FALCONS RALLY FOR 5-4 WIN OVER HERSHEY

March 8, 2008 - In a game that featured playoff intensity, the Springfield Falcons rallied from a one-goal deficit entering the third period and skated away with a 5-4 come-from-behind win in front of 4,789 at the MassMutual Center on Saturday night. 

The Falcons used a pair of power play goals early in the third period to earn the victory and expand their lead to six points in the battle for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division.


Trailing 4-3 entering the third period, Viacheslav Trukhno tied the game on the man advantage just 19-seconds into the final frame, followed by Rob Schremp's game-winner at 1:04 of the third period.

In the second period, Hershey built their lead to 3-1 when Jason Morgan scored his 13th goal of the year at 1:42.  Springfield's Ben Simon pulled the Falcons to within a single goal at 3-2 when he tallied his 11th goal of the year at 3:22 of the middle period.  Josef Boumedienne converted on the power play at 5:29 of the second period giving Hershey a 4-2 advantage, only to see Stephane Goulet score his second marker of the game at 13:04 of the middle frame cutting Springfield's deficit to 4-3 through 40 minutes.

The Falcons fell behind 2-0 when Hershey's Alexander Giroux and Jay Beagle scored within the first five-minutes of the opening frame.  Springfield cut their deficit to 2-1 when Goulet scored his fifth marker of the year at 8:59 of the first period.

FALCONS LINEUP

Schremp - Potulny - McDonald
Reddox - Trukhno - Goulet
Simon - Almtorp - Sestito
Werner - Bodie

Young - Kemp
Gabinet - Peckham
Berry - Farynuk

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

FALCONS SCRATCHES - T.J. Reynolds (Injured), Les Reaney (Healthy), Sebastien Bisaillon (Injured), Ryan O'Marra (Injured), Allan Rourke (Injured), Jean-Francois Jacques (Injured), Jacob Micflikier (Healthy), Kenny Smith (Healthy)

GAME NIGHT NOTES………………

GAME SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears meet for the second and final time this season when they get together at the MassMutual Center on Saturday night.  The Falcons lost to the Bears in the first meeting by a score of 5-1 back on January 19 at the Giant Center.  Hershey’s Kyle Wilson netted the hat trick in that contest in leading the Bears to the win. 

    The Falcons head into tonight’s contest having defeated the Lowell Devils by a score of 4-2 on Friday night.  The Falcons used four different goal scorers last night as Rick Berry, Viacheslav Trukhno, Stephane Goulet and Troy Bodie all tallied for Springfield.  Eight different Falcons players recorded at least a point in their win Friday night and goaltender Jeff Deslauriers was very steady stopping 37 of 39 shots earning the game’s first star.  Springfield has expanded their lead to four points over the Manchester Monarchs for the fourth and final playoff spot within the Atlantic Division.  The Falcons improved their record to 28-25-5-5 on the season, including 18-10-3-1 on home ice.  Including tonight’s contest, four of Springfield’s next five games are at “The Nest.”

    The Bears head into Springfield having defeated the Manchester Monarchs by a score of 4-3 Friday night.  Hershey rallied from a 3-1 deficit to score three unanswered makers in the third period to earn the victory.  Danny Syvret, Jason Morgan, Kyle Wilson and Jay Beagle all tallied for Hershey in the win.  Goaltender Daren Machesney earned the victory in goal stopping 28 of 31 shots.  The Bears are currently in fourth place in the East Division with a record of 33-23-1-5 good for 72 points and only one point behind third place Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Hershey is currently on a nine-game road trip with tonight being the seventh contest on their voyage.  The Bears are currently 2-4 on their current road swing as they conclude the weekend in Portland on Sunday.

SPRINGFIELD AND HERSHEY CONNECTIONS:  The Springfield Falcons and Hershey Bears have been involved in a pair of transactions since January as Stephen Werner and Grant Potulny have both joined Springfield after starting the season in Hershey, while Danny Syvret and Ryan Flinn remain on the Bears roster after starting the campaign with the Falcons.

Back on January 24, the Falcons loaned Flinn to Hershey, while the Washington Capitals loaned right wing Werner to the Falcons.  Werner has played in 17 games with Springfield collecting five goals and one assist.  He is in his second full season of professional hockey after completing a four-year collegiate career at UMass-Amherst from 2002-2006. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound native of Chevy Chase, Maryland split the previous two seasons between the Hershey Bears and the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays.  In 25 games with South Carolina this season, Werner had six goals and 15 assists for 21 points and 24 penalty minutes.  In eight games with the Bears during the 2007-08 campaign, he collected one goal and four assists for five points and two penalty minutes.  Werner was selected by the Washington Capitals in the third round (83rd overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. 

Flinn has played in 13 games with Hershey collecting one goal and 42 penalty minutes.  In 24 games with the Falcons this season, Flinn registered one assist and 82 penalty minutes.  Flinn spent the 2006-07 campaign with the AHL’s San Antonio Rampage picking up two goals and four assists and totaling 166 penalty minutes.

On February 21, Springfield announced that Syvret had been reassigned by the Edmonton Oilers to Hershey and the Bears loaned Potulny to the Falcons.  In 36 games with the Falcons this season, Syvret totaled one goal and seven assists for eight points and 14 penalty minutes.  In nine games since joining the Bears, Syvret has one goal and four assists for five points.  The 5-foot-11, 203-pound native of Millgrove, Ontario also spent time with Team Canada and won a gold medal at this year’s Spengler Cup. 

Potulny had played in 50 games with Hershey this season collecting 19 goals and 12 assists for 31 points and 71 penalty minutes.  Potulny was second on the Bears in goals and seventh on the club in scoring at the time of the transaction.  The 6-foot-3, 204-pound native of Grand Forks, North Dakota is in his fourth full season of professional hockey after spending his collegiate career with the University of Minnesota from 2000-2004. 

PECKHAM MAKES NHL DEBUT:  Springfield defenseman Theo Peckham made his NHL debut Friday night in Columbus as a member of the Edmonton Oilers.  Peckham was recalled by Edmonton on March 6 after playing in 42 games with the Falcons this season collecting six goals and four assists for 10 points and 113 penalty minutes.  The 6-foot-2, 223-pound native of Richmond Hill, Ontario played the three previous seasons with the Owen Sound Attack of the Ontario Hockey League.  Peckham had his most productive season offensively during the 2006-07 campaign where he registered 10 goals and 25 assists for 35 points and 173 penalty minutes in 53 games.  He was originally drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the third round (75th overall) in the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

SPRINGFIELD HOCKEY HALL OF FAME NIGHT:  Prior to the start of tonight’s game, three new members of the Springfield Hockey Hall of Fame that will form the “Class of 2008,” will be inducted during a pre-game ceremony.

Entering the Springfield Hockey Hall of Fame will be former Indians players Albert “Abbie” Cox and Kent Douglas. In addition, the well known group of young men who volunteered their time at the Eastern States Coliseum, known as the “Rink Rats,” will be inducted into the Builders Category.

Cox, a London, England native and goaltender from the early days of Springfield hockey, played three seasons for the Indians teams of the Canadian American Hockey League (1926-27, 1927-28 and 1935-36), winning championships in his first two seasons.  Cox became an integral part of bringing back professional hockey to Springfield during a short absence in the early 1930’s by persuading J. Lucien Garneau to move his Can-Am team from Quebec to Springfield in 1935-36.  Cox enjoyed a professional career that spanned 11 seasons and one that saw him play a few games in the National Hockey League at the very beginning of its existence.

Douglas, the hard hitting defenseman from Cobalt, Ontario was a member of Eddie Shore’s three straight Calder Cup championship teams in 1959-60, 1960-61 and 1961-62.   Douglas played in 203 games for the Springfield Indians over the course of five seasons and was the recipient of the Eddie Shore Award by the American Hockey League in 1961-62 as the league’s outstanding defenseman.  A selection as a First Team All-Star was also given to Douglas that same year.  Douglas went on to play seven NHL seasons, most notably winning three Stanley Cups with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1963, 1964 and 1967.  His NHL rookie season in 1962-63 was marked by his being named recipient of the Calder Memorial Trophy as the league’s Rookie of the Year.

The “Rink Rats”, to which they have affectionately been referred over several generations in Springfield, were those young men, generally ranging in age from 12 to 20, who made the Eastern States Coliseum their second home.   Volunteering their time by resurfacing the ice both before and after the inclusion of the Zamboni®, performing the duties of stickboys and waterboys during Indians home games, ushering public skating and refereeing  on Saturday mornings for the Greater Springfield Junior Amateur Hockey League were just some of the duties performed by the Rink Rats.  The primary benefit for all Rink Rats was the chance to skate for free on the Coliseum ice and receive personal instruction from Eddie Shore himself.