Scorpions sweep home series
Suspensions possible after post-game brawl
By Eric Maddy
The SCORE
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home ice.
The
New Mexico Scorpions won their second straight game Saturday night,
using a big first period and a late penalty shot to beat the Rocky
Mountain Rage 4-2 in a Central Hockey League game at the Santa Ana Star
Center. On Friday, New Mexico rebounded from a winless four-game road
trip by beating the Colorado Eagles 4-3.
The action didn’t stop
when the final horn blew Saturday night; rather, it served as the
opening bell for several fights. By the time everything was sorted out,
98 penalty minutes and four game misconduct infractions were called.
The fight was apparently triggered when Rocky Mountain goalie Terry Dunbar slashed Shawn Skiehar in the face in the closing minute after he allowed a game-clinching penalty shot goal to Konrad Reeder. When the game ended, New Mexico’s Kevin Harvey came charging off the bench and went after Dunbar. Rocky Mountain’s Justin Schmit attempted to intervene, and New Mexico’s Blair Stayzer joined the battle, too.
New Mexico coach Randy Murphy exchanged harsh words with Rocky Mountain’s Tracy Egeland, finally ending the discussion by pointing at the scoreboard.
When all was said and done, Nick Harloff
earned two penalty minutes (for slashing); Harvey 39 minutes (roughing,
leaving the bench, fighting major, game misconduct, fighting
secondary/game misconduct and attempting to injure); Schmit 45 minutes
(roughing, two fighting majors, one secondary fighting/game misconduct
and two game misconducts) and Stayzer 25 minutes (fighting major,
fighting intervener/game misconduct and game misconduct).
Before all hell broke lose, the two teams actually played an interesting game. Craig McDonald, the hero of Friday’s victory, scored another power play goal to put New Mexico up 1-0 just 3:31 into the game. Newcomer Erik Johnson scored his first goal for the Scorpions at the 15:08 mark and Mitch Stephens added a power play goal with 10 seconds left in the period, giving New Mexico a 3-0 lead at the break.
Rocky
Mountain got back into the game by scoring two power play goals in a
two minute span of the second period. Reeder’s goal on a penalty shot,
New Mexico’s first of the year, locked up the victory with 57 seconds
remaining in the game.
In addition to ending the four-game
winless streak on Friday, New Mexico also snapped a franchise 10-game
losing streak to Colorado, dating back to 2005 when the team played at
Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque.
Though the Scorpions came into
the game with just a 4-3-1 home record, it was obviously better than
the 3-5-1 result on the road, including a 0-3-1 skid on last week’s
Texas tour. And when matched against Colorado’s lack of success away
from home (1-3-2 vs. 7-2 at home this season), the script for a
Scorpions victory seemed to be in place.
But that doesn’t mean it was easy.
McDonald
scored two goals, including the game winner in the third period, and
had an assist to lead New Mexico, which never trailed in the game. New
Mexico scored all of its goals on the power play, the first coming 5:15
into the game.
After the recent struggles, McDonald recognized the importance of the game.
“It’s
huge,” he said. “Following a bad road trip, having a big team like
Colorado coming in – it’s nice to get a huge win. It’s a big boost.
It’s exactly what we needed to get back on track.
“We were
playing pretty desperate. We really wanted to win tonight. It was
pretty evident we weren’t taking this game lightly and we were pretty
prepared tonight.”
Colorado had the first good scoring attempt, when Riley Nelson made a quick steal and fired head on from about 20 feet away, but New Mexico goalie Andrew Martin made a sharp save. Moments later the Scorpions went on offense and broke through for the lead.
Michael Kolarz
rebounded his own direct shot and moved the puck quickly to McDonald,
who set up Stephens. His redirection shot at the 14:45 mark gave New
Mexico a 1-0 lead.
Johnson, acquired from Youngstown earlier
this week, put the Scorpions back on the power play at the 13:08 mark
when he was hooked by Aaron Schneekloth on a breakaway attempt.
But the man advantage was lost moments later when Stephens was called
for high sticking around the goal.
New Mexico had another opportunity when Macdonald broke away and tried to beat Marco Emond top shelf, but the Colorado goalie made the save. And the Eagles responded, tying the game 1-1 with 6:32 left in the period.
While most of the crowed was roaring at a body shot taken by the Scorpions’ Vladmir Hartinger, left winger Seth Leonard got the puck from Nelson and Greg Pankewicz and scored from straight on.
Colorado
nearly took the lead seconds later, but a shot glanced off Martin’s
shoulder pad and off the crossbar. But just when the defending league
champions seem to find momentum, the Scorpions found the net.
Leonard
was whistled for roughing with 4:42 left in the period, and Emond made
a major mistake 31 seconds later when he was called for a rare delay of
game penalty by trying to sweep the puck behind the end line, which had
it done so untouched would have resulted in a face-off. Instead, it
gave New Mexico a two-man advantage.
The Scorpions capitalized,
using all but 12 seconds of the 5-on-3 skating advantage before
McDonald beat Emond after being set up by Aaron MacInnis and Hartinger.
“It
was a pretty lucky goal,” McDonald said. “I was in the right place at
the right time. It went right on my stick. It was nice.”
The
teams traded power play goals in the second period, with Schneekloth
and New Mexico left winger Ray Ortiz scoring within the first seven
minutes of the period.
And it stayed that way until 5:30 into
the final period, when Stephens found MacInnis who hit McDonald to give
New Mexico a two-goal advantage after a boarding penalty by Colorado’s
Steve Haddon.
It didn’t stay that way very long. Colorado came back to narrow the gap to 4-3 on a goal by right winger Fraser Filipic just a minute and 23 seconds later.
Colorado had the final power play chance of the night after Scorpions defender David Simones was
whistled for hooking, but the Eagles couldn’t keep the puck in the New
Mexico end. Twice the Scorpions cleared it; twice Colorado missed on
passes from close to the goal back out to the point.
New Mexico easily held off Colorado’s last ditch effort after Emond was pulled for an extra skater with 28 seconds left.
The
Scorpions head to the road for games Friday and Saturday night in
Odessa. Both games can be heard on 1050 KTBL or seen for free on CHL
Network starting at 6:05 p.m.
New Mexico is in third place, seven points out of the lead and five behind second-place Odessa.
The next Scorpions home game is on Thursday, Dec. 13 against the Amarillo Gorillas. For ticket information, click here or call 881-PUCK (7825). For the latest CHL statistics and standings, click here.
