| Muskies Lose On
Hockey Day In Canada |
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Game 46: Muskies
3 Peterborough Stars 4 ~
Memorial Centre, 30th January 2010 |
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The Muskies must have wished that Rickey Buehler had taken the
day off as he scored his first and second goals for the Stars
and then added an assist on the gamewinner. The Fish, playing
their third game in less than 48 hours, almost came back from
three goals down but fell one short. Matt Ginn had a good game
in net but couldn't prevent the loss against the Muskies'
nearest rivals. The loss leaves Lindsay in sixth place with four
games left to play, three points behind the fifth placed Stars,
who have three more games. It also leaves City of Kawartha Lakes
mayor Ric McGee facing the embarrassing prospect of having to
wear a Peterborough jersey for a day after he lost the Mayors'
Challenge between the two cities. |
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Period 1. The two teams battled hard in the
first period and looked evenly matched. On the scoreboard,
though, the Stars gained the upper hand. They took the lead when
Peter Rennie pushed the puck through Matt
Ginn's hands as he went down to block. The goal came at 7:55.
The Muskies responded on a powerplay at 11:00 when Zac Fryia
blocked one shot but the rebound fell perfectly for Alex
Porrier to knock the puck into an unguarded part of the
net. Assists were awarded to defencemen Mike Wills and Riley
Austin. The two teams were struggling with the lively nature of
the boards at the Memorial Centre which seemed to be
spring-loaded compared to the typical arena in the CCHL. It
seemed inevitable that a strange bounce off the boards would
cost at least one goal in this game but it was a bounce off a
stick that led to the second Stars goal. A Lindsay player was
unlucky to lose control of the puck and Rickey Buehler
was able to steal it and plant it firmly beyond Ginn at 12:23 to
give the home team the lead at the first intermission. |
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Period 2.
The Stars maintained their one
goal lead in the second period but for a while it looked like it
might be a lot worse for the Fish. The home team added two more
to their total before the Muskies responded. The first came at
4:45 when Rickey Buehler got behind the defence
at 4:45 and beat Ginn on the short side. The second was on a
powerplay at 11:34 and was a little unlucky as a shot seemed
well covered by Matt Ginn until it took a deflection off a
Lindsay stick at the edge of the crease and gave the netminder
no chance of recovering. At 4-1 it didn't look good for Lindsay
but the team responded well. They got one back when
Kevin George was sprung down the middle by a Riley
Austin pass and he just managed to force the puck behind Fryia
at 13:18. The Fish had the upper hand for the rest of the period
and duly got their reward at 19:39. A flurry of shots aimed at
the Peterborough goal ended when the puck came out to
Michael Colavecchia in the slot and he found the far
corner of the net. Blake Sexton and Brandon Couto also picked up
a point on the play. A controversial penalty call with two
seconds left put the Muskies down a man and the Stars would have
a chance to come out flying in the third period. |
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Period 3.
If the one penalty gave the Stars a chance to stamp their
authority on this game, they really should have put the game out
of the Muskies' reach as the officials gave the Fish three more
minors in the first seven minutes. Twice Peterborough enjoyed a
two man advantage but the Muskies' penalty killers did an
excellent job and repelled every thrust towards their net. As
the period wore on, the Muskies looked like they might find the
tying goal at any moment, but that never happened. Perhaps their
best chance came when they engineered a two on one rush that
ended with David King putting his shot narrowly over the bar
while under pressure from a Peterborough defenceman. The Fish
pulled their goalie for the extra attacker but still couldn't
find a way to beat Fryia again, and in fact only a desperate
diving block by Riley Austin prevented an empty net goal for the
Stars. |
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The respective mayors join in the ceremonial puck drop |
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The defence readies for another face-off |
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Tim Herlihey is down on his butt - but still playing |
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Dean Klomp wins a face-off |
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The puck sits nicely for Alex Porrier and he would open the
Muskies' scoring |
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Kevin George is sent flying |
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Later, Matt Diminie receives the same treatment |
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Rickey Buehler scores from close in on a breakaway |
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This one isn't going to beat Matt Ginn as he makes a grab |
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Reid Jackman joins in the defence of the crease |
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After Matt Ginn is knocked down after the play had been
whistled, a scuffle develops |
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Riley Austin demonstrates the one time you can leave your feet
to hit someone right in front of the referee - after Kevin
George gets Lindsay's second |
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This time they remain grounded after Michael Colavecchia cuts
the Stars' lead to 4-3. |
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David King watches as his shot goes just over |
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The new ice and different equipment led to several
understandable moments of confusion - this wasn't one of them. |
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