March 2004

Titans Report
California Dreamin’ For the Titans

By John McMunn

For the first time in their five year history, the Trenton Titans took a journey to the left coast. Unfortunately a promising opportunity to make up some ground in their division fizzled. The Titans opened the road trip by taking five of six possible points as they defeated the Fresno Falcons twice and salvaged a point in an overtime loss to the Las Vegas Wranglers. But after Fresno, their guns went silent against the Long Beach Ice Dogs and Bakersfield.

Before retuning to home ice, the Titans made a stop in Reading to take on the Royals. After rallying from a 3—0 deficit to draw within a goal, the Titans could not solve Reading’s goaltender Peter Hamerlik in the final period and limped home with a three-game losing streak.

Fortunately, the schedule makers provided the proper elixir to get the patient healthy again as the Cincinnati Cyclones came to town for a back-to-back set of games. In game number one, Mathieu Brunelle picked up his scoring touch from the previous month notching two goals and an assist to lead Trenton to a 5 - 1 victory. The following night, the Cyclones were a bit more competitive as they launched 36 shots on goal. However Andrew Allen was up to the task turning aside all but two and Chris Pittman chipped in two goals to carry the Titans to their second consecutive win.

Next in were the Bakersfield Condors for a two game set and a chance for the Titans to avenge their loss on the West Coast. Defensively, the Titans played outstanding as they tied an ECHL record for fewest shots allowed in a game — nine. Unfortunately, the Condors were able to get three goals on their first seven shots to knock netminder Chris Houle out of the game. And although Trenton bombarded the Condors goal for four times the shot total, they could only slip two by netminder Bendera. Three nights later, the Titans finally extracted a measure of revenge as Andrew Allen was perfect against 18 Condor shots to record his third shutout of the season.

After four straight games at home, the Titans journeyed toward western Pennsylvania for games against the Royals and Johnstown Chiefs. The Reading game was a tit-for-tat affair with both teams scoring a goal in the first and third periods to send the game into overtime. Unfortunately, the Royals prevailed to pick up the extra point as they won the shootout phase. The preceding night, the Titans saw the pendulum swing almost full circle as they tied a league low for shots in a period — one, in the second period and tied for fourth place in the ECHL for fewest shots in a game with just 11. With two games still to play this month with the Chiefs and four overall in the season, the Titans left their calling card late in the third period when Zultek and Herneisen did battle late in the third period of the loss.

After managing to get just 11 shots on goal in the initial meeting of the month with the Chiefs, the Titans were determined to turn the tables as the two teams battled at the Sovereign Bank Arena. Prior to the game, the Titans experienced an infusion of five players to their roster, including the return of Scott Bertoli from the 30 day disabled list. Three unanswered goals in the third allowed the Titans to pull away to a 5-2 victory. Bertoli dished out three assists thus becoming the first Titans player to reach the 200-point career plateau. The Titans then closed out business at home, squeaking past the Dayton Bombers, 4-3.

With eight games over the next five weeks against opponents immediately in front of them in the standings along with four games against the weak sisters of the Northern Division, the Titans hold their playoff destiny in their own hands. Will the Titans go quietly into that good night, or will it be ‘Carpe diem?’

Royals Report
Hamerlik and Royals Are En Fuego!

It seems only fitting that in the month in which Ash Wednesday occurred, the Reading Royals caught fine and left singed earth in their wake. The Royals reeled off a 9—1—1 February and many of those wins were by significant margins.

Lars Pettersen tallied two of the eight goals and six other Royals registered markers in their 8-1 rout of Dayton. Cody Rudkowsky was near perfect as he turned away all but one of Dayton’s 37 shots. The Royals continued their balanced scoring attack the following weekend as they finally solved the Boardwalk Bullies, 4-1 in AC. Unfortunately, the Bullies repaid the favor the following evening to hand the Royals their only loss of the month, 5 —2.

The Royals shook off the loss quickly. They embarked on a four-game win streak, initiated against the Trenton Titans. Scooter Smith led the way against his former teammates by staking Reading to a 2—0 first period lead with a goal and an assist. Goaltender Peter Hamerlik, a mid-January roster addition, made the lead stand up the rest of the way as he turned aside 32 of 34 Titans shots.

For Hamerlik, the fun was just beginning. He followed up his Titans victory with a big effort against Dayton, turning aside 32 of 33 shots in a 6—1 victory. Judd Medak, who has notched 11 points in just 3 games against the Bombers, led the way offensively as he recorded two assists to go along with a goal. The Johnstown Chiefs came calling on Valentine’s Day and once again Hamerlik was near perfect. This time he deflected 40 of 41 Chiefs shots to help the Royals narrow the gap in the Keystone Cup Series by knocking off the Chiefs 6 —1. Kent Davyduke who recorded a hat trick with all his goals coming in the second period.

The Royals completed a weekend sweep by knocking off the Cincinnati Cyclones 4—1. Peter Hay took the scoring mantle for this game as he contributed two first period goals. Hamerlick finally had a reasonably "easy" game as he faced only 26 shots from Cyclones snipers. Hemerlick’s impressive four-game streak garnered him the ECHL’s Goaltender of the Week award as he racked up a very impressive 0.963 save percentage to go along with his 1.25 GAA.

Bullies Report
Bullies Fighting "Tooth" and "Nail" For Division Crown

The Northern Division crown is still being hotly contested by the Boardwalk Bullies and the Wheeling Nailers. Meeting twice during the month of February didn’t help either teams position as they traded victories by identical 5—2 scores.

After trading victories with the Augusta Lynx Super Bowl weekend, a second weekend set with the Reading Royals turned out to be a wash as well. Against the Reading Royals, the Bullies dropped the first contest 4-1. But again, the Bullies rebounded quickly the next night as Scott Horvath’s two goal game led the Bullies to a 5-2. With six points on the line the following weekend, the Bullies managed to capture just half as they fell to the Greensboro Generals in overtime by a 6 — 5 score and then split with the Nailers.

But the second game with Wheeling turned out to be a turning point as it started the Bullies on a four-game win streak. The Bakersfield Condors were the unlucky recipients of two of those Bullies victories as Brian Fahey put up a five-point night in a 6-2 rout. Then it was Horvath’s turn again to set the pace as he contributed a three-point night as the Bullies took the back end of the set by a 5—2 margin. Sandwiched in between the two Bakersfield games, the Bullies took on the Reading Royals for the third of four times in the month. After a tied regulation period and overtime, Jon Cullen managed to score the only goal in the shootout period to cap the victory for Atlantic City.

The final week of February was an intense week for AC as they played five games in seven days to close out the month. After their victory against the Condors, the Bullies streak was snapped convincingly as Reading streaked out to a 4—0 first period lead and were never headed to hand the Bullies a 6-2 defeat. A quick trip to Ohio to take on the Dayton Bombers got the Bullies back in the win column. After falling behind by a 2 — 1 score after the first period, the Bullies clawed their way back and Aaron Foster notched the game winner one minute into the third period.

It was "déjà vu all over again" for Foster when the Bullies took on the Roanoke Express two nights later. Once again, AC fell behind by a 2—1 score. This time it would take a Herculean three goal third period to overcome the Express with Foster scoring the game winner for the second game in a row midway through the final stanza.