Youngstown beat the CHL’s best team, appropriately named the Rage.

Youngstown beat the CHL’s best team, appropriately named the Rage.

By TOM WILLIAMS

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

YOUNGSTOWN — Shades of “Slap Shot!”

Hockey goalies can do some amazing things wearing 30 pounds of equipment, from acrobatic kick saves to grabbing pucks with outstretched arms.

Sometimes they even fight.

Most of the fans at the Chevrolet Centre on Sunday won’t long remember a lot of the details from the SteelHounds’ 5-1 victory over the Rocky Mountain Rage (the Central Hockey League’s best team).

They probably can’t tell you that newcomer defenseman Andrew Scampoli and forward Mark Johnson scored goals in less than a minute to give Youngstown a 2-0 lead.

What they’ll never forget was watching SteelHounds goalie Andy Franck pair off with Rage goalie Scott Reid and the ensuing fight that almost continued off ice.

A second after Johnson deflected the puck past Reid for the SteelHounds’ second goal early in the second period, one of the strangest sequences in the franchise’s three seasons erupted. Reid began scuffling with Johnson.

“Mainer [defenseman Eric Main] had a shot from the point and I tipped it,” Johnson said. “I didn’t make any contact with [Reid] so I’m not sure if he was just upset that the goal went in or what. Next thing I knew, he was on top of me.”

As Johnson was escorted to the penalty box, Franck got involved.

“I was going to let it go,” said Franck who added that he’s had about six fights during his amateur and pro career. “That’s why I stopped at the [center] line. Then [Reid] got back into it so that’s why I ended up going on down the ice.”

Once Franck arrived, arms began flailing.

“At first, he didn’t take off his [mask] which is an unwritten rule,” Franck said. “He kind of suckered me with his blocker and I had to work to get his helmet off. I had a disadvantage right away because I couldn’t throw punches.”

When Reid pulled Franck’s sweater off, the scuffle appeared over. But when the officials escorted Franck to the gate, Reid was waiting for him on the other side. Punches flew until security pushed Reid toward the locker room.

Reid was assessed four minutes for roughing and five for fighting. Franck also was penalized for fighting plus two minutes for leaving his crease during an altercation.

Neither goalie was ejected and Franck didn’t miss a second of action, returning to the ice while the referee Steve Cruickshank totaled the penalties.

SteelHounds coach Kevin Kaminski said there were no ejections because their fight was the only one penalized.

“I thought I was gone,” said Franck (14-7-1) who made 25 saves. “This was the third goalie fight I’ve been in recently and I haven’t been kicked out [in any].”

Sunday’s victory gave the SteelHounds (23-14-2, 48 points) two wins against the Rage in three days and followed their worst performance of the season (Saturday’s 7-1 loss).

“We played with emotion tonight and that’s what we need,” Kaminski said. “That’s Hound Hockey. We played a sound, solid defensive game.

“We won the one-on-one battles all game long against a heckuva team,” Kaminski said. “It was a great victory for us.”

After the fight, Tim Dunbar replaced Reid in net. Five minutes into the third period, Main beat him for a 3-0 lead.

After Daymen Rycroft scored for the Rage (28-7-3, 59 points), Johnson scored again and Eric Przepiorka tallied his 19th of the season.

“Everyone chipped in — we had no passengers,” Kaminski said. “We prided the little things tonight.”

williams@vindy.com