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| It had to be the Bells! (On the road to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton & Binghamton) |
03/06/06, By Mandi LaVoie
On Saturday, March 4th, at 8:00 am the MMBC was on the road again to Pennsylvania for the second time in two weeks. The
destination this trip was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA where the Monarchs were to take on the Penguins and then onto
Binghamton, NY to challenge the Senators.
The trip started out in the usual way, everyone starting to wake up with some coffee and breakfast, lots of smiling faces. Before
the bus started rolling, Steve Belforti announced that we had a special birthday on the bus. Ali, a friend of Devon’s was turning
sweet 16! Steve gave her some flowers and cupcakes and everyone gave her a round of applause. The first movie choice of the
day was appropriately enough, The March of the Penguins. It is a really well done documentary about what a year in the lives of
Penguins is like. Even though this kind of movie can usually be enough to put you to sleep, especially in the early morning, it
really didn't because it was fascinating. I highly recommend it! Of course we joked about waddling into the Wachovia Arena later
in the day for the game to sort of tease the Penguins fans, but nobody wanted to humiliate him or herself!
We got to the Hotel in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton between 2:30-3:00 pm and everyone checked in and went up to their rooms. Of
course the fact that the team bus was still at the Hotel didn't escape anyone. We soon realized that the hotel was going to be a
full house because there was some sort of a kids hockey team and their parents staying there too and they seemed like a fun
bunch. We had only relaxed for a few minutes when the teen-age group told everyone that some of the players were around.
From what we could figure out later - the guys were still napping except for Tukonen who was using the hotel computer.
Around 4:00 pm everyone met up to take the bus to the hosting at a local restaurant. Petr Kanko, who was looking sharp in a suit
and tie showed up in the lobby area, as we were getting ready to go out to the bus. He took the bus by himself to the arena, which
was in view from the hotel. We later guessed that either he always is the first to the arena, or Jim Hughes had sent out a spy to
see where we all were!
The Wilkes-Barre Penguins Boosters hosted us in a nice little Italian restaurant. We had pizza, calzones and wings. There was a
raffle for some fun items including golf balls and a MMBC zamboni. Gerry Clark and the mother-daughter duo of Joanne and
Melissa Chauvette won the items. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Ali which turned her very RED! It was a really good time
and the WB/Scranton booster club members were perfect hosts.
We filed onto the bus to head to the arena for warm-ups. The Wachovia Arena doesn't allow any noisemakers. Our bells had to
stay on the bus which none of us liked at all! Earlier in the day Ali had picked up a bunch of kazoos, which we were going, to use
instead but unfortunately not a single one worked. Warm-ups were full of funny moments as usual. We were all looking forward
to the game and made our way to our seats. We had heard about how WB/Scranton was the best team in the league with the
best goalie in the league as well. I wanted to see how we matched up!
I don't quite know what happened, or what they put in the water in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but this was the weekend that Joey
Mormina and Rich Petiot woke up and realized they were BIG GUYS and they started to show it in the first period. The Monarchs
played a great first period checking a lot and out shooting the Pens 13-8 but unfortunately went into the locker room down 1-0 on
a goal at the 7:27 mark from Kurtis McLean with assists from Maxime Talbot and Arpad Mihaly. Even though the Monarchs
toughed it out in the second, their shots on goal were down considerably and the Penguins led after the second stanza 2-0 when
Kenny Corupe got on the board at 7:08 from Drew Fata and goalie Dany Sabourin. In the third period, the Monarchs finally got one
by Sabourin only 1:54 into the period on the power play. For Lauri Tukonen it was his 12th of the season from Mark Ardelan and
Marty Wilford. The Pens made it 3-1 on a goal from Matt Hussey with assists from Talbot and Alain Nasreddine. Not willing to go
down without a fight, Brad Smyth scored his 27th of the year at 12:53 from Wilford and Denis Grebeshkov. W/B Scranton made it
a 4-2 game at the 13:17 mark when Jonathan Filewich scored his 17th of the year with help from Guillaume Lefebvre and Ryan
Stone. The Monarchs played a really tough game against a very good team and goalie and even though they didn't win, outshot
the Pens 24-23.
After the game everyone went back to the hotel - win or lose, it was party time! The hotel staff was gracious enough to let us
"hang out" in the lobby and play cards, dice and do some silly mad libs (from a brand new book - which we have found out is sort
of a good idea) the adults had some drinks as well. Somewhere in the middle of the games, Lydia Perry realized that the big plate
windows in the lobby made for great entertainment to the folks on the INSIDE if you did funny things on the OUTSIDE. Let's just
leave it at that!
Noelle and Gerry Clark walked over to the Wal-Mart that was at the end of the large parking lot adjacent to the hotel and picked
up very festive looking cupcakes for Ali’s birthday. At about 2:00 am, a small group decided to take a walk (or in the case of
Devon being pushed by Bill in a shopping cart, a ride) to Wal-Mart. It was really funny watching them leave from a window – you
could just see Devon yelling! At one point I saw Noelle run off and just knew that she was headed to a snow bank to make a
snowball. I guess the snow was pretty dry, because she couldn’t roll it up!
It was lots of fun all around - we all made plans to leave the next morning at around 11:00 am to head to a small mall in Wilkes-
Barre to sort of waste some time before we had to be in Binghamton. On the way to Binghamton, we started to watch Hockey
Mom. It's a movie about a woman who almost made the women's Olympic hockey team and ends up making a bet in a bar that
she can put together a team of ladies who can beat a tough men's team by playing with the no-check rules. It was really good,
and of course we got to the hosting by the Binghamton Senators Booster Club before we could see the end!
In order to get to the hosting, we had to go by the arena. Who do you think we saw all dressed up again and all by himself walking
in to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena? Must be the early bird... We arrived at the hosting and were greeted by one
of the friendliest booster clubs on the road. There are a lot of older ladies in the Sens boosters and let me tell you - they make
really good cookies! All of the teenagers on the trip ended up sitting with two of the ladies and they all really had a good time. We
had salad, baked ziti and bread and everything was very good. We left with bellies full, looking forward to the game and to
using our bells for the first time all weekend!
Binghamton’s arena is one of the oldest in the league and is always very warm. They were giving away travel mugs to all the
adults and foam #1 fingers to the kids. I joked with some Senators fans that it was a bit early to be giving us the finger…Before
warm-ups, the teenage bunch and a bunch of Barry Brust fans from Reading gathered near the spot where the players come out
to cheer on the guys. It was tough taking pictures because of the way the seats are behind the player benches. The zambonis
had a terrible time out there after warm-ups; in fact they looked like they were building either a snow fort or a pitcher’s mound!
Ice maintenance people were dumping the snow into buckets! When the Monarchs players were already on the ice, they decided
to send out another zamboni to fix the problems the first two left behind. It looked really funny to see the guys having to skate out
of the way!
Of course once the game started, it was the Senators who had to scramble to get out of the way… The Monarchs came out
strong in the first period and Denis Grebeshkov scored on the power play at the 5:27 mark on assists from Noah Clarke and Brad
Smyth to lead the Monarchs into the dressing room with a 1-0 lead after the first. I was really impressed to see that even though
the Senators are pretty big guys and a bit rough behind the plays our guys were standing right up to them and matching them hit
for hit! In the second period, the Monarchs peppered Sens goalie Kelly Guard with 16 shots. The one that went in was from
Konstantin Pushkarev at the 16:41 mark with some help from Matt Ryan. It was lots of fun using the bells again! At the end of the
second period, the Monarchs led, 2-0. It was really starting to look like Barry Brust (who was amazing in this game) was heading
for a shutout when Brandon Bochenski slipped one by him with just under two minutes to go in the third with assists from Filip
Novak and Guard. Connor James answered back and sealed the deal for the Monarchs with an empty net goal, unassisted with
less than one minute to go in the third. Everyone had fun being really nice and loud and we brought down the house at the end of
the game. The bells couldn’t have (and weren’t) missed! Barry Brust did everything but stand on his head in goal during the
game.
He saluted all of us when we cheered for him and rang the bells when they named him as the first star of the game – thanks
Barry! I was also really impressed that our big guys remembered that they were just that and in my opinion have never since
looked back!
Of course the ride home was a lot of fun. It always is after a win. We first watched the end of the movie Hockey Mom that had a
great ending. After that, some people slept, others watched some other movies. A group of us on the back of the bus made up
silly songs using Monarchs players in them (the guys would have laughed if they could have heard us). Lets just say that we are
a creative bunch! The weekend overall was a really great time and I know everyone is looking forward to the trip to Canada.
Toronto and Hamilton will never be the same after they hear two busloads of Monarchs fans with bells…
On Saturday, March 4th, at 8:00 am the MMBC was on the road again to Pennsylvania for the second time in two weeks. The
destination this trip was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA where the Monarchs were to take on the Penguins and then onto
Binghamton, NY to challenge the Senators.
The trip started out in the usual way, everyone starting to wake up with some coffee and breakfast, lots of smiling faces. Before
the bus started rolling, Steve Belforti announced that we had a special birthday on the bus. Ali, a friend of Devon’s was turning
sweet 16! Steve gave her some flowers and cupcakes and everyone gave her a round of applause. The first movie choice of the
day was appropriately enough, The March of the Penguins. It is a really well done documentary about what a year in the lives of
Penguins is like. Even though this kind of movie can usually be enough to put you to sleep, especially in the early morning, it
really didn't because it was fascinating. I highly recommend it! Of course we joked about waddling into the Wachovia Arena later
in the day for the game to sort of tease the Penguins fans, but nobody wanted to humiliate him or herself!
We got to the Hotel in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton between 2:30-3:00 pm and everyone checked in and went up to their rooms. Of
course the fact that the team bus was still at the Hotel didn't escape anyone. We soon realized that the hotel was going to be a
full house because there was some sort of a kids hockey team and their parents staying there too and they seemed like a fun
bunch. We had only relaxed for a few minutes when the teen-age group told everyone that some of the players were around.
From what we could figure out later - the guys were still napping except for Tukonen who was using the hotel computer.
Around 4:00 pm everyone met up to take the bus to the hosting at a local restaurant. Petr Kanko, who was looking sharp in a suit
and tie showed up in the lobby area, as we were getting ready to go out to the bus. He took the bus by himself to the arena, which
was in view from the hotel. We later guessed that either he always is the first to the arena, or Jim Hughes had sent out a spy to
see where we all were!
The Wilkes-Barre Penguins Boosters hosted us in a nice little Italian restaurant. We had pizza, calzones and wings. There was a
raffle for some fun items including golf balls and a MMBC zamboni. Gerry Clark and the mother-daughter duo of Joanne and
Melissa Chauvette won the items. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday" to Ali which turned her very RED! It was a really good time
and the WB/Scranton booster club members were perfect hosts.
We filed onto the bus to head to the arena for warm-ups. The Wachovia Arena doesn't allow any noisemakers. Our bells had to
stay on the bus which none of us liked at all! Earlier in the day Ali had picked up a bunch of kazoos, which we were going, to use
instead but unfortunately not a single one worked. Warm-ups were full of funny moments as usual. We were all looking forward
to the game and made our way to our seats. We had heard about how WB/Scranton was the best team in the league with the
best goalie in the league as well. I wanted to see how we matched up!
I don't quite know what happened, or what they put in the water in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton but this was the weekend that Joey
Mormina and Rich Petiot woke up and realized they were BIG GUYS and they started to show it in the first period. The Monarchs
played a great first period checking a lot and out shooting the Pens 13-8 but unfortunately went into the locker room down 1-0 on
a goal at the 7:27 mark from Kurtis McLean with assists from Maxime Talbot and Arpad Mihaly. Even though the Monarchs
toughed it out in the second, their shots on goal were down considerably and the Penguins led after the second stanza 2-0 when
Kenny Corupe got on the board at 7:08 from Drew Fata and goalie Dany Sabourin. In the third period, the Monarchs finally got one
by Sabourin only 1:54 into the period on the power play. For Lauri Tukonen it was his 12th of the season from Mark Ardelan and
Marty Wilford. The Pens made it 3-1 on a goal from Matt Hussey with assists from Talbot and Alain Nasreddine. Not willing to go
down without a fight, Brad Smyth scored his 27th of the year at 12:53 from Wilford and Denis Grebeshkov. W/B Scranton made it
a 4-2 game at the 13:17 mark when Jonathan Filewich scored his 17th of the year with help from Guillaume Lefebvre and Ryan
Stone. The Monarchs played a really tough game against a very good team and goalie and even though they didn't win, outshot
the Pens 24-23.
After the game everyone went back to the hotel - win or lose, it was party time! The hotel staff was gracious enough to let us
"hang out" in the lobby and play cards, dice and do some silly mad libs (from a brand new book - which we have found out is sort
of a good idea) the adults had some drinks as well. Somewhere in the middle of the games, Lydia Perry realized that the big plate
windows in the lobby made for great entertainment to the folks on the INSIDE if you did funny things on the OUTSIDE. Let's just
leave it at that!
Noelle and Gerry Clark walked over to the Wal-Mart that was at the end of the large parking lot adjacent to the hotel and picked
up very festive looking cupcakes for Ali’s birthday. At about 2:00 am, a small group decided to take a walk (or in the case of
Devon being pushed by Bill in a shopping cart, a ride) to Wal-Mart. It was really funny watching them leave from a window – you
could just see Devon yelling! At one point I saw Noelle run off and just knew that she was headed to a snow bank to make a
snowball. I guess the snow was pretty dry, because she couldn’t roll it up!
It was lots of fun all around - we all made plans to leave the next morning at around 11:00 am to head to a small mall in Wilkes-
Barre to sort of waste some time before we had to be in Binghamton. On the way to Binghamton, we started to watch Hockey
Mom. It's a movie about a woman who almost made the women's Olympic hockey team and ends up making a bet in a bar that
she can put together a team of ladies who can beat a tough men's team by playing with the no-check rules. It was really good,
and of course we got to the hosting by the Binghamton Senators Booster Club before we could see the end!
In order to get to the hosting, we had to go by the arena. Who do you think we saw all dressed up again and all by himself walking
in to the Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena? Must be the early bird... We arrived at the hosting and were greeted by one
of the friendliest booster clubs on the road. There are a lot of older ladies in the Sens boosters and let me tell you - they make
really good cookies! All of the teenagers on the trip ended up sitting with two of the ladies and they all really had a good time. We
had salad, baked ziti and bread and everything was very good. We left with bellies full, looking forward to the game and to
using our bells for the first time all weekend!
Binghamton’s arena is one of the oldest in the league and is always very warm. They were giving away travel mugs to all the
adults and foam #1 fingers to the kids. I joked with some Senators fans that it was a bit early to be giving us the finger…Before
warm-ups, the teenage bunch and a bunch of Barry Brust fans from Reading gathered near the spot where the players come out
to cheer on the guys. It was tough taking pictures because of the way the seats are behind the player benches. The zambonis
had a terrible time out there after warm-ups; in fact they looked like they were building either a snow fort or a pitcher’s mound!
Ice maintenance people were dumping the snow into buckets! When the Monarchs players were already on the ice, they decided
to send out another zamboni to fix the problems the first two left behind. It looked really funny to see the guys having to skate out
of the way!
Of course once the game started, it was the Senators who had to scramble to get out of the way… The Monarchs came out
strong in the first period and Denis Grebeshkov scored on the power play at the 5:27 mark on assists from Noah Clarke and Brad
Smyth to lead the Monarchs into the dressing room with a 1-0 lead after the first. I was really impressed to see that even though
the Senators are pretty big guys and a bit rough behind the plays our guys were standing right up to them and matching them hit
for hit! In the second period, the Monarchs peppered Sens goalie Kelly Guard with 16 shots. The one that went in was from
Konstantin Pushkarev at the 16:41 mark with some help from Matt Ryan. It was lots of fun using the bells again! At the end of the
second period, the Monarchs led, 2-0. It was really starting to look like Barry Brust (who was amazing in this game) was heading
for a shutout when Brandon Bochenski slipped one by him with just under two minutes to go in the third with assists from Filip
Novak and Guard. Connor James answered back and sealed the deal for the Monarchs with an empty net goal, unassisted with
less than one minute to go in the third. Everyone had fun being really nice and loud and we brought down the house at the end of
the game. The bells couldn’t have (and weren’t) missed! Barry Brust did everything but stand on his head in goal during the
game.
He saluted all of us when we cheered for him and rang the bells when they named him as the first star of the game – thanks
Barry! I was also really impressed that our big guys remembered that they were just that and in my opinion have never since
looked back!
Of course the ride home was a lot of fun. It always is after a win. We first watched the end of the movie Hockey Mom that had a
great ending. After that, some people slept, others watched some other movies. A group of us on the back of the bus made up
silly songs using Monarchs players in them (the guys would have laughed if they could have heard us). Lets just say that we are
a creative bunch! The weekend overall was a really great time and I know everyone is looking forward to the trip to Canada.
Toronto and Hamilton will never be the same after they hear two busloads of Monarchs fans with bells…
| Copyright © 2003-2006 Manchester Monarchs Booster Club. All Rights Reserved. |
