Archive for Photos

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

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

With the season winding down and less opportunity to shoot some games, I thought now would be a good time to publish a few more goalie masks.  Most of these are from the college and AHL teams that I’ve shot this year.

BC Eagles Goalie Chris Venti

Sophomore goalie Chris Venti of the 2010 National Champion BC Eagles, made his college debut against Harvard earlier this season during the Beanpot Tournament. Venti also picked up some more action three weeks later against the Merrimack Warriors.

Chris’ mask come from artist Matt Garland of Promasque in Rindge, NH. Along with the prominent eagle on the mask, other Boston landmarks are featured, such as the Zachem Bridge and the Citgo sign that resides behind the green monster at Fenway park. 

(Click on Chris Venti to view more shots of his mask)

Goalie Chris Venti, BC Eagles. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Goalie Chris Venti, BC Eagles. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Adirondack Phantoms Goalie Jeremy Duchesne

Phantoms goalie Jeremy Duchesne spent the majority of  the 09-10 season with the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL prior to playing with Phantoms. He also saw some playing time with the parent club, Philadelphia Flyers. Between all three teams, he’s accumulated a 10-8-5 record with 2 shutouts.

Duchesne was drafted in the 4th round, 119th overall in the 2005 NHL entry draft.

(Click on Jeremy Duchesne to view more shots of his mask)

Goalie Jeremy Duchesne, Adirondack Phantoms. Photo by Scott Slingsby

Goalie Jeremy Duchesne, Adirondack Phantoms. Photo by Scott Slingsby

What a difference a week makes. All was right in the world of the Manchester Monarchs last Saturday night. Jeff Zatkoff was enroute to his tenth win this season over the Adirondack Phantoms and Jonathan Bernier was getting a well deserved night off.

The week that followed saw Bernier called back to the LA Kings where he picked up two wins, including his first NHL shutout. Matt Lopes was signed to an amateur tryout agreement, and made his professional debut by replacing Zatkoff who went down with a lower body injury in the first period of the Monarchs/Devils game. Lopes earned his first professional victory with a 42 save effort over the Devils

Two days later, Lopes was released and the Monarchs signed two more goalies, Jean-Francois Berube and Dave Wilson to amateur tryout agreements.

Berube, 18, has played the last two seasons with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Montreal Juniors while Wilson, 25, appeared in 13 games with the University of Maine Black Bears this season.

Berube got the start against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers and stopped 23-of-24 shots on goal earning his first professional win. 

Jonathan Bernier, who’s rapidly accumulating frequent flier miles, found his way back to the crease in Manchester last night to pick up his 30th win and league leading ninth shutout on the season with a 3-0 win over the Providence Bruins.

 With all the changes in net, the Monarchs are riding a 6 game win streak and are headed to the Calder Cup playoffs.

(Click on P-Bruins vs Monarchs to view more shots of the game.)

P-Bruins forward Jordan Knackstedt (25) tries to tip the puck past Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier (45). Photo by Scott Slingsby

Monarchs goalie Jonathan Bernier (45) keeps an eye on a second period rebound. Photo by Scott Slingsby

The Providence Bruins, (34-36-5-1) are in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with 74 points and are playing for pride at this point of the season.

Dany Sabourin (26-26-0) drew the loss, stopping 34-of-37 shots on goal.

P-Bruins goalie Dany Sabourin (32) makes a third period glove save. Photo by Scott Slingsby

P-Bruins goalie Dany Sabourin (32) follows his third period rebound as it goes towards the left circle. Photo by Scott Slingsby