Sunday, April 15, 2007
TODAY'S SEASON FINALE
WHO: Hartford Wolf Pack at Portland Pirates
WHEN: 4:05 p.m.
WHERE: Cumberland County Civic Center
The Portland Pirates are out of the AHL playoffs, but it doesn't mean they've stopped playing hockey.
The Pirates turned in a solid performance in a 5-2 victory against Lowell Saturday night before 5,954 at the Cumberland County Civic Center.
"You've got to play for your organization, play for pride," said rookie center Drew Miller, who scored his 16th goal.
"There's a lot of pride left in this dressing room," said Tim Brent, who had a goal and an assist. "There's also a lot of thanks to the fans for supporting us all year, so we wanted to go out and give them a good game."
The season ends today for the Pirates, who play Hartford at 4:05 p.m. at the Civic Center.
The loss ended the Devils' chances of qualifying for the final playoff spot from the Atlantic Division. The playoff berths belong to Manchester, Hartford, Worcester and Providence.
"We played three real solid periods," Portland Coach Kevin Dineen said. "We got production from throughout the lineup and another strong goaltending effort."
David McKee, who allowed a total of 11 goals in his previous two starts, returned to the form he showed after he was first called up from the ECHL's Augusta Lynx, when he allowed five goals in his first four games. He made 29 saves to post his fifth win in seven starts.
"I don't think (McKee) was happy finishing the season giving up four goals in a period," Dineen said. "He certainly wanted to come out and show he was ready to go, and (Saturday night) he was very sharp."
The Pirates, who snapped a four-game losing streak, opened the scoring 11:56 into the game when Brent tipped defenseman Brian Salcido's hard wrist shot from the top of the right circle under the crossbar six seconds after the end of a power play. It was the 16th of the season for Brent, who spent two months with Anaheim.
The Devils tied the score 3:26 in the second period on the first of three consecutive power plays. Chris Minard scored his team-high 32nd by lifting the puck inside the right post after Ryan Murphy sent him a pass from the bottom of the left circle.
Seven minutes later, the Pirates regained the lead when Miller put in a hard one-timer from the bottom of the right circle on a power play.
With 1:55 left in the second period, Bobby Bolt, a left wing in his fourth game with Portland since moving up from juniors, put in a hard shot from just below the left hash mark for his first professional goal to make it 3-1.
Charlie Kronschnabel, who joined the Pirates earlier this week after finishing his final season at Alaska-Anchorage, earned his first AHL assist on Bolt's goal.
Matt Christie, in his fourth game since completing his collegiate career at Miami of Ohio, made it 4-1 when he dived across the crease to knock in the rebound of Garett Bembridge's shot from the top of the right circle for his first goal 10:56 into the third.
Staff Writer Paul Betit can be contacted at 725-8795 or at:
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Reader comments
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Cliff, with all due respect you obviously don't know what you are talking about... Lowell needed to win and Providence needed to lose, so the Devils had a chance...
As for your pitiful season comment, it's true this was a rough season, but by all standards it could have been a lot worse... The Pirates have had worse years, yet the boys did well... They had their second longest winning streak in the last month of so at 5 games, and came close to sneaking into the playoffs...
I'll save my final opinion for tomorrow's article, but for now don't bash the team... If you think this was a pitiful season, go over to Springfield, Houston, or Binghamton and ask their fans how their respective team's fared...
GO PIRATES!report abuse
Though not the case this time, IMHO Mr. Betit still plays loose with the facts or omissions thereof at times. I've attended several Pirates games he's written about and wonder if we saw the same game. But I guess one can expect that in a hometown paper.
Regardless, the Pirates still had an awful season, especially in the second half. Sure, they had to deal with trades, call ups, etc., but so does every other AHL team. I place the blame squarely on coach Dineen, who made some head-shaking decisions during the year, especially with regard to his choice of starting goalies.
Although not a Pirates fan, I am a hockey fan and wish them the best of luck next year and hope they are competitive once again.report abuse
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