The Goonsquad was well represented in Lowell Saturday night, as Dave (on his maiden voyage to the Paul) and myself were in the house for a thrilling 4-2 shootout win by the hometown Lockmonsters over the dreaded Wolf Pack of Hartford. I think Dave has some good pictures to post later. Naturally his camera didn’t work for the fights, but if you like pictures of Zambonis and stuff, he’s your guy.
I noticed very early on that Martin Grenier had a very big shiner under his left eye. I guess his bout with Danny Bios of Binghamton the night before was pretty serious. I also noticed he was wearing 27 this season. I am not sure why the number change. I think Brushback follows the Pack pretty closely, maybe he can chime in. Anyway, it didn’t take new Lockmonster Ryan Jorde (LOW) long to find anyone to go with, as he and Martin Grenier (HFD) got into it 5 minutes into the opening stanza.
I think Marty gave the youngster a bit of a slash, and Jorde asked if he’d care to have a dust up. Grenier obliged, and off they went. Jorde hung in pretty good against Grenier. I was really surprised, as Marty is a much bigger man than him. Jorde was throwing a lot of nice left hands, while Grenier was countering with some rights of his own. He landed a couple of really hard punches as Jorde was seen sporting a mouse under his left eye for the rest of the game. The fight had started along the boards right next to the Monster’s bench, and Jorde seemed to tire a lot faster than Grenier. The penalty box attendant for the home side reported that when Jorde came in, he reported he had broken his shoulder last season, and this was his first fight in over a year. He also reported that he was only doing his job, and that’s what he was there for. That is good to hear for us Lowell fans, as they haven’t had a true enforcer, someone who really enjoyed the job, since Trevor Gillies was there several seasons ago. All in all, I would score the fight a win for Martin Grenier, but a good showing by Jorde gets points in my book. I would look for these two to go again next meeting.
Anyone that has followed the AHL for the last couple of seasons knows very well that Hartford and Lowell do not like each other. The bad blood between the two boiled over about 8 minutes into the second period. As the play stopped, a little scrum started to the right of the Hartford goal. It started like any typical after the play scrum, face washes, guys pushing each other. I am sure you have seen it a million times. Here’s the thing: it didn’t stop. The boys just kept pushing each other, and then some gloves came off, and punches got thrown from around other guys. Eventually Dave Liffiton (HFD) and another Lockmonster newcomer Tomas Slovak (LOW) paired up, and Mitch Love (LOW) and Craig Weller (HFD) squared off as well. The Liffiton and Slovak match up looked like it was a lot of hugging, but Love and Weller seemed to be chucking and trading some decent punches. Love loves the uppercut, and tried to land a few, but it doesn’t look like he landed any. They traded two to three punches each, back and forth. Eventually, they got tired and the Zebras came in to separate them. I would say both fights were a draw, but I love line brawls like that. The only thing that would have made it better, would have been if the goalies got involved.
The last fight of the night happened in the third period when Bruce Graham (HFD) and Cody McCormick (LOW) got into it along the dasher in the Hartford end. Graham had just leveled Ryan Jorde behind the Hartford goal, and Cody took exception to the hit. He jumped Graham, and they got into it hot and heavy. I really couldn’t see the fight from my vantage point, but a friend at ringside scored the fight a win for McCormick. From what I saw, it looked like he did in fact land more punches, but again, I really couldn’t see, so maybe I am being a homer.
I love the Hartford and Lowell rivalry. These guys clearly hate each other, and I find Marty Grenier awesome to watch. He is just a massive guy, and is always in the middle of everything. Dave really enjoyed himself, and may or may not be getting season tickets as we speak. Also, big ups to Dave for donating the Best of Will Ferrell video for our troops overseas. This update is coming two days late because we went to a party after the game, where the GoonSquad almost had a go of their own. I will just say that there was a difference in political opinions in the room, and they almost came to a boil. Call it a scrum in the corner if you will. Dave accidentally got hungover, so we spent yesterday watching the Patriots and trying to drink the pain away. I hope eveyone had a good weekend. I am hoping for a Colton Orr tilt Thursday against Toronto. I would think he’d be a marked man after his tilt with Belak last time. Lowell has Albany on Wednesday. They had some bad blood last time, and I hope it continues. Any updates, can be found here. Take care all.
McCormick also got a 10 minute major for misconduct in addition to his fighting penalty. I was too busy fiddling with my crummy camera to get a good look at what happened. That kid at Kate’s party afterwards needed a beating. He’s lucky we’re so old and decrepit now.
We all saw it. He challenged the Chiefs.
You’re right, Grenier changed his number back to 27, which he’d worn earlier in his career. Last year Grenier wore 38, and I believe it was because no one wore 27 on the Wolf Pack last year, in memory of Roman Lyashenko, who had passed away in the off season.
I knew you’d know the answer. I saw some pictures on your site. How’d Grenier do yesterday in his bouts?
He fought Wilkes-Barre’s David Koci twice, and both fights were kinda boring– just a lot of shoving and grappling and dancing around. Neither one could really get untangled enough and get enough leverage to throw any decent punches.
There was plenty of action in two other fights during the game last night, though, including a really good one between the Pack’s Craig Weller and the Pens’ Dennis Bonvie.
You know, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Bonvie truly win a fight against the other team’s enforcer, and I’ve seen him get his head handed to him more than a few times (including a brutal loss to Richard Scott a few years ago). He keeps going at it, though.
Working on the photos, kids. My camera is proper frigged. Adding a new one to the Christmas list.
I agree with you Brushback. I did see Bonvie have a great fight with Ryan VandenBusshe last season where both guys stood in and chucked em, but that was really about it. Bones is one of my all time favorties though. His mouth is always running, and he keeps the other team honest.
bonvie is so cute i love him
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