In what started out as another low scoring affair through the first two periods for Game 5 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals, finished with 4 goals in the final stanza and the eventual game winner in overtime as the Hershey Bears beat the Manchester Monarchs 3-2.

Hershey heads back home for game 6 and possibly game 7 with a 3-2 series lead. 

(Click on Bears vs Monarchs, game 5, to view more shots.)

Michal Neuvirth

Michal Neuvirth kept the Monarchs off the board for 44 minutes before Bud Holloway found the back of the net for his seventh goal of the playoffs to give Manchester a 1-0 lead. Rookie defenseman Jacob Muzzin scored his first professional goal to put the Monarchs ahead 2-1 at the 17:26 mark of the third period.

Neuvirth improves his playoff record to (9-2), stopping 27 of 29 shots on goal.

Monarchs forward Bud Holloway,with an open net, was unable to get the puck past Michal Neuvirth in the third period of game 5 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth, without his stick, was able to keep the puck out of the net during third period action in game 5 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Jonathan Bernier

Jonathan Bernier kept up shot for shot against his counterpart at the other end of the rink, but in the end, came up short stopping 32 of 35 shots, recording his fifth loss of the playoffs (10-5).

Bears forward Kyle Wilson tied the game at 1-1 at 11:41 of the third period. Down 2-1 with a couple of minutes to go, Neuvirth headed to the bench for an extra attacker which paid off as Chris Bourque tied the game 2-2 with 51 second to go in the game.

The eventual game winner for Hershey came at 10:38 of overtime when Francois Bouchard dislodged the puck from underneath Bernier’s stick and put it in the net. (See photo below)

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier was able to make the initial stop on a Mathieu Perreault shot but was unable to control the rebound as Francois Bouchard scored the game winning goal in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier makes an overtime save in game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

In a low scoring effort, the Manchester Monarchs evened their best-of-seven series with the Hershey Bears at 2 games a piece with a 1-0 victory.

(Click on Game 4 Bears vs Monarchs to view more shots of the game.)

Jonathan Bernier

Bernier took the wind out of the sails of the Hershey Bears all night long by stopping all 18 shots on goal to earn his 10th win of the playoffs. This was also his third shutout of the postseason. For all his hard work Bernier was chosen as second star of the game.

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier watches the puck sail wide of the net in the second period of game 4 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier makes one of his 18 saves on the night in the second period of game 4 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Michal Neuvirth

For the second night in a row, Michal Neuvirth came up on the short end of the stick dropping his 2010 Calder Cup playoff record to 8-2. Neuvirth’s only blemish on the night came at 9:11 in the second period when Dwight King redirected a Bud Holloway one timer from the high slot.  Neuvirth stopped 25 out of 26 shots earning him third star of the game.

This was King’s second goal of the playoffs which earned him first star of the game honors.

Hershey Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth tries to control a first period rebound in front of Monarchs forward Bud Holloway during game 4 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Hershey Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth watches the puck as Monarchs forward John Zeiler get removed from the crease during the first period of game 4 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Hey all coming at you this week with a little change up. I will continue the ins and outs of goalie gear soon, but this was something I wanted to get out to the hockey community. It’s for a great cause and it is going to be a LOT of fun!

(www.24hoursofhockey.com)

What is it?

24 Hours of Hockey is a charity hockey event  that runs for 24 straight hours! This year it is slated to start at 8am on May 22nd, and continue to 8am May 23rd! At least 48 brave players  will hit the ice for 24 hours of non stop hockey action to show support for less fortunate children.

What’s it for?

The organizer, Robb Moody is now in to his fourth year running the event to help raise funds for the Aurora Children’s Hospital.  The previous 3 years he has been able to raise a whopping $115,000!! All donations go directly to help children who need it! Who could ask for a better cause?

Ian Lapperiere is just one of the NHL players that has stopped by to say hello and show their support.  This year The Colorado Avalanche’s starting goalie Craig Anderson will be stopping by to say hello!

Can you help?

There are several ways you can help.

• If you live in the Littleton Colorado area (Event is being held at The Edge Ice Arena), stop in and show your support. Check out the event and say hello! Any support we can get for these kids will be awesome!

• The 2nd way you can help is by donating to the Children’s Hospital. (Help raise funds here!) Even if it is $1 dollar, everything helps! Also for all of you that donate $10 or more, you are entered in a chance to win various items that have been donated to the cause (Prizes). All donations from the link above go directly to the Children’s hospital fund. They are tax deductible, and you get a receipt emailed to you immediately.

Are YOU Playing?

I will be out there bright and early Sat May 22nd at 8am!!! I am slated to play in the 8am-8pm shift on Saturday.

If you can make it out there, please stop by and say hello! I would love to meet any and all of you that are willing to show support for this cause! Look for me in the white and black Reebok gear. I will more than likely be wearing a tux for this cause as well (Look for the tuxedo jersey!)

I will also be handing out InGoalMag fliers at the event when I am not on the ice!

Hope to see some of you out there!!

2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Final

Down two games in the best-of-seven series to the Hershey Bears, AHL affiliate of the Washington Capitals, the Manchester Monarchs put together a come from behind win with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Bears.

(Click on Bears vs Monarchs to view more shots of the game.)

 Michal Neuvirth

Cruising comfortably with a 2-0 lead early in the third period, goalie Michal Neuvirth let in two goals in just over of a minute and a half. The first coming from John Zeiler, his third playoff goal, at 5:44 of the final period.

98 seconds later, the Monarchs Gabe Gauthier picked up his seventh goal of the postseason when he redirected an Andrei Loktionov slap shot from the right circle.

The Monarchs’ game winning goal came at the 2:43 mark in the overtime period when Justin Azedado took a pass from Dwight King at the top of the crease and put it past Neuvirth.

This was Neuvirth’s first loss of the playoffs (8-1). He stopped 37 of 40 shots on the night.

Hershey Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth stops a third period shot during game 3 of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Hershey Bears goalie Michal Neuvirth makes a save on a third period shot from Monarchs forward Oscar Moellar during the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Jonathan Bernier

The Hershey Bears’ Alexander Giroux opened the scoring with a late first period goal when he took a pass in front of the net from Chris Bourque (son of former Boston Bruins great, Ray Bourque) to give the Bears a 1-0 lead.

Bernier kept the Bears off the board in the second period stopping all 3 shots by Hershey.

The Bears final goal of the night came at the 3:55 mark in the third period when Mathieu Perreault took the a pass from Chris Bourque in the corner and fired the puck past Bernier. This was Perreault’s fifth postseason goal.

Bernier improved his playoff record to 9-4,  stopping 23 of 25 shots on goal.

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier makes one of his three second period saves during the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier watches the puck while being screened by Hershey Bears forward Boyd Kane during the second period of the 2010 Calder Cup Eastern Conference Finals. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Reader, goaltender and cartoonist of smallsaves.com Jay, asked if he could submit this tribute to a goalie he respected greatly who, sadly, passed away recently. His story was compelling – still tending the net at age 79 against 25 year olds – we should all be so lucky to enjoy our passion for goaltending for so long.

Chicky DeAngelis was born April 25, 1930. He got the call to become a goalie at a very young age and when he passed, he had over 65 years of goaltending behind him.

Chicky was the starting net minder for East Boston High School, class of 1946. From there, he went to play in various men’s leagues around the Boston area. When not playing, he’d go watch the Bruins play, sitting behind Frankie Brimsek.

When not on the ice Chicky was a baker, working in his family business.

In the early 90’s Chick became the practice goalie for the Boston Bruins Alumni at Hockeytown, Saugus MA. There he would skate against all the past Bruins stars such as Gary Doak and Brad Park just to name a few.

Tragedy struck that group when Chicky fell forward and lay motionless in his crease. He had suffered a heart attack. Luckily, there was a state trooper playing, who administered CPR to him while the ambulance came. Chick had a quadruple bypass heart operation.

3 months later, he was back on the ice!

From there, he continued to skate with local pick-up groups, and played right until suffering a stroke eight months before his passing.

Jay’s tribute

To me and everyone he skated with, he was simply known as Chicky. A goaltender from the long ago. Maskless. Fearless. And that was just the first 20 years.

Many goaltenders can proudly (and rightfully so) claim that they have donned the pads and stood guard for this amount of time. For Chicky, that was just the beginning. Add another 40 plus years to that, and you’ll get a pretty good idea at how long he guarded the net – donning the Plante three-quarter mask that he used that up until the 90’s. While wearing the now current combo mask right up until 2009, you could sense that he wanted to take it off, and go back to tending the way he did as a youngster.

Chicky April 25, 1930 ~ March 18, 2010

Sometimes the world gets very quiet. Too quiet. Usually the silence comes out of nowhere….and when it does, it leaves a hush over all it encompasses. Funny how 79 years can be summed up in a blink of an eye. Although I haven’t been on this earth for that long, I certainly knew someone who did.

I could list all his accomplishments, stats, recollections of unbelievable saves that I’ve been privileged to have seen. Instead, I seem to be drawn to the story of a goaltending journey that was written in his face. Along with the scars that an unforgiving puck will leave on an unprotected profile, there were also wrinkles of smile marks. I’d like to think that they formed from all the years of flashing the secret grin all us goalies do when we’ve just robbed someone of a sure goal. The lines around his eyes from the twinkle knowing he had something up his sleeve when a shooter broke in all alone on him.

When I was young, and he began showing me how to ply my trade of goaltending, I’d sometimes go over to his house. What struck me was in most of his rooms he’d have a little cross, along with a photo of someone. I’d say, ‘you sure do have a lot of crosses’…he’d just say: ‘Ahhh‘ and shrug his famous stance that goalies eventually inherit from years of being hunched over, awaiting the next shot.

I never really understood why.

Sometimes the sands of an hourglass don’t so much sift through the tiny opening as they explode the glass. A lifetime of memories all within a blink of an eye.

And, so, to say goodbye to a lifelong friend doesn’t quite fit. He’s a part of me now and forever. Whenever I make a save, a part of him has just helped me. In a sense, he’s still there.

I pack my gear for another game and it finally dawns on me. I just have to stop and smile. ‘Ahhh, so that’s why’… I say to myself. I reach for my goalie stick, but do it carefully so as not to disturb a small cross…..and the picture of Chicky beside it.