1/28/12, Danbury, CT. In the first of three consecutive games between the Danbury Whalers and the Brooklyn Aviators the advantage was to the home team, as Danbury’s 6 goal 3rd period proved too much for the Aviators to handle. With valuable points on the line, the Whalers were able to pass the Aviators in the standings, jumping to 3rd place behind 1000 Islands.
Sensing the importance of the contest between the local rivals, fans flocked to Danbury Ice Arena nearly selling out the building. The intensity was palpable in the 1st period as the action flowed from one end to the other with many great saves and chaotic chances. Not even 5 minutes in Peter Vetri of the Whalers made a brilliant glove save off of his former team mate Joe Dabkowski. The ensuing faceoff saw the Whalers steal the puck back down the ice where Josselin St Pierre made a stupendous pad save to deny the goal. Soon after Whaler’s Captain Kelly Miller was called for tripping, sending Brooklyn on a power play. The penalty was a culmination of a series of broken plays and chaotic chances in Brooklyn’s zone, as Danbury was unable to stuff home a loose puck. Soon after the Whalers finally broke through with a quick attack that saw Matt Moffat with a sublime drop pass right onto the tape of Sean O’malley who buried the puck off of the post, top left. With a 1-0 lead the Whalers continued to apply pressure however penalties from Andrew Willock and Kelly Miller started to swing the momentum into the Aviators favor. Miller’s penalty was taken during a scrum in front of the Whalers net when Vetri had gone down to get a puck that was cleared to the point, to prevent a goal, Miller pushed the net off of its moorings, earning a delay of game call. The verbal battle between himself and Referee Eric Ernst ensued, and Miller went to the box fuming. The rest of the period was held down by Peter Vetri who continued to flash his glove hand and make some impressive saves to keep his team in the game.
Whatever coach Phil Esposito said to his Whalers in the locker room clearly worked as the 2nd period started off with a bang as Kelly Miller put home the 2nd goal from his linemates Sean O’malley and Matt Moffat. The period continued along well until at 8:03 Devin Guy was called for a cross checking penalty which he did not agree with. About a minute and a half into the Guy penalty, James Sanford of the Whalers also drew a slashing call after a missed hooking call on his teammate Greg Holt. Sanford was not only given 2 for slashing but also a 10 minute misconduct for abuse of the official, a favorite it seems of Ref Eric Ersnt, especially when he is in Danbury. The Aviators quickly tapped home a goal on a 5 on 4 powerplay off of the stick of Matt Atsoff, Vinny Geonnetti, and Casey Mignone, to cut the Whalers’ lead in half. The rest of the period was scoreless, and play was halted only for two penalties, Casey Mignone for slashing and Whalers Jay Meloff for Cross checking, coming at 11:10 and 19:59 respectively.
The 3rd period saw the Aviators begin on an extended powerplay as 1:36 seconds in Matt Moffat was sent off for tripping. It was not until sides were even when Matt Atsoff tied the game up at 3:55 of the 3rd from Nick Petriello and Andrew Owsiak. The 3rd period has always been a sore point for the Whalers, often times turning good games completely around, but such was not the case. Soon after the game was tied, rookie Adam Houli dug deep around the net to feed the puck to charging d-man James Kirkwood, who put home the puck to regain the lead. After that the floodgates simply opened, as despite another 2 minute penalty for roughing at 7:32, Kelly Miller again stormed back to score a booming slapshot from the blue line to take a 2 goal lead, fed by Moffat and Jay Meloff. 2 minutes later Houli again distinguished himself with another great pass into the blue paint that was tapped in by Devin Guy, extending the lead to 3 at 11:10. 39 seconds later Chris Siefert slammed home a pass from James Kirkwood(who had also assisted on the Guy goal) to put the Whalers up by 4. This Drove out Aviators Netminder St Pierre to be replaced by Ryan Supper. The scoring continued, this time from Aviator’s Casey Mignone, with an assist by Ken Trentowski the Yale grad. Up 6-3, the Whalers refused to take their foot off of the gas and at 18:32 Andrew Willock scored in his triumphal return to Danbury. The scoring finally wrapped up at 19:01 of the 3rd as James Sanford made an absolutely silky move as he stick-handled around and then behind Supper to give the Whalers an 8-3 lead. The only other action in the 3rd period featured two bouts between Joe Pele Jr and Whalers Jason McCrimmon, frequent combatants in the past. Apparently however the first fight did not warrant 5 minute penalties as both men received 2 minutes each for roughing at 10:15. Clearly not satisfied, Pele goaded McCrimmon into a second fight at 19:17 of the 3rd, which was a much better scrap with both men landing some good hits, but the much larger McCrimmon clearly winning. Pele stood his ground and fought very well as he had done in his whole career, which ended with a bang, but perhaps not one that he would have liked as his Aviators were dropped to 4th place in the standings. The next two games, one at Danbury Thursday Feb, 2 and In Brooklyn Fri, Feb 3rd. This series is an important set as it will allow either team to take or solidify their position in the league standings.
-Alec S Kessler
