Titans Take Opener From Atlantic City 4-2
April 13, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Trenton Devils News Release
TRENTON, NJ (April 13, 2005) â Wednesday night, the Trenton Titans won the first battle in what's been dubbed the third chapter of a hockey civil war. With a 4-2 victory over ECHL intrastate rival Atlantic City, in front of 1,720 fans at Sovereign Bank Arena, the Titans took a 1-0 lead in this best-of-five playoff showdown.
"It's only one game. It's a series for a reason." Titans coach Mike Haviland said after the game. "We haven't won anything."
For most of the contest, the Titans dominated play, scoring the game's first two goals. Leon Hayward notched the Titans first postseason score at 16:14 in the first period. The 6-foot tall center began the scoring possession in the face-off circle against Shawn Mather. His head-to-head win eventually put the puck on the stick of a wide-open Tim Judy, whose shot was stuffed by Boardwalk Bullies goaltender Trevor Koenig.
But the rebound found its way back to Hayward, who finished the play and gave the Titans a 1-0 lead.
Rookie Brent Robinson then extended the Titans lead with an early second period goal. His scoring opportunity developed on a broken scoring chance for Scott Bertoli. Robinson found Bertoli in front of the Bullies net, but the Princeton graduate was unable to control the puck for a shot, instead passing it back to Robinson who found the back of the net.
Including regular-season play Brent Robinson is carrying a ten-game scoring streak, in which he's tallied six goals and nine assists.
The Titans seemingly took control midway through the second when defenseman Jerramie Domish collected an Atlantic City turnover and pushed forward on offense. The 5-9 Domish found himself without a passing lane, and opted to shoot the puck himself. His slapshot deflected off Koenig's stick. The unassisted goal gave Trenton a 3-0 lead.
The Bullies fought back in the third however.
"We did a good job in the first and second," Robinson said. "And even though we got away from our game in the third, I think we'll regroup for game two."
Thanks in part to three consecutive power plays, Atlantic City finally notched its first goal at 6:25 in the third period when Peter Bournazakis tipped a Derek Edwardson shot past Trenton's Andrew Allen. Jason Notermann tallied the second assist on the power play goal
Fifty-one seconds later, Fraser Clair cut the Titans lead to 3-2.
"We like our chances five-on-five," Bertoli said. "They're a team that likes to thrive on the power-play and thrive on the rush and if take care of those two areas, we like our chances. For most of the game, we took care of that, but it got away from us a little in the third. They have some pretty good players that can score, and when you give them enough power play chances they're going to score."
Trenton struck back, however, as Nick Deschenes delivered the game's final goal at 11:25 in the third period. Bertoli, who collected his second assist on the play, set-up the second-year pro with a cross-ice pass before Deschenes beat Koenig top-shelf.
Allen stood out in net for the Titans, logging 34 saves on 36 chances â including 15 in the final frame. Including the regular season, Allen has now won 10 of his last 11 starts.
The Titans return to the ice Friday night to face the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies in game two of the playoff series at 7:30 pm. Tune into to 91.3 FM WTSR to hear all of the Titans hockey action. Fans can also go to www.trentontitans.com to listen live.
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ECHL Stories from April 13, 2005
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