Friday night the East Division leading Trenton Golden Hawks landed in Lindsay to take on the Muskies. Though Lindsay gave the leaders all they could handle, they still up one goal short as Trenton were victorious by a 3-2 count.

The Muskies wasted no time putting the new acquisitions into the fire, as both left winger Robert Lepine, and defender Zack MacArthur were both out for the opening shift. Although there was no other official movement before game time, Muskies leading scorer Matt Davis was conspicuous in his absence. For the Muskies it was Luke Bierworth starting in goal, and at the other end was Pontypool native Spencer Finney. The Muskies had an early power play but were not able to generate many big chances. Just after the power play ended the Muskies were penalized, sending the league leading Trenton power play to work, and it clicked at 6:08 as Shawn Hulshof scored from Chase Nieuwendyk. The Muskies were able to apply some good pressure toward the end of the frame, with J.P. Villeneuve appearing to chip one off the post from in close, but there was no more scoring in the frame.

The play was pretty even to begin the second as the teams traded power play chances. Bierworth was called upon a number of times and made solid stops. The Muskies looked to have an excellent chance to even the game with 1:15 of a two man advantage, but a penalty to the Muskies :17 seconds in left us with some four on three action. A scary moment for the Muskies occurred midway through the frame when Bierworth was driven hard into the goal by Matthew Andreacchi. Bierworth lay on the ice for an extended period, but was cleared to stay in the game. The play resulted in another Muskie power play, and this time they nailed it when Bryan Kolodziejczyk snapped his 7th of the year over Finney's glove at 11:06. the assists went to Dean Klomp, and Matt Wildman. Moments later the Muskies played with fire as the Golden Hawks found themselves with 1:32 of a two man advantage. Some terrific penalty killing, including big shot blocks from Brian Wadsworth and Matt McCartney got the job done though. Mitch Bursey laid a thundering hit on Kristian Yorke that left him on the ice at the players bench door for a few moments, but he was able to get up and skate it off. With just over a minute left in the second J.C. Campagna snapped a shot on goal that forced Finney into his finest stop of the night. The period ended up with Muskies on a power play that would stretch into the third, and an entertaining match tied at one.

The Fish had great puck control on the power play, and a few good chances but couldn't jam the puck in. Joel Wetmore had a great chance just as the penalty ended, but the puck hopped over his stick. The Golden hawks continued their physical assault on Luke Bierworth and were penalized again for goaltender interference. The Muskies failed to score. A few minutes later Trenton found themselves up by two men again, this time for :25 seconds. Trenton coach Jerome Dupont called his timeout at that point sensing a critical point in the game, and it paid off with a goal with :04 seconds left in the first penalty, meaning Trenton would remain on the power play. The goal went to Kent McPherson from Nieuwendyk, and Josh Ocampo at 7:54. With just over four minutes left newcomer MacArthur rang a shot off Finney's mask that appeared to stun the net minder for a moment, and the puck perilously close to the goal line but no one could jam it home. As often happens in this game, close at one end is closer at the other. Trenton came back down the ice and notched their third at 16:44. The goal went to Krystian Yorke from Michael Radisa and Shawn Crowley. With 1:45 remaining Dean Klomp was awarded a penalty shot as it was deemed a Trenton player had his hand on the puck in the crease. Klomp scored, and we were in for a wild finish. Bierworth got to the bench with 1:31 left. With play in the neutral zone and :28 seconds left tempers flared over. No penalties resulted though and Mattucci decided to call his time out. Bierworth went back in for the draw. The Muskies had one last chance as a Finney rebound was just out of the reach of Klomp. The final seconds ticked off and although the Fish had given Trenton a good run they came up a goal short.

After the game I had a long wait for Head Coach Mattucci, as he was having a long conversation with referee chief who was in attendance. Despite the loss, and being miffed about constant running of Lindsay netminders of late, he was very upbeat.

The guys played hard for the entire game tonight, he said. They played with intensity and passion, and battled hard. That's my style.

He also noted that there have been a lot of changes, and uncertainty in the last 48 hours. Newcomer Robert Lepine had one practice with the team, while the new defenceman Zack MacArthur had yet to see the ice with his new teammates. Also not having Matt Davis in the lineup left a big hole as well.

It was confirmed after the game that Davis, the teams leading scorer has been moved to Whitby. I was also able to confirm what has seemed obvious for a couple of games now, that Jesse Stymiest is playing back in his home province of Alberta. He was moved for future considerations.

There are still some key players in sick bay as well. Vince Herlihey is day to day, Jesse Gregory is about 2 weeks away, and Chris Lane is out indefinitely.

When the new players get settled, and some injured guys come back Mattucci is excited to see what the team can do.

The loss drops the Muskies to 15 wins and 12 losses.

Their next action is Sunday night in Whitby.

Last line should say 12 wins and 15 losses.

Thanks for the detailed update Muskie! I see our friends at PointStreak didn't give Trenton's "league leading powerplay" credit for the 5 on 3 goal in the third. Always nice to get the real story behind the numbers.

There was an issue with the clock at that point as well, as the wrong penalty came off the board when the goal was scored. Then there was a long delay while they tried to sort out how much time should have been left in the second penalty. With all that going on, that could have been the reason if the powerplay goal didn't get recorded right.