Perhaps due to angry animals, 95 south was closed at Augusta. We did see a large number of groundhogs along the way, so perhaps they were lookouts, preparing for the charge. In any case, we were late for the game by a few minutes.
By the time we got inside, Dominic Moore had already scored – by the time we made it to our seats, Craig Weller had done so as well. We started off in the same place we had sat on Friday night, but then the ‘big goon’ guy started up again, and the woman in front of us kept turning around and staring at us in a creepy manner. At the next whistle, we fled to the other end of the ice, which was essentially deserted.
Now, in most arenas, the home crowd tends to center around the home ‘shoot twice’ end, presumably so they can watch their goal scorers do their thing. I choose to sit at the other end in Hartford, because I particularly enjoy watching our goalies and defensemen, and there is a dedicated group of fans who sit there as well. In Portland, though, NO ONE sits in the ‘home’ end of the ice. When we moved down there, there really were only Hartford fans and players, and a scary guy who sat behind us and cast spells on the players all game. Really. Whenever a Pack player started a rush, he would start mumbling over and over again, while staring intently at the player. He also had a cape that he wore, and he danced. Not surprisingly, no one was sitting near him.
Speaking of oddities, Portland has a mascot, not surprisingly a parrot named “Crackers.” Crackers does typical mascot things, harassing fans and such. But during one of the intermissions, he is joined on the ice by three children picked from the audience. These children, dubbed “Cracker’s kids” come out in miniature parrot costumes and stumble along following Cracker as he leads them in a dance to “Rockin’ Robin.” Far more interesting than the ‘junior cheerleaders’ we have in Hartford.
And on the Pirate theme, my sister in law wanted to know – if Portland started a women’s hockey team, would they be the Wenches?
By the end of the first period, the Pack had four times as many goals as the Pirates had shots. I have never seen such complete domination on the scoreboard, as Alexandre Giroux scored on a penalty shot (incredible patience from that one) and Weller scored again on the power play. Not surprisingly, Stana had a seat to begin the second period, and Ouellet took over in net. The Pirates scored in the first minute to open the second period (didn’t see that one, and curse these arenas without replays!) and Benoit Dusablon answered back seconds later for the Pack to put us up 5-1. About six minutes later, Bryce Lampman and Lawrence Nycholat inexplicably decided to allow the Pirates to walk right up to the crease and stand there. Lawrence finally shoved the puck carrier and Bryce put his stick down in the slot to block the pass to the player standing at the other post, but the Pirate buried a shot high stick side from less than 10 feet away. No question the shooter was Jason’s responsibility, but that would have required inhuman reflexes from that distance.
Things started to get interesting in the second period as the Pack took six minor penalties to the Pirates’ four. By the time we hit the third period, it had started to get ugly, particularly when a Pirate was allowed to throw Jason to the ice and sit on him while a goal was scored on the empty net. At the end of the game, Cory Larose fought the Pirates’ Semin, and the ensuing mosh pit led to four 10 minute misconducts for the Pack and two for the Pirates.
Game five is this Wednesday at 7 pm in Hartford. McGill and the boys have resolved that there will be no return trips to Maine this season, as they have the chance to close out the series with a win this week. Worcester has already completed its series by eliminating Manchester, so they are resting up each day that the Pack continues to play. The inimitable Terry Virtue had 4 assists in the series clincher for the Ice Cats. The Pack needs to finish this off now.
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