The impact of not having both Canadiens callup playing tonight (see last post) was evident on the ice during this loss to their division rivals. The 'Dogs played a good game, but again met some hot goaltending and faced a team that just had more tenacity than themselves.
Yann Danis played a good, solid game for Hamilton. He let in 3 goals but none of them were soft. In fact, the 2nd one shouldn't have even counted. The referee (who it should be noted STUNK in this game) was calling quick whistles on everything except for this goal, which the Amerks forward managed to bang in from under Danis, who had covered it for at least a good 4 seconds already. It was a shit goal and it ended up being the game winner. It was also a bit of an indication of how the game went for the Bulldogs.
Zach Stortini had the only Hamilton goal and looked pretty good out there. He got a bit of a rough deal in the 2nd period when he was speared behind the Rochester net. Right after it happened (with no call) Zach got a little angry and nearly beat the crap out of the Amerk player, who was cowering in fear undernear Stortini - probably begging for forgiveness.
Another quetionable call in the 3rd had Francis Lemeieux given 2 penalties for trying to get the puck out from underneath the Amerks goalie, who was smothering it right at the edge of his no-contact zone. Despite having soemthing like three Amerks players jump on him and start laying a beating, Lemieux was the only one given two penalties.
The officiating really sucked in this game. There were too many calls, and a bunch of them were borderline. I hate to sound like a whiny fan, but sometimes I wonder why Hamilton gets half the calls they do.
Of course, putting Corey Locke out on the power play doesn't help matters either. I know they are down some players, but the idea of putting someone who should be benched on the power play is ridiculous. I have never been a fan of this guy's play - and no, his size has nothing to do with it, only his lack of heart - but I think this is his most disappointing season with the Bulldogs yet. They had him on the point (!!??!!) with the goalie pulled in the 3rd and he coughed up the puck to an Amerks player, who notched the empty net goal to seal the outcome.
This is the kind of stuff Locke always seems to do - stupid little things that hurt the team. I don't care if he does score goals, I'd much rather see Eric Manlow sitting at the point in the same situation, regardless if he hasn't scored a goal all season.
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2 comments:
If you're going to critisize the zebra skin, name him. That let's the rest of us keep a closer eye on him when he visits us.
That's a very good point. I can't remember who it was for sure (and I can't find the game notes), but I believe it was either Morton or Langdon - the two officials that usually give the Bulldogs a really hard time.
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