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