Danbury - After all talk of strategy and preparation is done, the only thing a coach can do is ask his players to go for 60 solid minutes of hockey. Last night in Danbury, CT, both coaches asked exactly that of their teams. On one side, Coach Phil Esposito who’s Danbury Whalers have played the past few weeks with many men down, finally see a nearly full lineup. On the other side, Coach Steve Thomas of the Akwesasne Warriors starting a road trip, and doing so with only 4 defenseman, wanted his team to play a physical game and dictate the pace.
The first period began innocently enough with both teams playing a great back and forth game just about staying even in their shots until 10:27 minutes in when rookie Carlo Ricci of Danbury made a great pass from the warriors crease to Greg Holt who buried it. Undaunted, the Warriors did not slow down their play and in fact began to step up the pressure, drawing a penalty from veteran Whaler Kelly Miller, playing in his 499th professional game. The interference call came at 18:59 of the 1st period was soon followed by Miguel Delisle of the Warriors who scored a beautiful goal, after charging the net on a breakaway his shot was popped up in the air by Whalers net minder Peter Vetri, but was batted out of the air with a fantastic display of hand-eye by Delisle to tie the game with only 8 seconds left in the period.
Whatever Coach Espo said to his players in the Danbury locker room clearly worked, because the 2nd period began with even more intensity and good play than the 1st. the end to end rushes by both teams ratcheted up the intensity which eventually boiled over in a prearranged rendezvous between Whalers strongman Corey Fulton and Paul Shantz of the Warriors. The fight between two very tough lads was impressive as both threw strong blows for a while, and Shantz did a good job of keeping Fulton in close so he could not use his long arms to throw the bombs as he is well known for.
The energy the fight generated was palpable as the intensity was again raised to an entirely new level. Finally the tension broke, 13:55 minutes in when Devin Guy was fed a beautiful pass from his linemate Alec Kirschner to bury the puck past Warriors goalie David Plouffe. The remainder of the period was played with a powerplay going to the Whalers, but the level of play stayed just as intense as Akwesasne kept up the pressure.
As stated earlier, sometimes the difference in a game can be made simply by who plays all 60 minutes of it. The Warriors, coming off of a long bus ride through nearly the entire length of New York, and with a shorter bench, the Warriors must have been exhausted. The Whalers dominant play in the 3rd period did nothing to give any Warriors a rest. After the first faceoff was won by Veteren Whaler Kelly Miller, and a great pass from Martin Moucha to Matt Moffet, a quick forehand to backhand move my Moffet gave the Whalers a 2 goal lead.
About 30 seconds later, after a change in lines, Whalers veteran Carlo Ricci scored off of a brilliant pass from Greg Holt, for his first goal at home ice. Clearly reeling, the Warriors would let the Whalers dictate the pace of play until about 8 minutes later when Alec Kirschner broke through the blue line and blasted a fast slap shot past David Plouffe, who was pulled from net for back up Adam Thompson.
The discipline and excellent coaching of the Akwesasne team clearly showed through as they did not give up or lose their edge, with the exception of a brief discussion betweent Mike Stacey and Devin Guy, resulting in some minor penalties. The aforementioned Guy would ice the game with his 2nd of the game with just about a minute left on the powerplay after Patrick Bilodeau was called for tripping. Determined to go out with a bang, Akwesasne’s Martin Beaulne scored with literally 1 second left on the clock, ending the game, 6-2 Whalers. All told the hockey game was quite exciting providing for some great back and forth action, and in the end both teams skated the full 60 minutes, and save for a weak start in the 3rd period and a depleted bench, Akwesasne played quite a game.
Article By Alec Kessler
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