Riding a three-game winning streak and sitting only nine points behind idle Corpus Christi heading into Saturday night's game against visiting Amarillo, the Arizona Sundogs sat in prime position to make up two more points in the playoff race.
Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the Gorillas that was the plan.
Arizona squandered an early, 2-0 lead as the Sundogs fell to Amarillo, 7-5, dealing a blow to Arizona's already slim playoff chances.
"You go up 2-0, then I think we went away from our plan," Sundogs' coach Marco Pietroniro said. "It's not the way you want to compete, you want to compete for 60 minutes."
Arizona rookie Joey Sides opened up the game's scoring less than five minutes into the contest, converting a nice give-and-go pass from Rob Lehtinen into a 1-0 Arizona advantage.
Steve Potvin padded that advantage four minutes later with a goal of his own after the 'Dogs caught the Gorillas in a shift change.
Amarillo began to chip away, however, with 11 minutes to play when Jake Morissette converted a rebound off the pads of Arizona goalie Doug Groenestege's pads into Amarillo's first goal.
Gordon Bell then tied the game on an Amarillo power play before Arizona's Linus Fagemo regained the lead for the Sundogs with a goal of his own.
But, Amarillo scored the next three goals and would never trail again, despite a strong push late in the third period from the Sundogs, a push hindered by penalties.
In the third period's final two minutes and seven seconds, Arizona was called for four different penalties, two of which involved newcomer Adam Smyth for roughing.
But, the ones that really hurt were penalties called against Kyle Hood and Konrad Reeder, when Potvin said the two were just trying to make plays.
"I think they did merit the call," he said. "I know we were hungry and battling back (and) I know a lot of times, when you're in the defensive zone and you take a stick penalty, the ref will usually let that go, especially when you're down a goal."
Even with the barrage of shots on goal and goals allowed by Groenestege on the night, Pietroniro remained with the goalie that had started the past 11 games for Arizona, compiling a 7-3-1 record over that span.
"I had some thoughts to go to J.F. (Perras) to give him some minutes to play, but it was unfair to (Groenestege)," Pietroniro said. "These goals were not his fault. We were soft in front of him. I can't penalize the goaltender for five other guys."
With the loss, Arizona remains nine points behind Corpus Christi and the fifth and final Southern Conference playoff spot, with only six games remaining.
"We're in desperate moments and our chances are slim," Pietroniro said. "But, you want to keep them alive as long as you can, (so) this hurts.
"It's a tough one," he added.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, March 08, 2010
Article comment by:
Rick Keeling
Hey "yeah right" I missed your name, fair weather fans that hide behind an alias makes me sick. In case you do not know, the coach-coaches! AND the players- play!! If the coach does his job poorly at this level of play, he is directing his players to a losing season. I know that some people just are not capable of interpretation without explanation so I thought I would make it a little easier for you "yeah right" Last point in case you missed the standings.... 22-30 is a losing season.
Posted: Sunday, March 07, 2010
Article comment by:
Yeah Right
Yeah right Rick........the team has been 'directed' to lose. The Players have nothing to do with it. Get real. Fair weather fans make me sick.
Posted: Sunday, March 07, 2010
Article comment by:
Rick Keeling
no team deserves to go the the playoffs with the performance that this team has been directed to play by both the coach and GM. What a sad league... battle for last and battle for the playoffs all at the same time. Just goes to show you the direction a team can go with bad leadership.
Posted: Sunday, March 07, 2010
Article comment by:
Sundog fan Forever
Win or lose, playoff or no playoff, this is my team. Its been a tough year but there is always next year. We as a town need to fill the stands and support these guys no matter what. Thanks Lew for being the best cheer leader and we really enjoyed the Port-a-John racing. We still got a shot cause I aint heard no fat lady singing
