Holy crap, are we tired...

Carol and I get to our seats right after the doors opened and just about fell asleep, waiting for our buddies to arrive and the game to begin. The last game of the season, and not a great crowd - 6,244. And then we find out who's ref-ing the game: Dan O'Rourke, the same guy that we had problems with last month. This can't be good. Well, actually, it's not too bad. He's doing a pretty good job and he's letting the teams play. Good. We're losing 3-2 after 2 periods, and there's been a few nasty fights. You can tell that things are really getting to these teams, especially when there's fights after the horn sounds for the end of the period. The 3rd period rolls around and something happens. Somewhere along the way, O'Rourke starts calling bad penalties and totally ignoring others. The fans are in an uproar. But it's not only us - the broadcasters don't understand what he's doing and are at a loss for what's going on. Coach Anderson is livid and is an interesting shade of red. Dallas Eakins does a no-no: he starts waving a white towel like an Iraqi trying to surrender, and that gets him thrown out with a gross Misconduct penalty. Things got bad. The conspiracy theories fly - why does the AHL have against us? Anarchy ensues.

But - there is one thing that holds everything together. The game means nothing to the Wolves, but it means something to Steve Maltais. In the course of the game, he manages to get a Hat Trick (all power play goals), which ties him for the all-around scoring champion of the AHL. When the Rampage had the game in hand, Coach Anderson let Maltais stay on the ice to try to get the one point he needed to the scoring title. Coach even pulls Maracle for an extra attacker to help out (though it cost another goal in the empty net). Then, with 5.6 seconds left in the game, J.P. Vigier got a goal with an assist by Rob Brown and Steve Maltais, giving him the one point he needed to get the John B. Sollenberger Trophy as the leading scorer in the American Hockey League for the 2002-03 season.

San Antonio outshot us 37-25 (we only had 4 shots in the 2nd period). But, the seeding gets shook-up and we won't see them in the first round. Our first Quarter Finals playoff game is next sunday against the Hershey Bears.

And then it's time to leave the arena, drive home and collapse. I hate this time of year when hockey ends when baseball begins. Was a good time, though...

(Boxscore)