Written by Any morning activity during Christmas vacation week makes for an early morning, and today was an early morning. The 2010 Flames played their first game of the Winter Classic Tournament at 8:20am over at Tri-Town Arena against the Monarchs. The Flames woke up slowly, and by the second period, they were up to speed, eventually winning the game, 6-2.
I do believe that the Flames did wake up before I did. Either way though, the visitors from Manchester started slowly and gave up some early chances, including the first goal of the game. Travis Ingalls made some big saves to keep the Flames from falling behind by two or three goals. Instead, they were down just, 1-0 when the 2010 Flames held the puck in the offensive zone for a full shift and scored to tie the game. Caleb Powers pounced on a puck in the high slot after Jax Diachenko and Teddy Beal had handled it and ripped a shot over the goalie’s shoulder for the tying goal. The first period would end in a 1-1, tie.
Enjoy the pictures. Click on them to open them up and zoom in.
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- It’s a clean slate and the Flames take the ice.
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- Winter Classic, game one. Opening face-off.
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- Jordan Hawkes skates toward my corner during the Winter Classic.
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- Petrie doing battle at the face-off dot.
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- Jax Diachenko up close and personal for the Flames.
The second period was a completely different story. The 2010 Flames scored two quick goals to begin the middle period. That was before they gave up a terrible goal where everyone swung and missed at the puck and watched a Monarchs forward skate in alone on Ingalls for a goal to make the score 3-2. Backing up, the Flames went up 2-1 when Diachenko and Beal were pestering on the forecheck and Jax took the puck in for an unassisted goal. Then Alex Panitz skated into the slot unchecked and buried a shot that was set up by Andy Soucy and Caleb Powers, that gave the Flames a 3-1 lead for a moment. After the Monarchs scored to cut the lead to 3-2, the Flames promptly took two penalties in about 10 seconds to give the Monarchs a 5-on-3. Ingalls made a huge pad save to hold the lead before a whistle to stop play. With the two penalties still on the board, Will Rosenbeck took over goaltending duties for the Flames. Jordan Hawkes won a defensive zone face-off and scrapped his way forward with the puck to relieve the pressure and drew a tripping penalty on the Monarchs. This changed the scenario to a 4-on-3 power play for the Monarchs for a short time. Rosenbeck made a sweet glove saves moments later to hold the lead before the Flames had a very short power play of their own. A minute later the Flames scored when Logan McCain swept in to the slot to fire a shot into the net on a set up from Beal and Diachenko. The Flames led 4-2 and had avoided disaster with penalties and standing still for a few shifts. Jax capped the scoring in the period when Cam Desruisseaux won a defensive zone face-off and Diachenko stepped in, grabbed the puck, made a self-pass off of the boards and beat everyone down the ice to score on the breakaway. The 2010 Flames led, 5-2 after two periods.
Enjoy the pictures. Click on them to open them up and zoom in.
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- Soucy puts a puck toward the net in Winter Classic action.
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- Brayden comes down the left wing boards with some support behind him.
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- Alex skates in all alone, but this scoring chance was denied by the Monarchs goalie.
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- Here you see the pad save and some snow as Alex avoids running the goaltender.
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- Zach Lessard skates behind the net at Tri-Town Arena.
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- Travis holds his post and watches as his defense sorts things out.
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- In a 3-2 game, this was a huge pad save while the Monarchs were on the power play.
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- Then on the same power play, Will Rosenbeck made this crazy glove save to hold the lead.
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- Gillies finished the scoring for the Flames on this shot from the circle.
The final period, saw the Flames add one goal to their lead when Brayden Gillies grabbed a loose puck and fired it home at the side of the net. The goal was assisted by Garrett Warren and Gavin Petrie. The Flames would hold the score for the rest of the period and skate away with a 6-2 win.
Team scoring: Game 1: Friday morning at Tri-Town Arena.
Monarchs: 1-1-0 = 2
Flames: 1-4-1 = 6
Flames scoring: Powers from Beal and Diachenko, Diachenko unassisted, Panitz from Soucy and Powers, McCain from Beal and Diachenko, Diachenko from Desruisseaux, Gillies from Warren and Petrie.
Travis Ingalls (2 Goals allowed) started in net and wasn’t tested too much. He did face some point blank chances when there were shots and he made a couple of big saves to keep the Monarchs off the board. Will Rosenbeck (0 goals allowed) made a few saves including a great gloves save. Neither goalie saw all that much action overall.
The Flames return to the ice at 3pm for a game with the Berkshire Bruins.
Happy New Year everyone!