From Doghouse to Penthouse

St.Albert (CP) After suffering back to back losses to great goaltending, YDP was about to face the rejuvenated Martin Biron and his St.Albert Spartans. Reinprecht gave St.Albert the early lead after a quick wrist shot that beat Esche through the 5-hole. Sykora tied it at one when he intercepted a clearing attempt by Schultz and went high blocker side on Biron. YDP ran into penalty troubles late in the first when both O’Donnell and Ragnarsson took marginal hooking penalties on Mikael Renberg. ‘Outside of Forsberg, I’ve never seen someone so big go down so easily,’ smiled Hannan. Fortunately for YDP the two-man PP was short lived when Joe Thornton was called for a similar hook on Brind’Amour.

Modano gave YDP a 2-1 lead on the PP early in the 2nd period. Skoula tied it for the Spartans midway through the period, which came right after Damphousse’s first penalty expired. ‘Vinny was very feisty tonight,’ said Wong, ‘he wasn’t very pleased being schooled by Juneau in the faceoff circle all night.’ Both teams played the 3rd like they were afraid of losing the game and waited for the other to make a mistake.

To the chagrin of the Yellowknife Press, Wong started the line of Fedotenko, Modano and Orszagh in overtime. The decision didn’t seem like a good idea when Orszagh took a tripping penalty a minute into OT. Amonte bailed Orszagh out when he took a hooking penalty a minute into the PP. After his penalty expired Orszagh was able to jump into the play and one timed a great pass from Kaberle to beat Biron short side to win it in OT. ‘Vlad’s always had a great sense of timing,’ said Frantisek. Orszagh’s first of the season was enough to give YDP a much needed victory. The boys will now play the back end of the home and home in Yellowknife.

Ima Dumass (CP)