95 South: Right the ship before it sinks!

95 South: Right the ship before it sinks!
by Kristy Gleason

Another week, another disappointing go-round with the Providence Black 'n' Gold... whatever has the Baby Bruins in their most recent funk, it needs to get sorted out, and fast. There are many allegations that the campers aren't happy with the troop leaders and vice-versa; recently implemented systems aren't working out, and the team doesn't seem to be much of a team any longer. Is it the coaching staff who's at fault? Is it the players themselves? Chances are it's a little of both, and the lack of unity in the organization is spilling over onto the ice in the form of disjointed play. The strong foundation is being eaten away from the inside, and the walls have begun to bow. If something isn't done soon, the team we know and love will be in shambles, with too many shattered parts to piece back together. Someone get some miracle glue and give the team back the fortitude it once had.

With Jonathan Girard, Andre Savage, Pavel Kolarik and Jay Henderson all on recall in Boston, others have been asked to step up. Then again, if those folks are going to rev things up a notch, it might help if they got more than a few minutes of ice time per game. They certainly can't help out their team riding the pine, now can they? Even the top line of Cameron Mann, Eric Manlow, and Peter Ferraro has been struggling mightily to get points on the board, although they've finally been reunited on a consistent basis in the past week. Brandon Smith is still out of the line-up after injuring his shoulder in a Boston game a couple weeks ago, and Jon Coleman is still hurting as well. Terry Hollinger and Keith McCambridge are trying to take a young and mostly inexperienced blue line corps into the promised land, but it's a huge load to shoulder when defense pairings are so inconsistent. The team definitely misses the sparks provided by center Marquis Mathieu and Jeremy Brown. Mathieu is rehabbing his hip still, and will hopefully be back in action in a couple weeks. It's been said that Brown may be ready to go over the upcoming weekend. Centerman Dany Bousquet was returned to the Pee Dee Pride (ECHL) after Monday's game against the Norfolk Admirals. It's expected that Andre Savage will be reassigned to Providence very soon, so he can get some playing time. He's been a healthy scratch in Boston's last few games.

Providence's state of affairs in the league as of 01/30/01: Ranked 3rd in division standings, 5th in conference standings, and 10th in overall league standings with 53 points and a .552 winning percentage; ranked 2nd in league in goals for (158); ranked 11th in the league for goals allowed (147); 2nd in league in power-play percentage (22.6% success rate); ranked 4th in league for penalty-kill percentage (83.9% success rate); tied for 5th in the league in short-handed goals scored (9); ranked 1st in league in average shots per game (34.63).

Wednesday night's game against the Springfield Falcons was nothing short of a fiasco... unless you're cheering for the Falcons. While the Falcons got fiercer as the game wore on, the P-Bruins seemed to grow weaker. Wyatt Smith started things off for the Falcons thirteen and a quarter minutes into the match, with Jean-Guy Trudel garnering the lone assist. Andrew Raycroft held the fort until fifteen and a half minutes into the middle frame. Kirill Safronov potted his 2nd goal of the season on a play set up by Ryan Lauzon and Tavis Hansen. A little under two and a half minutes later, Hansen increased the lead to 3-0, on helpers from Lauzon and Trudel. At that point, Providence coach Bill Armstrong elected to relieve Raycroft of duty, replacing him with John Grahame between the pipes. Unfortunately, Grahame didn't fare any better than Raycroft through the remainder of the contest. Four minutes and three seconds into the third period, Smith snagged his second tally of the night, this time from Juraj Kolnik and Ramzi Abid. Philippe Audet increased the Falcons' lead to 5-0 two and three-quarters minutes later. Trent Hunter and Brad Ralph assisted on the goal. Lauzon, assisted by Trudel and Hansen, made it 6-0 at the 8:13 mark of the third. With Providence pretty much reeling, the only thing left to do was try and spoil Steve Valiquette's shutout bid. Dany Bousquet did just that with seven and a half minutes left in the match, with Pete Vandermeer and Jason Renard assisting on the lone P-Bruin marker. Raycroft stopped 11 of 14 shots faced and suffered the loss on his 7-8-2 record. Grahame turned aside 10 of 13 shots. Valiquette didn't have a lot of work at the opposite end of the ice, as the P-Bruins mustered a measly 18 shots total on the Falcons' net. Springfield went 0-for-6 on the power play, while Providence went 0-for-5.

Three stars of the game:
1) Wyatt Smith, Springfield (2 goals)
2) Tavis Hansen, Springfield (1 goal, 2 assists, +4)
3) Ryan Lauzon, Springfield (1 goal, 2 assists, +3)

The effort was decidedly more obvious in Friday night's first of two match-ups against Aaron Downey and the Norfolk Admirals. After falling into a 2-0 hole by halfway through the first period, the P-Bruins battled hard to get back into it and John Grahame came up with several impressive saves in the latter two periods to give his team a solid chance to make a game of it. Two and three-quarters minutes into the first, Ty Jones gave the Admirals a 1-0 lead, with Ajay Baines adding the solitary helper. Casey Hankinson made it 2-0 at 9:59 of the first, a power play goal, assisted by Baines and Marty Wilford. A smidgen over fifteen minutes into the middle stanza, Lee Goren shoveled the puck past Admiral netminder, Jeff Maund, while the P-Bruins had a man advantage. Eric Manlow and Dany Bousquet assisted on the tally. Eric Nickulas proved to be the hero for the Black 'n' Gold, tying the score at 2-2 at 8:22 of the third, on assists from Nick Boynton and Joe Hulbig. Grahame and Maund both saw a good deal of rubber, with Grahame turning away 32 of 34 shots, and Maund denying 33 of 35 shots faced. Providence went 1-for-8 on the power play and Norfolk went 1-for-7.

Three stars of the game:
1) Eric Nickulas, Providence (1 goal, game-tying goal)
2) John Grahame, Providence (stopped 32 of 34 shots)
3) Jeff Maund, Norfolk (stopped 33 of 35 shots)

After a weekend of spending time together in Norfolk, Virginia, the P-Bruins took on the Norfolk Admirals on Monday evening. Unlike other recent games, Providence had the lead two different times during the contest, but fate held an unlucky hand for the squad. Duane Harmer scored his 1st goal of the season as a P-Bruin 9:25 into the first period while on the power play. Cameron Mann and Peter Ferraro moved the puck back and forth before tossing the puck to Harmer at the blue line, and Harmer blasted it past Jeff Maund for the 1-0 Providence lead. That lead was short-lived, however, when Mike Souza recorded his 12th goal of the season, also on the power play, from Ty Jones and Nolan Baumgartner, two and a half minutes later. The second period featured outstanding goaltending by both Maund and Grahame, neither netminder allowing a shot to get by them. Terry Hollinger gave the P-Bruins the lead once again at the 2:49 mark of the third. Nick Boynton and Mann were credited with the assists on the power-play tally. With a little under eleven minutes gone in the third period, Casey Hankinson knotted the score once again for the Admirals, his wrister trickling through Grahame's legs and had just enough momentum left to slip past the goal line. Mark Janssens and Marty Wilford assisted. Hankinson got lucky again with just over three and a half minutes left in regulation. His shot tipped off Grahame's glove, then deflected into the net off Grahame's skate to give the Admirals the go-ahead goal. Wilford and Matt Henderson were credited with the assists on the game-winner. While neither Grahame nor Maund faced as many shots in their second straight match, both made some incredible saves throughout the game. Maund turned away 23 of 25 shots faced while Grahame stopped 24 of 27 shots that came his way. Providence went 2-for-6 on the power play while Norfolk was 1-for-5.

Three stars of the game:
1) Casey Hankinson, Norfolk (2 goals, game-winning goal)
2) Jeff Maund, Norfolk (stopped 23 of 25 shots)
3) Cameron Mann, Providence (2 assists)

Upcoming games: Fri., Feb. 2 vs Kentucky, 7:05pm; Sat., Feb. 3 at Springfield, 7:35pm; Sun., Feb. 4 vs Worcester, 4:05pm; Tue., Feb. 6 at Quebec, 7:30pm.

© 2001 Kristy Gleason