Wednesday October 28, 1998
Lowell Lock Monsters(5-2-0, 2nd-T Atlantic) vs. Springfield Falcons (PHO/LA)(2-3-1, 4th New England) At Lowell, MA, 7:00 Game is available via Internet Audio: http://www.whyn.com/560am Websites: Lowell: https://members.tripod.com/~LockMonsters Springfield: http://www.falconsahl.com (Official) http://start.at/FalconsHockey (unofficial) Game Preview:
The Falcons are coming off a win against Fredericton on Saturday that marked the return of referee Paul Stewart back to the ice. He was quite busy as a melee occured in the 3rd period that lead to all players on the ice getting involved and all the skaters getting ejected. The Lock Monsters are coming off back-to-back 4-3 wins. Marcel Cousineau, a runner-up for player of the week made 17 saves in the 3rd period on Saturday to defeat Providence. Statistics: Lowell: https://members.tripod.com/~LockMonsters/stats.html Player Team Gp G A PTS Pim Pp SH Gw Gt Trevor Letowski Spr 6 3 5 8 6 2 0 0 0 Olli Jokinen Spr 6 2 6 8 6 1 0 0 0 Greg Phillips Spr 6 5 2 7 10 2 0 0 0 Radoslav Suchy Spr 6 1 5 6 0 0 0 0 0 Tavis Hansen Spr 6 3 1 4 8 2 0 1 0 Brad Tiley Spr 6 2 2 4 0 1 0 0 0 Chris Schmidt Spr 6 2 1 3 19 0 0 1 0 Donald Maclean Spr 4 1 2 3 2 1 0 0 0 Sean Gagnon Spr 4 0 2 2 33 0 0 0 0 Rob Murray Spr 6 1 0 1 44 1 0 0 0 Joe Corvo Spr 6 0 1 1 12 0 0 0 0 Peter Hogan Spr 5 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 Richard Lintner Spr 6 0 1 1 14 0 0 0 0 Robert Schnabel Spr 5 0 1 1 12 0 0 0 0 Sean Blanchard Spr 5 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 Sylvain Daigle Spr 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 Joe Dziedzic Spr 4 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 Robert Esche Spr 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Dan Focht Spr 6 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 Dean Mando Spr 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Barry Nieckar Spr 6 0 0 0 18 0 0 0 0 Sylvain Daigle 3 178 2.70 1 2 0 0 8 101 .921 0 0 2
Robert Esche 3 184 3.59 1 1 1 0 11 93 .882 0 0 0 Esche will be in goal on Wednesday night, Daigle will get the start on Friday. A special Falcons report from my friend in Springfield: Margaret Messler (HFDNY2028@aol.com) Worcester Icecats @ Springfield Falcons Friday, October 23, 1998 Final Score : Falcons 6, Icecats Scoring Summary Falcons 1st period - Tavis Hansen (1), Rob Murray (1) 2nd period - Greg Phillips (1), Greg Phillips (2) 3rd period - Brad Tiley (1), Greg Phillips (3) OT - none Icecats 1st period - Shayne Toporowski (1), Matt Smith (1) 2nd period - none 3rd period - Jan Horacek (1), Derek Bekar (1), Reed Low (1), Derek Bekar (2) OT - none Highlights Tonight, instead of relying almost solely on excellent goaltending from Robert Esche and/or Sylvain Daigle, the Falcons stepped up their special teams play and actually scored some goals in tying the Worcester Icecats. Rookie Robert Esche had the roughest outing of the year thus far, but he still managed to preserve a tie. The Falcons were led by another rookie, Greg Phillips, who recorded his first professional hat trick, bringing the Falcons to what seemed to be a comfortable lead of 4-2 going into the 3rd period. Neither team played spectacularly, and there were a lot of sloppy plays during the course of the evening. Early in the 3rd period, Springfield appeared to sit on that lead and let the Icecats back into the game. Once the game was tied again, it became a free-for-all, with the teams trading goals until the final buzzer. It was a night for the rookies though, with Phillips' hat trick and also a 4 point night for Olli Jokinen, who had four assists. Saturday, October 24, 1998 Fredericton Canadiens @ Springfield Falcons Final Score : Falcons 5, Canadiens 2 Scoring Summary Falcons 1st period - Tavis Hansen (1) 2nd period - Brad Tiley (1) 3rd period - Chris Schmidt (1), Olli Jokinen (1), Trevor Letowski (1) Canadiens 1st period - Eric Houde (1) 2nd period - Boyd Olson (1) 3rd period - none Highlights Tonight's game marked the return of NHL referee Paul Stewart after his successful battle against colon cancer. He skated out to a standing ovation from the Civic Center crowd, which was just about as loud as the cheers when Springfield took the ice, and most likely one of the only times you will ever see an officiating crew get cheers instead of jeers. If anyone, anywhere, had any doubts about Stewart's ability to officiate, those doubts should cease to exist after this game. He looked as if he hasn't missed a beat, and he certainly saw enough action to get him back into the swing of things right away. This game had everything...a controversial goal (or at leas the crowd though so), injuries, near misses on his own part with flying pucks and sticks, and lots of action. It was a chippy game through the first and second period, with lots of hits that maybe weren't illegal, but definitely did not seem necessary. Sylvain Daigle was in net, as coach Dave Farrish continues to alternate his goaltenders, and he had another great outing. Unlike Esche, who seemed to get very flustered the night before, Daigle was calm and bounced back from everything which came his way. But, with players like Sly Blouin for Fredericton and Rob Murray, Barry Nieckar and Sean Gagnon for Springfield out on the ice, things were bound to happen. And they did. The real action came 9:14 into the final period when Sylvain Blouin of the Canadiens received a five minute major for hitting from behind, apparently in retaliation for a similar penalty on the part of Springfield's Chris Schmidt earlier in the period. This touched of a melee which delayed the game for at least 20 minutes and involved every player on the ice, including the goalies, by the time all the penalties were called. Paul Stewart didn't hesitate in the least, tossing every player who took part in the fighting. All total, there were ten misconducts assessed, four of which were game misconducts, and all ten men got early showers. The Falcons seemed to rally behind this, scoring two power play goals to pad their shaky one goal lead, and arrive at a final 5-2 victory. It's probably a good thing these two teams don't face each other again until January, when the Falcons make their trip up north. I'm sure this game won't soon be forgotten by either side; things like this tend to boil over into future games. The Canadiens will now bring their agression into an eight game road trip taking them as far as Cincinnatti and Lexington; the Falcons will face Lowell in a home-and-home series this week before taking on Saint John in a Halloween matinee. ------------------------------------------------------------- Falcons Top Five Greg Phillips - RW 6-2, 205 lbs 1997-98 Saskatoon (OHL) 69 games, 34-49-83, 163 PIMs Greg Phillips has looked to me to be one of our key players from the start. He's coming into Lowell off the best weekend of his professional career, highlighted by the hat trick on Friday night. He's fast for his size, likes to take a lot of shots, and seems to have a good sense of the ice and where he belongs. Olli Jokinen - C 6-2, 198 lbs 1997-98 IFK Helsinki (FIN) 11 goals, 28 assists Jokinen comes to the Falcons from the Los Angeles Kings, the highest drafted player on the roster. Potential doesn't always translate into stats, but Olli is making a committment to improving himself here, and it's working. Jokinen also had a big weekend with six points in two games, including five assists. His only fault may be that he doesn't shoot often enough, but if he keeps feeding the eventual goal scorers, he's definitely doing his job. Trevor Letowski - C 5-10, 170 lbs. 1997-98 Springfield 11 goals, 20 assists After a sometimes shaky rookie season here, Trevor made a legitimate bid to make the Phoenix Coyotes this season, and was actually one of their final cuts. He may be the only bona-fide sniper we have on the roster. He can see an open spot in the net from any angle, and when he's hot, he hits them all. After being sent to the Falcons from Phoenix, he compiled five preseason goals, including a four goals against the Beast of new Haven. Richard Lintner - D 6-3, 206 lbs 1997-98 Springfield 6 goals, 9 assists, 61 PIMs, +11 (highest among D-men) Put some weight on this kid and he'll be dangerous, you can bet on it. Lintner made a quick transition from the less than physical play in Europe and has really stepped it up this year. He's been hitting everyone who gets near his goaltender, and has done really well in his own end. He's a stay at home defenseman by nature, but does like to step up into the offense at times. If he adds another 20 pounds of muscle to his frame and continues to improve, he may get a shot at the NHL soon. Brad Tiley - D 6-1, 199 lbs 1997-98 Springfield 10 goals, 31 assists; made his NHL debut, 1st team AHL allstar Tiley comes to Springfield this year with the tough job of anchoring a very young defense corp, and a very young team in general. Tiley is one of only two Springfield defensemen with more than one year of professional experience. It shows. He's been the one to rely on when the others make those typical rookie mistakes and he rarely lets down. Falcons Goaltenders Sylvain Daigle 5-8, 185 lbs 1997-98 Springfield 7-9-2, 3.73 GAA A third year pro, Daigle was limited to seeing action in only 21 games during an injury plagued season last year. In his first year, he served as backup and 3rd goalie for most of his time here, so this is really his first chance at a legitimate #1 job. Every outing this year has been nothing short of spectacular for him, even if the team fell before him and lost. He's quick on his feet and handles the puck well, and has a quick glove hand. He does seem a bit susceptible to the five hole, but he has stopped pretty much everything he's seen thus far this season. Robert Esche 6-0, 188 lbs. 1997-98 Plymouth (OHL) 29-13-4, 2.88 GAA This is Esche's first professional season after being drafted 139th overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in 1996 and finishing a great tenure with Plymouth. He's done well thus far, really only having one off night against Worcester this past weekend when he let in six goals and for the first time seemed to get very flustered by his team's mistakes around his net. For a taller goaltender, he is also pretty quick, but tends to wander from the crease a little too far at the wrong times. He likes to handle the puck, and usually does well. He does need to learn to communicate better with his defensemen, but that will come with time. Falcons Players Out of the Lineup Donald Maclean Eric Belanger Mike Martone Joe Dziedzic