| 15 December 2011
Prior to the weekend it had been eight games since the Providence Bruins had been in the win column and this weekend they found it twice with wins over the Manchester Monarchs and Connecticut Whale.
The successful weekend started Friday night with a 2-1 shootout defeat of the Manchester Monarchs that gave goaltender Michael Hutchinson his first win of the season. Trent Whitfield scored the lone regulation goal and had the shootout winner in the victory.
“Scoring one goal in a game you’re not going to win too many,” first star of the game Whitfield said following the game, “Tonight it was enough and we got it in the shootout and we’ll take that.”
“He’s been great at sending the message that coaches have been trying to send,” Coach Cassidy said of the veteran player, “For me it’s a positive because were a young team, it’s a young league but we cant be all young, its just too hard every night we need some voices to balance.”
“Nice to see him get one on the board,” Cassidy said of Hutchinson’s first win of the season, “He had a good year last year for a first year guy number wise, was not bad.”
The first period went by quickly with no penalties being called. Michael Hutchinson notably made two great stops on Brandon Kozun first when he was in alone and then when he tried to knock in a rebound. Kozun finally beat Hutchinson with only 5 seconds remaining in the period when he got a puck past him glove side to make it 1-0.
Despite coming out hard in the middle frame outshooting their opponents 14-3 overall, Providence could not find the back of the net. The squad had plenty of opportunity on the power play with three separate chances but they failed to convert on any of the chances. The score remained the same going into the final period.
During the period, Ryan Button got hit in the head by a shot from Justin Azevedo. He skated off the ice on his own and headed to the dressing room. He did not return to the game.
Whitfield got his first of the season and the game tying goal at the 2:56 mark with assists to Kirk MacDonald and Lane MacDermid. MacDermid took the puck from a Manchester defensemen in the slot and sent a pass to Whitfield who got it past Martin Jones (30 saves) for the goal.
“He brings a lot of energy and he holds guys accountable,” Cassidy said of Whitfield who is only back in the lineup for a second weekend. “Missing that much time did not help. He didn’t play a lot of exhibition games and then to get hurt right away is just another tough break for him and us as a group.”
Thought Whitfield may have gotten the goal, Cassidy believes he will make the plays around him better and might even “gravitate upward” and play with different players.
It is not just Whitfield’s on ice performance that is important for the team to have back but his veteran leadership as well.
“It’s fun to be out there and contributing finally,” he said. “I’ve got a voice in the room through out the game now. Before I wasn’t in there, I wasn’t on the bench,” also adding that he has to show his veteran leadership on and off the ice.
A scary moment almost overshadowed Whitfield’s goal in the third when, with five minutes to play, center Maxime Sauvé took a blindside hit from Cam Paddock at the blue line. Sauvé laid on the ice for a few minutes being helped by trainers before he was helped off the ice. According to Coach Cassidy, both Sauvé and Button sustained upper body injuries but he would not specify the severity.
Providence would go on the power play for the remainder of regulation but would not light the lamp again.
“I was a little disappointed the power play didn’t come through for us but we’ll keep working at it,” Cassidy said following the game, “They’ve been much better lately its just tonight they couldn’t get one to go when it mattered. A five minute major is a great opportunity, I don’t think you can get a better opportunity, but we’ll move past that and enjoy the win. That was a little disappointing we didn’t generate more.”
With a point in the bank, the Bruins headed to overtime which ended up scoreless. Hutchinson made 26 saves in the game and was nearly flawless in the shootout when he stopped four of the five shooters he faced. Jamie Arniel shot made it past Jones and then Whitfield’s wrist shot proved to be all the team needed for the win.
Contributing so much in the first win in eight game, Whitfield says that turning it around and making it a winning streak for that many games is the plan.
“We need a full team effort every night,” he said, “One guy doesn’t change the season around for any team. We got guys that are starting to figure it out and now we’ve got to start putting the puck in the net with a little more frequency and give ourselves a little more of a chance to win games.”
Cassidy, who was giving Hutchinson his first Friday night start of the season, was happy to see the goaltender get the win, saying that it was probably eating him up inside.
“A goaltender is like a coach, you’re judged a lot on your wins and losses. A player goes out and scores a goal and feels good about his game even though they lose but with a goaltender it’s a win or it’s a loss,” Cassidy said.
Saturday was the only loss Providence took this weekend when they were blanked 3-0 by the Northeast Division leading Connecticut Whale. New to the lineup in the game was defenseman Jordan Southorn who signed a Professional Try Out Contract earlier in the day. Southorn began this season with the Trenton Titans of the ECHL where he has recorded 3+7=10 totals and 11 penalty minutes through 19 games.
Both teams faced off again Sunday when Providence defeated them in the rematch 3-2. Kyle MacKinnon returned from his assignment to the Reading Royals where he has been since December 2nd and had an immediate impact with the team’s first goal.
MacKinnon opened the scoring at 3:49 when he buried Craig Cunningham’s rebound shot on Cameron Talbot (10 saves). Calle Ridderwall got the secondary helper. MacDermid dropped the gloves with Aaron Voros just a few minutes later that would set off a period that tallied 72 penalty minutes including a game misconduct to Kris Newbury of the Whale.
With all the penalty minutes being racked up, the Bruins were bound to go on the power play and score a goal. Carter Camper made it 2-0 on the power play at 11:59 when he found the back of the net thanks to Jamie Tardif and Josh Hennessy.
Providence extended their lead to three goals at 2:49 of the second period when Cunningham beat Talbot from the top of the circle. Following the goal, which was the 13th shot he faced, Talbot was relieved and replaced by Chad Johnson. Johnson would be perfect in his relief, saving all 15 shots that he faced and preventing the Bruins from scoring again.
Connecticut was not done fighting quite yet at they put up a goal past the midway point in the second and got another just over a minute into the final period. That would be it for scoring however. Providence would go 1-for-7 on the power play but were alsoan impressive 7-for-7 on the penalty kill. Anton Khudobin made 29 saves in the victory.
The Providence Bruins host the Springfield Falcons this Friday and Bridgeport Sound Tigers Sunday with a visit to the Connecticut Whale sandwiched in between on Saturday.
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