the Monarchs a two goal lead again. It was short lived as
Craig Weller slipped one by Adam Hauser on the power play at the 19:01 mark with some help from Martin Grenier and Bruce
Graham to keep the Wolf Pack within one, 3-2 Monarchs at the end of the second period. There seemed to be a really high
number of odd penalty calls throughout the game. They ended up starting to unravel the Monarchs during the third period. 6:18
into the third, the Wolf Pack tied it up on a goal from Ivan Baranka with assists from Federov and Graham while Brad Smyth was
serving a bench minor for delay of game for the Monarchs. And then came the kicker. With under a minute to go in the third
period - and the Monarchs serving a too many men on the ice penalty the unthinkable happened. Immonen was able to deflect a
Joe Rullier slap shot from the blue line past Adam Hauser to give the Wolf Pack the only lead they would need in the game. Final
score 4-3 Wolf Pack. Shots on goal: Monarchs 25, Wolf Pack 37.
It was a heartbreaker, but hey the Wolf Pack had to win their home opener, right.....aaaaagh. The bus trip back was pretty quiet.
We watched a really great movie called "Second Hand Lions." That title doesn't describe the Monarchs this season. Instead, we
have some very young lions that I just know will start to roar. I can't wait for fans at the Verizon wireless arena to see some
young lions like Konstantin Pushkarev and Lauri Tukonen get going!
Before we hit the New Hampshire border - our driver let the team bus pass us. There were some fun thoughts on how to cheer
the team up and make them laugh, however things like that you can only learn by going on a road trip!
| Copyright © 2003-2006 Manchester Monarchs Booster Club. All Rights Reserved. |
