The Bears fell off of their pedestal last night. Losing to an inferior Monarch team was bad enough, but the way that they did it was painful to watch.
This was the third game in three days for the Bears, so the boys were a little tired, and it showed. I lost track of how many times Oscar Moller turned the corner on our D skating in on Holtby. Manchester knew what the Bears were going to try to do, and they were able to stop them for most of the game. The boys kept trying to do fancy dan cross ice passes to get a shot coming from the backside. The Monarchs kept blocking the passes and transition to a breakout. Coach French even mentioned that he tried to get the boys to change styles after the first period, but they wouldn't listen.
The Monarch's two goals on Holtby were good shots. Holts didn't have a chance on either. Brandon Segal scored with 5 seconds left in the first period immediately off of a draw to Holtby's right. Braden was completely screened, and Segal picked the top right corner to bury the puck. Holter had no chance. On one of Moller's many forays down through the Bears defensive zone, he got a step on his defender (it might have Carlson, but I'm not sure so I won't call him out). While holding off the defender with his right hand, he shot the puck one-handed, elevating it over Holtby who was in perfect position to make the save. The look on Braden's face said it all. There was no way Moller should have been able to lift that puck that far from his back hand with only one glove on his stick. Fantastic goal for the former and probably future NHLer.
The Bears should have tied the game with about a second left in the game, but the goal judge and ref said no. Honestly, I'm not mad about this. The Bears had 59 minutes and 58 other seconds in the game to puck the puck in the net and couldn't do it. They didn't deserve a point from this game.
To stop the rumors, the Elvii & Beanie Boy were not the target of Security's attention last night. The gentleman that sits directly behind the glass was on his game again, chirping all night long. What did he say that was so offensive that the coach had to get the refs attention? Sources tell me it was the phrase, "You're a knucklehead!" I know, I was shocked too. Imagine. You're a professional hockey player. You're playing on the road. The game is going your way and, suddenly, from the crowd, you hear someone calling you, "Knucklehead." What would you do? Obviously this type of language is foreign to hockey players; they have delicate ears, you know. If they ever said that word in their coach's hearing, a quarter would have to go into the "swear jar." "Mr. Referee, I just can't concentrate on playing my best hockey if these fans keep calling me nasty things like knucklehead. Can you get them to stop please?" Wah.
Yeah, I was pretty disgusted too. Anyway the boys weren't in trouble, and they would like to thank you for your concern.
Lastly, I'd like to make a shout out to my new favorite player, Brandon "Sugar" Sugden. Holy man, he plastered Kevin Westgarth. It's not often that you get to see a fighter knock his man down with a punch, pick him up so the linesmen don't step in, and commence to whaling on him some more. His "guns a-blazin'" Louie tribute was classic. It shows that he took the time to learn about the Bears fans, what we expect, and what we like. I'd like to be the first one to say: Welcome home, Sugar!
Grizzled Vet
2 comments:
i'd also like to say that i was very impressed by sugar, good to see someone like that to enforce in hershey, also a great job by the guys up to with the def leppard music during his fight, they were on the ball and must have been just waiting for his first fight lol!
Side note....the coach was called a knucklehead a few times as well. ;-)
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