11-12-05 Seattle/Portland: Overtime, Big Hits and Fights, Oh My!

Things didn't exactly get off to a roaring start. I got off to a late start on my way down to Portland. Well, at least later than I had originally planned. But I still left in what I thought was plenty of time to be able to meet Rick and Karin at the Red Robin just up the road from the Rose Quarter. However, just getting through Olympia proved to be difficult and trying. For some odd reason, there was just one traffic jam after another on I-5. So instead of getting there at about 4:00 like I had originally planned, I wound up pulling into the RQ parking lot at just a little after 5:00.

So the three of us just wound up standing around outside by the ticket booth for a good 45 minutes or so. Jackie and some other woman came along a little bit afterwards and joined in our conversation. Jackie kept saying how bored she was...which apparently didn't speak well for our conversational skills (lol).

Anyway...onto the game itself. It was quite a thriller to say the least. Seattle jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first on not one, but TWO power play goals. The first was scored by Aaron Gagnon and the second was put in by Ryan Gibbons. I was actually on the phone with Joe in St. Louis when the T-Birds scored their second goal. I thought that was pretty good timing on his part.

Kara also called a little later during the first intermission. For those not in the know, Kara joined the Army last July. Of all the people in the world, she's one of the last people I (or just about anyone else) would have expected to join the Military. But she made it through Basic Training. And she's now studying to be a field medic. But she's also hit a bit of a snag. While going through Basic, she developed some stress fractures in her hips. So she basically spends all day hobbling around on crutches. I guess she's still going through the training. But she's unable to participate in any PT. They're also accessing whether or not she's going to be able to stay in the Army. If they decide to let her go, she'll still get all the benefits that they promised her when she signed up for her 5 year hitch. But I think that she's still a little dissapointed that they might be discharging her.

Okay....back to the game (lol). The two teams skated around without much happening for almost the first eight minutes of the 2nd period. Then someone apparently hit T-Birds defenseman, Clayton Barthel, in the face with a stick or something (I couldn't honestly tell you since I didn't see it). As play came back to center ice, what started out as a small gathering between the benches turned into a bit of a line-brawl. Eli Grossman of the Thunderbirds was punching away at the back of Brandon Dubinsky's helmet. Portlands Max Gordichuck then jumped into that fray with James McEwan diving in just behind. All the while, Seattle's Joshua Schappert and Portland's Scott Gabriel were duking it out just off to the side. There was chaos and mayhem on the ice; or just another typical Seattle/Portland hockey game. Just the same as most of the others over the last 100+ years (lol).

While they were cleaning up the mess on the ice and sorting out all the penalties, they had kind of an impromptu dance contest on the big screen. The two contestants were a fairly decent looking chick and this fat kid. So they would put the woman on the screen and she would dance a little and people would cheer a little. Then the kid would be put up there and get some cheers. Then the stakes were raised a little. The woman did this little shimmy with her butt that got the crowd whooping a little bit more. Knowing that he was now behind, the fat kid turned around and just started shaking his butt wildly. The crowd really started cheering for him and the chick conceded defeat to the kid. For some odd reason, I actually found that entertaining (haha).

When the dust settled, Portland had a five minute power play. And about three minutes into that pp, Portland's Jannik Hansen scored a goal to pull the Winterhawks to within one. The final highlight of the frantic 2nd period was a doozy of a scrap between Seattle's Benn Olsen and Portland's Frazer McLaren. The two 6-5 players just stood there trading punch after punch. I called that one a draw. Portland out-shot Seattle 18-4 in the period.

About three minutes or so into the 3rd period, Brandon Dubinsky scored the tying goal for Portland. The Winterhawks pretty much dominated the play throughout the rest of the period. But T-Birds goalie, Gavin McHale, stopped everything that was thrown at him. McHale wound up being the first star of the game after stopping 43 of 45 shots.

Portland had the first three shots in the overtime stanza. But then, about three minutes in, Michael "Santa" Funk literally just handed the puck to Seattle's Mitch Fadden who then pushed it up to a wide open Bud Holloway. With nobody within 30 feet of him, Holloway made a move to his forehand side and beat Dustin Butler under his pads to win the game, 3-2.

Another good Hawks/Birds game. Granted, most of them are more than just entertaining. But this was one of the better ones over the last couple years. I'm also making this the first nominee in my "Game of the Year" catergory...at least when it comes to hockey.