01.19.08.Scorpions

The SCORE
The Sandoval County Online Reporting Enterprise
Rio Rancho, N.M.
New Mexico's first totally online commuity newspaper was last updated on Monday, May 16, 2009 at 10 p.m.

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01.19.08.Scorpions

Scorpions win 8th straight game

By Eric Maddy
The SCORE
If familiarity breeds contempt, the lack of it made for a difficult game for the New Mexico Scorpions on Saturday night.

The red-hot Scorpions, playing Wichita for the first time this season, defeated the Thunder 3-2 in overtime in a Central Hockey League game at the Santa Ana Star Center. Aaron MacInnis' one-timer off a pass from Vladimir Hartinger with 1:50 left in the five-minute extra period gave the Scorpions their eighth straight win.

“We knew what to expect last night from Odessa. We’ve played them a few times in our division. Against these guys we didn’t know other than a stats sheet we don’t know anything about them or what they’re like,” MacInnis said. “They have a good team. They played the same in the third period as they did in the first period. We were fortunate to get the win.”

With the victory, the Scorpions remained four points out of first place in the Southwest Division but moved within a point of second place. Division leading Arizona, playing at home on Saturday, defeated second-place Odessa 8-6.

Arizona leads the division with 48 points, Odessa is second with 45 points and the Scorpions have 44. New Mexico's next game will be at Arizona on Tuesday.

The winning came on a power play, about the only area where the Scorpions have struggled during their streak. Wichita's Mike Batovanja was whistled for goaltender interference with 3:15 left in overtime, giving New Mexico a man advantage.

“Sometimes it’s just the way it goes on the power play. You usually get hot, cold, hot cold,” said MacInnis, who was playing in only his second game after coming off the injured reserve list. “Sometimes you get a bounce off somebody and that’s all it takes to get rolling again. Hopefully it will get us on the right path.”

New Mexico was just 1-for-18 on the power play during a three-game road trip, but scored with a man advantage in each of the last two home wins. Head coach Randy Murphy has consistently said the power play was one area where his team needed to improve, and the return of a shooter like MacInnis is sure to help.

“It was a good time (to get a power play goal), it was a timely goal,” Murphy said. “And it was good for Aaron to get a goal coming off the IR.”

It was only fitting that MacInnis get the game-winner after his apparent goal was 3:15 left in regulation was disallowed. With the puck trickling out of the Wichita end, MacInnis tried to send the puck along the boards to allow for a shift change. But the puck took a freakish bounce and ricocheted into the net, only to be disallowed because it bounced off a linesman. CHL rule 74, based on National Hockey League rule 72, says that a goal does not count if it touches a referee or linesman.

“I did not (see the puck hit the linesman.) That’s why I was arguing,” Murphy said. “I thought it went off the partition or the glass, but the referee said it went off the linesman’s shin pad, and that’s the rule.

“You don’t want to win a game like that anyway. But I would have not taken it.”

MacInnis confirmed that the call was correct.

“I saw the linesman there. I didn’t want to hit the linesman,” he said. “I thought he was going to stay off the boards and I tried to put it down the boards, but it came off the boards and hit him.

“I saw it hit him. I was just trying to celebrate to keep it going if the ref didn’t see it, but he did.”

MacInnis was just happy to contribute so soon after coming back from injury, especially since he doesn’t want to break up the chemistry of the team that’s on a winning streak.

“Anytime you come off the IR I usually takes a good five or seven games to get back, especially this time of year when everybody’s heating up and good teams are pulling ahead,” he said. “It’s tough, but at the end of the game something like that should help.

“I want to log minutes. I want to come in and take my job back. I want to be that 30-minute guy,” he said. “But the guys have been playing so well defensively as a unit I don’t want to come in and disrupt that.”

Blair Stayzer opened the scoring for New Mexico with 11:55 left in the first period on a goal off passes from Chris Robertson and Konrad Reeder, who earned an assist on three New Mexico goals. The Scorpions were able to turn back two Wichita power plays in the period, each after penalties Vladimir Hartinger.

The teams skated 4-on-4 for five minutes in the second period after Wichita's Cedric Bernier and David Simoes were issued five-minute penalties with 7:42 left in the second period. Wichita had at least one good save when Kyle Bruce got behind New Mexico defenders on a breakaway, but he fumbled the puck and Andrew Martin was able to make a relatively easy save.

The next time down the ice, New Mexico took advantage of the up-and-down action. Craig Macdonald hit the crossbar and the puck dropped down for a goal and a 2-0 New Mexico lead. Reeder and Mitch Stephens were awarded assists on the goal, scored at the 4:32 mark.

Bruce narrowed the margin to 2-1 with an unassisted goal with 2:34 left in the period. The Thunder, which is in last place in its division but was 7-7 since making a coaching change in December, tied the game with 15:23 left in regulation on a power-play goal from Cedric Bernier after Shawn Skiehar was given an unusual four-minute penalty for boarding.

After playing perhaps its best all-around game of the season on Friday in a 5-1 victory over Odessa, Murphy knew his team was due for a bit of a letdown.

“That’s the challenge. You come off a performance like last night and you play a team where guys are playing for their jobs,” he said. “They’re scrapping for every point trying to turn everything around. That’s a dangerous combination.
“We knew it going into it. We tried to ward against it. We didn’t come out with the performance that we wanted, but we got the two points. That’s what matters.”

After Tuesday’s game at Arizona, New Mexico has two more games on the road against division rivals, visiting Odessa and Friday and Amarillo on Saturday.

The Scorpions then open a season-long seven-game homestand against Arizona on Tuesday, Jan. 29 Ticket information is available at www.ScorpionsHockey.com or by calling 881-PUCK. Complete statistics and standings are available at www.CentralHockeyLeague.com.