VERSUS 
Martin Jones is simply the best goaltender that the Connecticut Whale have faced all season. The Ranger’s top AHL farm team just can’t seem to find a way to beat him. They have dropped all three contests when they’ve faced him in the 2010-2011 season.
Sunday was no exception as the goaltender, in the net for the Canadian squad that lost the Gold medal to Team USA in that stunning victory in last year’s World Junior tournament, beat the Whale for the the third time, and he did so in stunning fashion stopping 39 shots en rout to a 3-0 shutout.
Whale head coach Ken Gernander was impressed with the North Vancouver, BC native. “He played good,” He said. “39 stops I think he had. Yeah, he played well.”
Mark Morris, Jones’ Manchester head coach said, “He’s big, calm strong and sure-headed; a very good combination. He has won everybody over and is a big reason for the success we have had the last little bit.
“He waited his turn and his numbers just keep getting better and better and we’re trying to reward him with more games.We score more when he is in there. He came up with timely saves all game.”
Jones credited the Whale and his teammates more than himself for the win. “The (Whale have) been playing extremely well lately, and we knew that coming in,” the 6’4, 191-pound rookie said. “We weren’t entirely happy with our performance (Saturday) night, and that was a big bounce-back performance for us.
“Obviously we jumped into the lead in the first period, and they were getting more and more desperate as the game went on,” said the red-hot Jones, a winner in his last six starts. “We were outshot, (39-20) but I don’t think we played poorly. We were controlled in our own zone, composed and stuck to our structure. A lot of those shots are saves that I should be making, so I thought we did a great job in our zone coverage-wise.
“I don’t think we had too many breakdowns where they got grade-A scoring chances. I felt good and was able to make a couple of saves I needed to make, and I thought my team did the rest defensively.”
Jones has a sensational 13-2-0-0 record with a miniscule 1.60 GAA which is tied for best overall in the AHL with Peoria’s Jake Allen. His .948 save percentage is second in the league, also to Allen.
The Whale’s Brodie Dupont, who had taken a nasty cut to the right eye that required three stitches took pre-game treatment from trainer Damien Hess to get the swelling down, and made it into this game. Dupont has a history with Jones going back to their days with the Calgary Hitmen of the Western Hockey League.
“(Jones) was 16 (when they played together),” Dupont said while sitting alone in the Whale locker room trying on some new skates. “He was a little slower. You could see a little more net. But I guess he won goalie of the year his last year and he’s leading the league this year.
“(But) at some point, you have to give credit where credit is due,” He said. “After playing with him in juniors, I figured I’d be able to pick his old weak spots, but he challenged a lot more than he used to. I had a few opportunities that I would have liked to put away, but it didn’t happen for me or anybody.
“(As the game wore on) I think everybody got a little frustrated, but Jones played a great game. When you fire 39 shots at somebody and don’t score, the goalie has to be playing good. He put a door up and slammed it shut. We threw everything we had at him, and he played well. We just have to find a way to beat those goalies whether it’s rebounds or net-front presence or whatever it might take. But it was one of those nights that happen. You play an 80-game schedule, so you’re going to run into a hot goalie eventually.
“He knows I’m coming for him,” Dupont said with a big smile. “you can put that in your paper too.”
While as Dupont said, the Whale did not play poorly, they also didn’t play the game fully to their coach’s satisfaction.
Gernander was obviously disappointed with the loss and as a coach is want to do, saw areas his team needed to be improve upon but at the same time tipped his hat to Jones. “We did generate 39 shots and didn’t give up a world of opportunities,” the fourth year head coach stated after the game. “But there’s a pretty small difference between winning and losing. We had some real good chances where we didn’t make great shots. That’s not to take anything away from the goalie because he made some big saves, but I thought there were chances where we weren’t sharp as far as shooting.
“And I don’t think we had as many second and third opportunities as we needed, and (Jones) probably saw all of the shots, too. We need bodies net-front and tips and screens and those kinds of things. Goalies are good, and if they get to see (a shot), a lot of times they make the save. I sensed the guys getting frustrated, which is something we can be better at. For a long part of the night, it was a one-goal game, so if you get frustrated, it’s counterproductive a lot of times.”
Another major factor in the loss was two of the Whale’s key talent out with injuries. Both Wade Redden with a lower body injury, and the red hot Chad Kolarik, undisclosed, were both scratched.
It was clear the Whale missed Redden’s leadership and calming effect on the blueline corps, but his presence was most felt when the Whale were on one of their three power plays in the contest. The team just looked completely out of synch on the man-advantage.
The offensive threat that is such a big part of Kolarik’s game and certainly his energy and enthusiasm were clearly in short supply on the ice.
The Whale got another solid performance between the pipes from from their number one netminder, Chad Johnson. While he will take the loss, the loss was not on him. The Whale’s top goaltender entered the game having won three straight and six of his last seven which brought his record up to 12-12-1-3. He stopped 17 of the 20 shots he faced and didn’t allow a soft goal on any of the three that got by him.
The first Monarch goal came on the power play after Ryan Garlock was called for a cross-check at 6:56 of the first period. Johnson made strong saves, first on Dwight King and then on Corey Elkins. But the Monarchs just kept on coming and the Whale got caught scrambling defensively. The Monarchs had control of the puck in the Whale zone and Jeremy Williams failed to pick up Brandon Kozun on the left side of the crease. King saw that and made a terrific cross ice feed to get him the puck. Kozun had a wide open net to shoot at and tallied his 9th of the season, at 8:48.
The Whale got their chances. Todd White was especially effective throughout.
At 15:19 of the first, White had a magnificent chance to tie the score off a great feed from fellow newcomer, Jason Williams. The shot fooled Jones and the Monarch’s netminder looked behind him to try and find the puck but it was lost in his jersey.
At 17:51, with Jeremy Williams in the penalty box White fed Jason Williams to create a shorthanded breakaway attempt that was also turned aside by Jones.
Shots were 13-10 for the Whale as the two teams headed off to the locker room.
In the second period the Whale continued to apply offensive pressure, but it appeared early that the Whale might have dug themselves a bigger hole.
With Evgeny Grachev in the box for a hooking call at 1:21, it appeared as if Manchester added a second goal on the power play when Thomas Hickey’s shot from low on the left side circle beat Johnson high into the far corner of the net, but referee Chris Cozzan ruled it no goal and play continued. There are no replay calls in the AHL, but when the replay was shown, it was a good goal. When asked if he thought it was a goal after the game, Gernander smiled and said, “What did you think?”
The Whale dodged a bullet…but not for long.
At 8:06 Kelsey Tessier made a nice move to slip the puck between the legs of defenseman Andrew Campbell and created a nice scoring chance and then at 9:15 White had another breakaway chance and with just 27 seconds left in the period, Dupont took a feed from Kris Newbury but Jones stood tall on all of these strong scoring chances.
The Whale outshot the Monarchs 10-3 in the second.
The Whale looked like they got on the board at 3:24 of the third period when Dupont looked to have gotten a puck past Jones on a jam in play in front. Chris Cozzan ruled that the net was dislodged and the goal didn’t count.
Gernander was not pleased at all. “The puck clearly crossed the line. I thought they forced the net to come off.” The Whale coach said that he never got the chance to talk to Cozzan about it, “He never came to me. He never does.”
The Monarch’s did get their second goal afterall when David Meckler scored his 11th of the season at 6:05 of the third period. The left wing charged to the net from the left wing wall and got in front of White and received a perfectly placed pass right on the tape of his stick from Richard Clune. Meckler lifted the puck over Johnson’s blocker side shoulder.
Meckler returned the favor at 13:29.
John Zeiler rushed the puck up center ice and fed Clune on the left wing point. Clune sent Meckler the puck on the right side point. Meckler unloaded a shot that Pavel Valentenko knocked down. The puck came right back to the top of the right circle where Meckler circled back and backhanded it to the front of the net where Clune was all alone and redirected it past Johnson stick side with just 6:31 to go.
Dupont called the goal, “the nail in the coffin.”
The Whale continued to try and get shots past Jones, but on this particular Sunday, nothing was going to get there.
“We’re taking a lot of positives out of that game,” Dupont said. “It would have been nice to win because they were only five points up on us and we were closing the gap on them pretty good so it was kind of a four-point game for us. But we’re not quite at the halfway point, and they know we’re coming and we feel confident. We’re not going to let this set us back. We’re just going to keep moving forward and take the positives out of it.”
Bruce Berlet once again crafts a masterpiece at CTWhale.com. For the Manchester point of view, there’s always UnionLeader.com.
GAME SUMMARY and OFFICIAL SCORERS SHEET
SOUNDS OF THE GAME:
Ken Gernander:
Matt Dalton:
Brodie Dupont:
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS:
NOTES:
* Jones’ 39 saves tied the Whale record for fifth most stopped in 52 shutouts against in the franchise’s 14-year history.
* The Whale loss ended a 11-game unbeaten streak (9-0-0-2) against division teams.
* Former Wolf Pack captain Greg Moore has a goal in four consecutive games after failing to score in his first 32 games.
* Defenseman Lee Baldwin, who assigned from the Whale to the Greenville Road Warriors on Wednesday, scored his first ECHL goal in a 5-1 victory over the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday. Dov Grumet-Morris, who played two games with the Whale earlier this season, made 28 saves for his league-leading 15th victory.
* Former Wolf Pack defenseman Dan Girardi registered his 100th career NHL point Saturday night against Tampa Bay when he assisted on Gaborik’s goal that sent the game to overtime with just seconds left in regulation. The Rangers lost that one in overtime on a quick goal from ex-P-Bruin Nate Thompson.
* On-line fan voting for the AHL All-Star Classic Jan. 30-31 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., runs through midnight next Sunday at theahl.com and Facebook.com/theahl. Players receiving the most votes by position will earn berths in the starting lineups of the Eastern Conference and Western Conference teams. A committee of AHL coaches will select the remaining All-Stars, and all 30 clubs must be represented. By completing the official ballot, fans are entered to win a grand prize of a team-signed All-Star jersey. Ten more winners will receive an official All-Star Classic T-shirt.
The three most likely choices to represent the Whale in Hershey are Jeremy Williams who leads the AHL with 19 goals and has 12 assists as well, Chad Kolarik who’s had an amazing first half of the season with 15 goals and 14 assists, Kris Newbury with 5g, 30a and Wade Redden with 3g, 22a.
* Mark Morris had this to say about the changeover from the Wolf Pack to the Connecticut Whale, “(The coaching staff) were just commenting since they have gone from the red, white and blue to blue and green there seems to be a groundswell and enthusiasm (with the Whale).”
* Todd White was the captain of the Clarkson University hockey team…His coach? Monarch’s head man Mark Morris.
LINES:
Dupont – Newbury – Tessier
Grachev – Kennedy – Jeremy Williams
Eizenman – White – Jason Williams
Soryal – Garlock – DiDiomete
McDonagh – Bickel
Valentenko – Kundratek
Niemi – Nightingale
Johnson
Talbot
(Assistant Captains Bold and Italicized)
SCRATCHES:
Wade Redden – Lower Body, Day-to-Day
Chad Kolarik – Undisclosed Injury, Day-to-Day
THREE STARS:
1. MCH – M. Jones
2. MCH – R. Clune
3. MCH – D. Meckler
ON ICE OFFICIALS:
Referee:
Chris Cozzan (18)
Linesmen:
Brent Colby (7)
Kevin Redding (16)
NEXT GAME:
The Whale hit the road now for four straight. They head to Worcester for a meeting with the Sharks on Wednesday at 7 then play back-to-back in Norfolk on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s start time is 7:30 and Saturday is 7:15. They are then off until the following Friday when they travel to Portland for a return meeting with the Pirates. Bob Crawford and the pregame hit the air at a half an hour before the puck drops.
To watch the game live, you can purchased it for $6.99 at AHL-live.
For Ticket information for all home games, call (860) 548-2000.
Too far away or can’t make it? Listen live at WTIC.com or from your cell phone or computer visit www.twitter.com/howlingstoday for complete live in-game coverage of all games both home and away.
SCORE-SHEET:
Manchester Monarchs 3 at Connecticut Whale 0 – Status: Final
Sunday, January 2, 2011 – XL Center Veterans Memorial Coliseum
Manchester 1 0 2 – 3
Connecticut 0 0 0 – 0
1st Period-1, Manchester, Kozun 9 (King, Elkins), 8:48 (PP). Penalties-Garlock Ct (cross-checking), 6:56; Cliche Mch (boarding), 10:56; Hill Mch (fighting), 13:49; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 13:49; Williams Ct (interference), 16:29; Moller Mch (hooking), 19:03.
2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Grachev Ct (hooking), 1:21; Williams Ct (tripping), 5:19; Teubert Mch (interference), 10:17.
3rd Period-2, Manchester, Meckler 11 (Clune, Hill), 6:05. 3, Manchester, Clune 5 (Zeiler, Meckler), 13:29. Penalties-Williams Ct (boarding), 3:04; Teubert Mch (fighting), 19:00; DiDiomete Ct (fighting), 19:00.
Shots on Goal-Manchester 10-6-4-20. Connecticut 13-10-16-39.
Power Play Opportunities-Manchester 1 / 5; Connecticut 0 / 3.
Goalies-Manchester, Jones 13-2-0 (39 shots-39 saves). Connecticut, Johnson 12-12-3 (20 shots-17 saves).
A-4,367
Referees-Chris Cozzan (18).
Linesmen-Brent Colby (7), Kevin Redding (16).
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