News
Senators Win Late Over Hartford
Condra Scores Late with Ganes Only Goal
Senators Prevail 1-0
By Gerry Cantlon
Eurohockey.net
HARTFORD,CT-It wasn’t the game the Hall of Fame would be asking for, but the Binghamton Senators took advantage of one of the few mistakes of the game late and came out with a 1-0 road victory over the Hartford Wolf Pack before an announced crowd of 3,017 at the XL Center.
The deciding play had a bit of controversy around it as well.
Wolf Pack rookie Ryan McDonagh stood up at the Binghamton blue rookie and flattened rookie winger Peter Condra and as McDonagh got up his linemate Cody Bass came across and pushed him down allowing Condra and winger Jim O’ Brien to go up on a 2 on 1 break as Condra got a bit ahead of
McDonagh who raced back to try to even things up.
On the left wing O’ Brien’s shot was stopped by goalie Chad Johnson,but the rebound came out oddly to Condra who snapped into the open cage for his second of the season at 16:50 of the third period.
“That’s the kind of kid he is. He took a good hit, got up and got a step on the defenseman and got a good bounce on the puck,” remarked Senators head coach Kurt Kleinendorst.
On the other side of the ice head coach Ken Gernander was pleased with his team’s efforts,but not happy with referee
Mark Lemelin.
“I thought someone took a retaliation poke at McDonagh. He made a good hit in the neutral zone, and one of their guys came over and gave him a shot that prohibited him from getting up. There should have been a penalty, but at that point, what’s he going to do? He missed it. It was a tough goal.”
Goalie Chad Johnson took giving up the games only goal quite hard.
“The shot just handcuffed me,” Johnson said. “(O’Brien) didn’t really hammer it the way I thought he would, the puck dropped and I moved to the left but just didn’t get over fast enough. I sprawled when I just should have slid over. It was a bad bounce, but it’s one that I have to make a better effort on in that situation. With three minutes left, I have to try to get my body in a different position and control the puck. It’s a real tough way to lose.”
On the other side of the Senators Barry Brust who played a fair number of games in this building as a member of the Manchester Monarchs clearly kept his team in the game especially in the second period.
“I ‘ve had some good nights and bad nights in this place tonight was one of the better ones and the defense did a greta job helping me,” said Brust.
The second period was decisive in his favor turning away 14 Wolf Pack attempts at lighting the red light.
“We won ugly on the road, and we’ll take it,” Senators coach Kurt Kleinendorst said. “Brust was our knight in shining armor, otherwise we’re down 2-0 or 3-0 at the end of the second period.”
At 7:51 he stopped Wolf pack captain Dane Byers in front all alone. Then with 6:18 left Pack left winger Devin Didiomete playing his first game since last March and serious off season hip surgery was denied with Brust making a big glove save at the top of the crease.
“The second period was more about quality than quantity, but we never gave them second or third chances. I’m glad we won in regulation. I don’t like overtime or shootouts that much,” joked Brust.
In the first he stopped rookie defenseman Slovak Tomas Kundratek’s right point shot and Canadian Kris Newbury on gorgeous setup 4:48 left in the slot area. In the third Tim Kennedy swept in front,but Brust made a shoulder save using his 6’3 frame perfectly.
Hartford entertains the Syracuse Crunch Saturday night at 7 and the Senators continue their road journey to Wilkes Barre,PA to play the Penguins at Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza.
NOTES: Latvian Kaspars Daugavins played a good game for the Senators and had a ngreat chance just at the end of the first period denied by Johnson…….Former Wolf Pack players Corey Locke and Francis Lessard suited up for the Senators…..New Senators assistant coach Steve Stirling on coaching in Italy with HC Fassa last year “It was a great experience there,but this opportunity came up and I’m not a young guy so I took it. I would love to go back (to Europe) again sometime,”…… Another month before the Hartford name change to Connecticut Whale some former Wolf Pack players are making an impact in Russia’s KHL. Goalie Bernd Bruckler of Torpedo Novgorod has the best save percentage at 93.0 entering the weekend and Brandon “Sugar” Sugden has a whopping 94 PM in just 3 games for Vityaz Chekhov leading the KHL, right behind him with a mere 89 PM in 12 GP is teammate Josh Gratton and Fedor Fedorov of Metallurg Magnitorsk with 46 in 10 GP and 5th overvall. Darius Kaspararitis is an assistant coach with SKA St. Petersburg….The ex-Wolf Pack in the most unique destinations include all time leading scorer Brad Smyth (5 points in 4 games) who just signed with the Belfast Giants of Northern Ireland who play in the British Elite League, On the Giants also is Mike Hoffman who played 7 games last year with Hartford before a season ending shoulder injury. Alex Bourret is clearly at the farthest destination with High 1 in South Korea in the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH).
Story added on 23rd October 2010 at 19:00 GMT
Story submitted by: Gerry Cantlon.
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