Binghamton 4, Hershey 1: How the Grinch Stole Christmas (well, 2 days late)!

With the Christmas break behind them, the Hershey Bears took to the ice last night at the Giant Center against the Binghamton Senators. What Hershey did not know, however, was that the Grinch would also be at the Giant Center. The Grinch in question was a referee by the name of David Banfield - a referee who seemed bent on ruining any post Christmas celebrations for the Bears.

I am not taking anything away from a Senators team who played a strong sixty minutes of hockey, but the Bears were royally screwed last night! With a remarkable effort between the pipes, Brian Elliot stopped all but one of the 44 shots on goal (the lone score coming from Keith Aucoin in the first period) and left Chocolatetown with a comfortable 4-1 victory. Unfortunately for the Senators, however, their almost-perfect performance was both overshadowed and undermined by some terrible officiating from the Grinch.

Banfield would assess nine penalties against Hershey, while the Senators were called for five. Alas, for the Bears, it would be a string of missed blatant infractions that would prevent any opportunity to come back down the stretch. With this fine display of terrible officiating, it was clear that Banfield never received his copy of "Hockey for Dummies" in his Christmas stocking this year. He most likely failed to get his eyes tested too, missing the tripping call from the stick that was literally thrown at the feet of Chris Bourque on a breakaway. I had never seen a crowd this hostile at the Giant Center, but it was completely justified. One man was ruining the game for everybody, and 10,000 plus were letting him know about it.

Behind the Bears bench, the normally mellow Bob Woods reached his boiling point after the aforementioned non-call. Tossing water bottles across the ice at Banfield in protest, Woods was ejected from the game, and faces a hefty fine and possible suspension for his actions. While I do not condone the way in which Woods vented his frustration, I felt that his complaint was more than justified. The Senators had capitalized on the non-call against Bourque, and put the game out of reach for the Bears. Woods, as the coach and leader of the team, stood tall and made sure that the officiating crew were informed of just how terrible they were. Worth every cent of his imminent fine and suspension, in my opinion.

So Binghamton left the Giant Center with the win, and thanks to the Wilkes-Barre Penguins taking a win over Bridgeport, no damage was done at the top of the division. The Bears and the Sound Tigers remain tied for first place, albeit in a division that has become tightly contested right now as we head towards the New Year.

Bears streak punctured by those pesky baby Pens.

Playing their third consecutive game in as many nights, Hershey fell to Wilkes-Barre last night by a score of 5-4. I find it amazing that several other Bears bloggers are already seeing this one loss as the end of the world - that our goaltending is not good enough, that Bob Woods should be fired, and that we cannot possibly make the playoffs. Why are people quick to assume that one regular season loss means that the end is nigh? If the Bears had played last night sporting an 0-5 record going in, would those fans have even turned up to support their team, or would they have already hung themselves from the bleachers at that point? The point I am making is that one loss does not shift momentum. No team can be expected to have a perfect season. Winning 3 out of every 5 should realistically put you in the playoff picture - so why are the pessimists already fearing the worst? Yes, Hershey played with less intensity last night, but that was acceptable to some extent given the physical demands placed upon them from the previous two outings. The Baby Pens were rested on Saturday, and were seeking a victory after losing to Hershey on their home opening night. The Bears will win more than their fair share of games this season with the talented roster that they possess. The occassional loss here and there is simply par for the course - and the Bears will look to bounce back next week against the Senators.

Congratulations are in order for Tyler Sloan, who was recalled to the Capitals in preparation for their upcoming road trip. I wish Tyler well in his NHL debut - providing he is not scratched from the line-up. Go Bears! Go Caps!

Rockin' the Red at the Home Opener

First of all, a big thankyou to my boss Jon for letting me skip the last two hours of work on Saturday afternoon so that I could head down to DC for the opening home game for the Caps at Verizon Center. And what a night it turned out to be. The metro ride down from Shady Grove was a red-filled vessel of thirsty hockey fans ready to root for their team. And upon exiting the metro, F Street was alive and well. The doors were open early and the excitement level was high. Washington was a city ready to continue to rock the red once more!!!!

So after a 7-4 thrashing (no pun intended) on the previous evening in Atlanta, how would the Caps respond against a team touted highly as the 'dark horse' for this coming year? What adjustments would Bruce be making? How would the crowd respond to Theodore after his poor performance in Game 1? Many questions were there to be answered, and after the initial warm-ups, we were about to find out.

Props to the Caps organization for the great opening ceremony and raising of the banner. It was done in very good taste, and hopefully we'll get to see that happening on an annual basis!!! The chants of "Bruuuuuuce" from the crowd paid homage to our general who brought out troops out to battle once again - this humble Toronto native has the utmost respect from the fans throughout the building.

As for the game, things didn't start too well for the Caps, giving up a Chicago strike within the opening minute. Fans drew breath, fearing the worst every time the puck was within 10 feet of Theodore throughout the game. Admittedly, he made some phenomenal saves during the contest, and did redeem himself to some extent after Fridays performance, but it will be a while before the fans can honestly put their trust in this individual between the pipes. You can have the best offensive weapons in the world, but you still need somebody at home to mind the fort. A casual observer in my section summed it up best, literally finding religion every time a shot was taken at the net......Father Ted could have taken notes from this guy for his Sunday sermon.

Hockey is a 60 minute game, and the final 40 minutes were almost dominated by the Caps. After going down 2-0 in the first, the final horn saw the Caps leave with a 4-2 victory. How did they turn things around? What was said in the locker room after the first period? Unbeknown to me at the time, Al Koken from Comcast Sports Net mentioned that Bruce Boudreau reverted back to his traditional defensive pairings, and upon reflection, I can now see why the chemistry in the Caps zone was vastly improved. It may sound like a minor tweak, and of little importance, but to these guys, it made all the difference. And as much as I love Mike Green - Mike, please play a little more defense....yes, you can shoot, but you don't need to be 'the' lone playmaker when bringing the puck into the zone. However, this is just small criticism. The first period aside, this was a solid performance and a Caps game played just the way we like it. Can't wait for the next outing.......

One more thing: Way to go Hershey!!! A 3-0 start on the road. A win for Varlamov in his North American debut. Bob Woods has already started to silence the doubters........go Bears. Can't wait to see you on Saturday for the home opener against the Crunch!