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AHL Manchester Monarchs

Third Period Goals Lead IceCats Over Monarchs

February 23, 2005 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Manchester Monarchs News Release


WORCESTER, MA – Two goal scored less than 60 seconds apart in the third period gave the Worcester IceCats a 2-1 win over the Manchester Monarchs before 5,610 fans at the DCU Center on Wednesday night.

The win was just the third in nine games for the IceCats (30-21-3-2, 65 points), who pulled to within one point of the Lowell Lock Monsters and third place in the American Hockey League's Atlantic Division.

The loss was the fourth in five games for the Monarchs (36-12-3-3, 78 points), who saw their division lead shrink to just three points over the second place Hartford Wolf Pack (36-17-1-2, 75 points). The Wolf Pack beat the San Antonio Rampage, 3-1, on Wednesday night.

The teams skated through an opening period that included few good scoring chances. The Monarchs best shot at a goal in the period came when left wing Dustin Brown nearly beat goaltender Jason Bacashihua 2:38 into the contest. Brown took a feed from right wing Darren Van Oene in the left circle of the Worcester zone and skated hard to toward the net, but Bacashihua's shoulder got in the way of his close range wrist shot.

The Monarchs took the lead 8:04 into the second period with the 18th goal of the season for left wing Noah Clarke, who scooped up a loose puck at the bottom of the right circle and stuffed it into the Worcester net. Clarke took advantage of a fortunate bounce after a slap shot from center Michael Cammalleri caromed off an IceCats player and deflected right to him. Defenseman Denis Grebeshkov, back from an injury that sidelined him for two games, had the second assist on the play.

The IceCats need only 56 seconds of clock time in the third period to erase the deficit and take the lead. Rookie defenseman Dennis Wideman finished an odd-man rush with his ninth goal, scored from the high slot with assists to center Troy Riddle and left wing Erkki Rajamaki at 3:14, and right wing Jon DiSalvatore backhanded his own rebound over Monarchs goaltender Mathieu Garon (26 shots, 24 saves) and into the Manchester net at 4:10. Center Peter Sejna had the only assist on DiSalvatore's 16th goal of the season.

Garon took the loss. His record dropped to 23-10-3. Bacashihua (15-9-0) earned the win, his 15th of the season.

The Monarchs were 0-for-3 on the power play. The IceCats were 0-for-2.

The Monarchs return to action when they travel to Hartford to meet the Wolf Pack at the Hartford Civic Center at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, February 26. The game against the Wolf Pack will be the third of four straight on the road for the Monarchs, who return to the Verizon Wireless Arena to host the IceCats on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:05 p.m.

Mullet Night – The Final Cut: The Monarchs will pay homage to "hockey hair" one last time when they host the Worcester IceCats at the Verizon Wireless Arena on Tuesday, March 1 at 7:05 p.m. On hand for this sad but historic event will be former Mullet Hall of Fame winners Barry Melrose, a former coach of the Los Angeles Kings and current ESPN personality, and The Hanson Brothers, immortalized as members of the Charlestown Chiefs in the classic hockey movie, " Slap Shot."

Tickets for Mullet Night - The Final Cut, sponsored by TRIMZ Family Haircut Center, are on sale now and may be purchased at the Verizon Wireless Arena box office. Individual tickets may also be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (603) 868-7300, or by visiting Ticketmaster on-line at www.ticketmaster.com.

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