We had a lot of discussions before the game - who would we prefer to meet this round: Milwaukee or Cincinnati? We've had problems with both teams during the season, but it's obvious to us that Milwaukee was folding, in more ways than one. Even though they had a very good start, they hadn't been playing well recently. There's also the many rumors going around that the team itself was going to fold - if we heard this correctly, ownership had changed hands a year or two due to a death, and the new owners (the children?) aren't interested in continuing. If true, it had to affect the team. If not true, it still may have affected them.
So, anyway, here we are facing the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. The highlight to look forward to? Our buddy, Zenon Konopka. I still remember the first time we met him on the Utah Grizzlies, but it's nice seeing him with everybody else on Cincy. This meant that we had some fodder for our taunts.
And taunt we did, from the puck drop in the 1st. He was in the Penalty Box in the 2nd. He obviously remembers us. We have a tendency to ratchet-up the taunts when the player starts to act interact. Well, Zenon did and it was like we were getting to him. After his 2-minutes were up, as soon as he stepped onto the ice, we scored (OK, it was one second after his time was up). The entire place laid into him from then on. In the 3rd, while he was in the box for an Unsportsmanlike, we scored again. On the way out, he yelled to us that he was going to score one now. Never did. In fact, I think the coach sat him out a few lines at the end. Guess we did get to him.
Their first goalie - Ilya Bryzgalov gave up 3 goals and was replaced with our former goalie Freddie Cassivi 5 and ahlf minutes into the 2nd. Bryzgalov would drop really quick, and for some reason the 5-Hole would just open-up everytime he went down.
There was some pretty good fights - not big, but very intense. this could be a really dicey series.
(Boxscore - Gamesheet)
2007- Wolves 4 - Stars 5 - West Division Final Game 2
2004- Still recovering data...
2003- Glad I didn't go
2002- White Sox 10 - Athletics 2
- Blogging from my seat...