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By Michael Ein 4/16/02
ECHL BOARDWALK BULLIES
HOCKEY / BOARDWALK BULLIES OUST TITANS
Date: Wednesday,
April 17, 2002
Section: Sports
Edition: All
Page: D1
Byline: By BILL LeCONEY Staff Writer
Caption:
The Boardwalk Bullies' Kirk Furey, facing camera, hugs teammate Stefan
Rivard (No.21) after Rivard scored his second goal, the team's third,
against the Titans on Tuesday during Game 3 of the ECHL Northeast Division
final at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic city. The Bullies swept the Titans
three games to none.
When talk of minor-league hockey first started rumbling in Atlantic City,
Trenton Titans officials welcomed the Boardwalk Bullies for "selfish"
reasons, namely having a cross-state rival within reasonable driving
distance.
Careful what you welcome, and forget about being selfish.
The Bullies swept the Titans right on out of the East Coast Hockey League
playoffs, beating them 4-1 Tuesday to take the Northeast Division final
series three games to none.
Goaltender Scott Stirling, a year removed from a deep playoff run with
Trenton, stole the Titans' best shots and cracked their resolve. Stefan
Rivard scored two goals and gave the announced crowd of 3,618 plenty to
celebrate at Boardwalk Hall.
"Nobody gave us a chance all year," Rivard said. "They
were predicting we
would get 15 wins, and here we are, playing for the Northern Conference
title. Everybody stepped up. Without Stirling, I don't know where we'd
be.
But here we are. We swept one of the best teams in the league."
The Bullies move on to the Northern Conference finals against the winner
of the Northwest Division final series between Dayton and Johnstown.
Dayton leads that series two games to none going into Thursday's game
in
Johnstown.
Bullies general manager Matt Loughran said the next round likely will
begin Wednesday, April 24, at Boardwalk Hall. The Bullies will have
home-ice advantage in that best-of-five series.
Tied 1-1, the Bullies survived a scrambly second period, thanks to
Stirling. Then, 3 minutes, 12 seconds into the third period, Rivard's
slapshot evaded Trenton goaltender Dan Murphy on the stick side, snapping
the tie. The Bullies killed off a final Trenton power play, continuing
their special-teams dominance, before Rivard clinched it on a 2-on-1 with
Scott Matzka, firing home a high riser with 1:20 left.
Jeff Connolly added an empty-net goal, just before the Atlantic City bench
erupted in joy.
"We win as a team, as 20 guys," said Bullies coach and ex-Titans
assistant
Mike Haviland. "Stirling is one of our 20. He was very good. Some
of those
shots (in the second period), I don't know what happened to. I thought
they were in. He did his job."
Trenton coach Peter Horachek, who got the top spot with the Titans after
Haviland was passed over last summer, was stingy with his compliments,
even after getting swept.
"They play well together, and they play hard and the breaks went
in for
them," Horachek said of the Bullies. "That's part of playoff
hockey."
Tuesday's first period followed a blueprint from Monday's Game 2, at least
for a while. The Bullies weathered an early Titans storm, including a
45-second two-man advantage and two other power plays.
Once again, the Bullies capitalized on their own power play, with Caudron
tipping in a Luke Curtin point shot five seconds into a Craig Brunel
interference penalty against (who else?) Daniel Lacroix.
This time, the pattern diverged. Matt Zultek swept home the rebound of
an
Andreas Moborg shot at 15:03 to tie the game.
Atlantic City was lucky - and indebted to Stirling - to escape the second
period still in a tie. The Bullies goaltender made 12 saves, including
a
pair of tremendous stops on Matt Zultek. He drew a standing ovation for
the second of those saves, in which he somehow flashed a glove up while
lying sideways in the crease.
The other notable occurrence of the second period was a four-minute
double-minor on Trenton's Chris Lynch for high-sticking that
penalty-magnet Lacroix in the face. The Bullies could do little with the
four-minute advantage, failing to get a shot on goal.
"We have to give a big thank you to (Stirling) for keeping us in
there,"
said Lacroix, who took several stitches to close a cut near his right
eye.
"We battled in the third, and once we got a goal, we had wings. We
started
skating and playing smart defensively. This was a real playoff game."
NOTES: Eight-year-old
Jorge Rodriguez of Atlantic City, who was
accidentally hit in the head by a stick thrown by Charlotte goaltender
Jason LaBarbera in Game 4 of the first-round series, attended Tuesday's
game. Rodriguez was given (handed) a hockey stick and game jersey by the
Bullies public-relations department. After the game, he received
autographs from the Bullies players and coaches, and held up a sign that
said, "I took one for the team." ... Bullies general manager
Matt Loughran
praised the efforts of Boardwalk Hall workers to make a new sheet of ice
and get the rink ready for Game 3 after the Ringling Bros. Barnum &
Bailey
Circus ended its engagement Sunday. ... Trenton lost in its bid to become
the first team in ECHL history to advance past the first two rounds in
three straight seasons.
Trenton 1 0 0 --
1
Atlantic City 1 0 3 -- 4
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1 ATC Caudron (Curtin, Rivard) 13:57. 2 TRE
Zultek (Moburg) 15:03. Penalties: Lacroix, ATC (elbowing) 3:57. Deskins,
TRE (slashing) 7:53. Rivard, ATC (hooking) 8:38. Johnston, ATC (slashing)
9:35. Brunel, TRE (interference) 13:52. Beckett, TRE (unsportsmanlike
conduct) 15:47. Loeding, ATC (unsportsmanlike conduct) 15:47. Lynch, TRE
(boarding) 15:47. White, TRE (slashing) 18:13. Matzka, ATC (slashing)
18:13. Curtin, ATC (high sticking) 18:46.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: None. Penalties: Lynch, TRE (high sticking)
8:37. Lynch, TRE (high sticking) 10:37.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 3 ATC Rivard (Caudron) 3:15. 4 ATC Rivard
(Matzka, Furey) 18:40. 5 ATC Connolly (Lacroix) 19:20. Penalties: Lacroix,
ATC (high sticking) 13:46. Beckett, TRE (unsportsmanlike conduct) 16:57.
Cech, ATC (unsportsmanlike conduct) 16:57.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Trenton 10 12 12--34
Atlantic City 9 6 9--24
Power Play Conversions: Trenton - 0 of 5. Atlantic City - 1 of 5.
Goalies: Trenton-Murphy (23 shots, 20 saves; record: 3-4). Atlantic
City-Stirling (34 shots, 33 saves; record: 6-2).
A: 3,618. Referee: Ernst. Linesmen: Nicolls, Sasyn.
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