Remember the scene in the 1980 classic John Landis picture, The Blues Brothers when Jake and Elwood are being chased by the Good ol Boys leaving Bob’s Country Bunker? They go flying by the two Illinois State Troopers and their SCMODS they had previously eluded in their old Mount Prospect Police car. One Trooper turns to the other and quips, I don’t believe it. It’s that shit box Dodge again. Well, that’s about the same way I felt last night from my seat in the Tsongas Arena watching the all new Lowell Devils.
I had been hearing all summer how this team was going to be different. Gone were the Grant Marshall’s, Ian Moran’s, and other retreads. In were up and comers. Guys that could play a puck possession style. Gone was the dump and chase, defense first style. In was the freewheeling pursue the puck style. Oh, and they also weren’t going to get pushed around. Well, I have been going to hockey games in Lowell long enough to not buy this line of shit. It doesn’t matter what organization has been in that building, I’ve been hearing it forever. We aren’t going to get pushed around. LA did, Carolina and Calgary did, Colorado did, and the Devils most definitely did. Despite having a guy like Pierre-Luc LeBlond on the roster for almost two years, they got pushed around. Now, I’m not saying having LeBlond in the lineup would have stopped every team in the league from taking liberties with the smallish Devil forwards Sweet Lou seems to love, but it would have been nice to see him on the ice trying to stop it, as opposed to sitting in the stands signing autographs for the dozens of meat slappers. The point being, I was very skeptical about the 2008-2009 Lowell Devils being anything other than a bad hockey team, playing a very boring style of hockey while getting pushed around in front of 200 people a night.
I am man enough to admit when I am wrong. Last night from the opening faceoff, it was clear this was a different team. It was like seeing a shit box Dodge to watch Devil forwards forecheck. I’m serious. I saw it with my own eyes. They actually went after a person with the puck after a turn over in their own end as opposed to immediately reporting to the neutral zone for trap duty. In Frickin’ credible eh? Oh, and they were physical too. I saw more body checks last night (along with goals, and fights.but we’ll get to that) in one game than I think I have in three years. I mentioned fights. There were THREE! No kidding three honest to goodness fights.
Round one featured a very feisty Rod Pelley of Lowell, and a baby faced Mike Moore of Worcester. I didn’t see how it started, but Pelley got an extra two minutes for roughing. I looked up and the boys were going at it across from my seat very near the visitor’s penalty box. Both landed a few in close punches and there was a bit more wrestling than I like to see, but Pelley did land a couple of nice shots, and I’m a homer sometimes, so win Pelley. Scary moment as they went to the ice. The linesman came this close to getting kicked in the face. Scary indeed.
Two minutes later, the square circle was open again, and stepping in this time was Lowell’s Tyler Eckford, and Worcester’s Jason Demers. Eckford came to the defense of team mate Nick Bergfors after Demers tried to take his head off against the home penalty box. Demers tried to run Bergfors, and went to the ice. Eckford came over, honored the code and let the man get to his feet, and then they had a spirited go. From my seat I couldn’t see much of the fight, but judges ringside said Eckford got in some nice shots while being handcuffed by his own jersey. I did notice Demers had a cut lip, and I could hear him say, It’s been a long time since I fought. I didn’t really get any off to Mike Moore when he got in the box. I can’t call a winner because I didn’t really see the scrap, but using the other judge’s scoring, he had it a win for Eckford. T o reap, that’s two fights. One game. Not the whole season.
The third fight of the night started right in front of Lowell’s bench. After Lowell’s Stephen Gionta almost got killed by an attempted clothes line, Olivier Magnan of Lowell grabbed Worcester’s Tom Cavanagh and beat him like he stole something. This one wasn’t even close, as Magnan unloaded left after left into Cavanagh’s mind. The crowd went crazy as it was a perfect way to end the 6-4 thrashing. Cavanagh came up bloody and might think twice about trying that kind of shit in Lowell again. I realize it’s only one game, but I really enjoyed myself in Lowell for the first time in a long time. Come on down, and bring the kids as the New Look Lowell Devils face off against the Manchester Monarchs next Friday night. Good seats are still available.