Friday, October 25, 2002
The Mahoning Valley team played before a capacity crowd at the Ice Zone.
By GREG GULAS
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
BOARDMAN -- Brooks Harvey's goal with 21 seconds remaining in regulation forced overtime, but neither the Mahoning Valley Phantom Rockets nor the Traverse City Enforcers could score in the extra session, as the two teams played to a 5-5 deadlock at The Ice Zone Thursday night.
The game marked the first-ever home contest for the Rockets (1-1-1), a first-year entry in the Continental Elite Hockey League.
"I've had a dream for a long time of bringing high level hockey to the Valley," Rockets owner Bruce Zoldan said to the crowd of nearly 750 during pre-game ceremonies. "Tonight, that dream becomes a reality."
Two quick goals
The crowd, anxious to see the type of team coach Bob Hawthorne had assembled, was treated to some instant offense by the Rockets, as they scored two quick goals less than five minutes into the opening period.
Charlie Boivin, assisted by Dustin Hawthorne, scored on a power play just three minutes into the game and when Paul Fonte found the net at 4:34, the Rockets moved out to an early 2-0 lead.
"I though that we outplayed them at times and overall I am happy with what I saw," Bob Hawthorne said. "We have to clean up the mistakes in our zone, mature along the way and then we can become a good club.
"Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good and tonight we found that luck was on our side."
When the Enforcers' Ian Watson, assisted by Nathan Jakubowski, scored at 8:17, he pulled Traverse City to 2-1 after the first 20 minutes.
"This was our third road game and we really didn't have an exhibition season since we are so far away from everyone in the league," Enforcers (1-3-1) coach Scott Gardiner said. "Our first five games have been our exhibition season."
Brad Peterson added back-to-back goals midway through the second period, the first coming at 8:50 on a power play and the second at 11:11, giving Traverse City a brief 3-2 lead.
The Rockets' David Wilmert scored just 29 seconds later to knot the score at 3, but Eric Frank scored at 17:49 to give the Enforcers a 4-3 margin.
Rockets battle back
Hawthorne said the Rockets can win games in the third period if they are well conditioned. His team did little to dispel that theory Thursday. Dustin Hawthorne, with assists from both Harvey and Eric Mayhew, scored just 13 seconds into the final period to tie the score at 4. The game remained tied until the Enforcers got a goal from Mark Kegley at 18:27.
Hawthorne pulled goalie Justin Garland in favor of a sixth attacker and the strategy worked as Harvey found a seam and the net with just 21 seconds remaining in regulation.
"I was on the ice for some time and was actually ready to come out of the game," said Harvey, the team captain. "When nobody came to replace me I just skated into the zone and what a great feeling it is to score such an important goal, especially when you pull your goalie."
Shooting advantage
The Rockets outshot the Enforcers 36-22 on the night and three to one during the scoreless overtime session.
Willie O'Ree, the first black hockey player in the NHL, was on hand for pre-game ceremonies as he presented a $10,000 check to Tim Shannon of the Youngstown Borderhawks Hockey Club as part of the National Hockey League's ASSIST (Assist Skaters and Shooters in Succeeding Together) program. The YHBC. is one of 13 programs world-wide to receive the grant, which will allow the program to offset costs for equipment, transportation and ice time costs for inner-city children.