FALCONS FALL JUST SHORT IN OPENER

Marlborough, MA - The Springfield Falcons rallied from three goals down in the third period to pull within a single goal, but just fell short losing 3-2 to the Providence Bruins Wednesday night at the New England Sports Complex.  The Falcons will host the Worcester Sharks Friday night in their second preseason game.

LIVE BOX SCORE

Trailing 3-0 early in the third period, veteran forward Bryan Lundbohm cut Springfield's deficit to 3-1 with his first goal of the preseason at 6:24 of the final frame.  The line of Lundbohm, Adam Henrich and Dylan Stanley would strike again late in the third period when Stanley tallied on the power play at 19:02 of the final stanza.

The Falcons fell behind 2-0 in the first period when Providence's Adam Pineault opened the scoring with a power play goal, followed by Rob Kwiet converting on a five-on-three power play giving the home team a two-goal advantage.

There were a pair of fights within the first eight-minutes of the first period as Springfield's Riley Emmerson and Providence's Brett Clouthier dropped the gloves with Emmerson earning the knockdown, followed by the Falcons Marc Rechlicz and the Bruins Scott Fletcher going toe-to-toe with each player landing a handful of punches.

GAME NOTES

The Falcons split the goaltending duties with Aaron Sorochan starting in net stopping 22 of 24 shots in 32-minutes of action.  Andrew Perugini turned aside 13 of 14 shots in 28-minutes of playing time.

Line-up for Preseason Game vs. Providence

39 Adam Henrich – 15 Bryan Lundbohm – 16 Dylan Stanley
32 Jeff Lee – 19 Colton Fretter – 12 Ryan MacMurchy
34 Kelly Czuy – 8 Bryan Lerg – 22 Jamie Bates
31 Marc Rechlicz – 14 Colin Power – 27 Riley Emmerson

3 Chris Armstrong – 5 Johan Motin
6 Matt Nickerson – 25 Dinos Stamoulis
36 Tim Kunes – 29 Jordan Bendfeld

28 Aaron Sorochan
35 Andrew Perugini

IN-GAME UPDATES - PERIOD-BY-PERIOD

FIRST PERIOD

Springfield's Aaron Sorochan and Providence's Adam Courchaine started in goal.  The Falcons had the periods first power play, but failed to convert.  In fact, Providence's Scott Fletcher had the best scoring chance during the Falcons' man advantage ending up on a breakaway, but Sorochan made a nice pad save.

There were a pair of fights within the first 8-minutes of the period as Springfield's Riley Emmerson and Providence's Brett Clouthier dropped the gloves with Emmerson earning the knockdown, followed by the Falcons Marc Rechlicz and the Bruins Fletcher going toe-to-toe with each player landing a handful of punches.

Midway through the first period, Providence's Adam Pineault gave the Bruins a 1-0 lead with a power play goal.  Late in the opening frame, Providence's Rob Kwiet converted on a five-on-three Bruins' power play giving the home team a 2-0 advantage.

Springfield's Johan Motin had a late scoring chance on the power play in the first period, but Courchaine made a left pad save.

SECOND PERIOD

The Falcons opened the second period on the power play with Colton Fretter ringing a shot off the cross bar almost cutting the Falcons' deficit in half.

The Falcons continued to apply pressure in the middle frame as Jeff Lee led a two-on-one scoring chance midway through the frame.

Sorochan was replaced by Andrew Perugini after Sorochan stopped 22 of 24 shots in 28-minutes of action.

With less than a minute remaining in the second period, Bryan Lerg ended up on a shorthanded breakaway, but the puck just jumped over his stick on a backhand attempt keeping the Falcons' deficit at 2-0 heading into the third period.

THIRD PERIOD

The Falcons fell behind 3-0 early in the third period when Providence's Alain Goulet converted just 1:11 into the final frame.  Springfield battled back as Bryan Lundbohm cut the Falcons' deficit to 3-1, followed by Dylan Stanley recording his first goal of the preseason at 19:02 of the third period.  Adam Henrich collected a pair of assists for Springfield.

PRE-GAME REPORT

By:  Andrew Tressler

September 23, 2009 - Today’s morning skate was a light practice for the players before they head off to Marlborough, MA to face the Providence Bruins in their first preseason game of the year. There was no scrimmage today for the players, only drills. Head Coach Rob Daum along with the rest of the coaching staff decided to split the Falcons players into two groups for practice: those who will be playing in the game tonight and those who will be on the practice squad for today. The guys playing in tonight’s game consist of a good mix of young players and veterans battling to make the team.

A member of the 2008-09 Falcons team, Bryan Lerg, is one of the skaters in tonight’s game fighting for a spot on the team. Lerg is eager to get on the ice to face a different opponent other than his teammates.

“I’m very excited,” said Lerg.  “It’s been awhile without a game now. After going through training camp up in Edmonton and training camp here started off a couple a days ago, you are playing against the guys who are competing for your job, which is always good, but it is nice to get into a game now and game situation to show what you can do.”

With so many players on the Falcons roster it will be interesting to see who makes the team for opening night on October 3. With over 40 players on the Falcons roster today these preseason games are essential for the coaches to evaluate the players in a real time game situation.

“Anytime you are evaluating new players,” Assistant Coach Gerry Fleming said, “The main thing to look for is their level of competition and having guys do what they do best. I think those are two key points you look for when evaluating players for the first time.”

The players know how important the three preseason games are in determining their chances of playing for the Falcons this year. Right Wing Kelly Czuy knows that this is a chance to impress the coaches.

“It’s a chance to prove yourself and show what you can bring to the table,” said Czuy.  “It (the preseason games) gives the coaches a good idea of what type of player you are.”

Preseason games provide the players an opportunity to play harder than they would in practice or scrimmages since they are playing another team.

“When you are playing against yourself or your team,” said Czuy, “you don’t really want to hurt a defenseman or anyone on your team so you are not really finishing through your checks 100% and things like that.”

The preseason games allow players, like Czuy, to finish those checks and prove to the coaches that they belong on the team.  Coach Daum and his staff have instilled their offensive and defensive systems into the Falcons players’ heads this week. They will take a look at each player’s performance within the system at their natural position as well as putting some guys in situations they may not normally play.

“We want to see guys execute the systems that we have,” Coach Fleming said, “we went over them this week and we’ve done video. We prepare any game the same, that doesn’t change regardless if it’s the exhibition game or the seventh game of the finals. You prepare your team to go out and play the way you have to in order to be successful.”

The Falcons will be leaving Springfield Wednesday afternoon for Marlborough, MA to take on the Providence Bruins at 7pm. The next practice for the Falcons will be Thursday morning at 12-noon.

Line-up for Preseason Game vs. Providence

39 Adam Henrich – 15 Bryan Lundbohm – 16 Dylan Stanley
32 Jeff Lee – 19 Colton Fretter – 12 Ryan MacMurchy
34 Kelly Czuy – 8 Bryan Lerg – 22 Jamie Bates
31 Marc Rechlicz – 14 Colin Power – 27 Riley Emmerson

3 Chris Armstrong – 5 Johan Motin
6 Matt Nickerson – 25 Dinos Stamoulis
36 Tim Kunes – 29 Jordan Bendfeld

28 Aaron Sorochan
35 Andrew Perugini

Extras making the trip: 10 Chanse Fitzpatrick, 24 R.J. Anderson, and 30 John Hallas

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