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 Barons: Weekly Report
2/15
Zalesak continues hot hand with 3 goals
2/15/04 - by Craig Haueter
The
Barons split a pair of contests this week winning a home contest 4-2 Thursday
night against the San Antonio Rampage and surrendering 4 third period goals to
fall to the Utah Grizzlies 5-3 Saturday night in the first of a five-game road
trip.
For the second time this season, the Barons used a big third
period performance to knock off the San Antonio Rampage. Trailing 2-1 after the
second period, the Barons used three goals by Doug Murray, Miroslav Zalesak and
Craig Valette to lead Cleveland to victory. The goals by Murray and Zalesak
came during an impressive 1:17 stretch at the beginning of the final period in
a 4-on-4 situation. Back on October 23rd, the Barons outscored the Rampage 6-0
in the third period en route to a 7-1 victory in San Antonio. The loss Thursday
night marked the first game this season that the Rampage lost while leading
after two periods (12-1-2-0).
The offensive hero for the Barons was
Marcel Goc who scored the first goal of the game and picked up an assist on
Murray's goal. Midway through the first period, Goc found himself pinned behind
the San Antonio goal. He broke loose from the defender and moved to the front
of the net, able to push the puck past Rampage goalie Brent Krahn to put
Cleveland in front 1-0 at that point. Defenseman Doug Murray continued to rack
up impressive teeth-rattling checks including an open ice "pancake" of Denis
Shvidki in the second period. Nolan Schaefer was impressive in goal for the
Barons recording 35 saves. His save of the game came with 7 minutes left in the
first period as he made a whirling glove save of a Michel Periard shot from
close range. Kent Huskins earned third star honors for San Antonio as he
registered 2 goals.
Saturday night, a two goal performance from the
AHL's leading scorer, Miroslav Zalesak, and 43 saves from goalie Nolan Schaefer
weren't enough for the Barons, who fell 5-3 at the "E" Center. Everything
looked good for the Barons until midway through the final period. Then a
four-goal outburst by the lowest scoring team in the AHL earned Utah the win.
Mattias Tjarnqvist scored two of the goals to complete the hat trick including
an empty netter with 39 seconds remaining in the game. Chris Valicevic scored
twice in the third period as well and set up the others for a five-point
(2-3-5) performance. Tavis Hansen's 12th goal of the year was the only goal
scored by the Barons in the third period. Cleveland allowed a season-high 28
shots in the third period. Former NHL net minder Ron Tugnutt took the win in
goal for Utah recording 22 saves.
Barons Bits
Barons
goalie Nolan Schaefer earned his first professional point Saturday night when
he assisted on Miroslav Zalesak's first goal in the opening period.
Fight watch - the tussle between Yuri Moscevsky of the Barons and Jason Spense
of San Antonio Thursday night was scored a draw as both players did little more
than grab each other's jersey. Moscevsky leads the Barons with 129 penalty
minutes on the season.
The regular top offensive line for Barons
continues to be Marcel Goc, Brad Boyes and Miroslav Zalesak. The second line is
Jon DiSalvatore, Grant Stevenson and Patrick Rissmiller. Third liners include
Craig Valette, Tavis Hansen and Ryane Clowe. Recent defensive pairings include
Garrett Stafford/Robert Mulick, Jim Fahey/Doug Murray and Matt Carkner/Jesse
Fibiger.
The only roster moves of the week were rookie forward Milan
Michalek returning to San Jose for season-ending knee surgery after being
injured during the game prior to the all-star break and defenseman Jesse
Fibiger returned to the Barons after traveling to Switzerland for the Davos
Cup.
The Cleveland Barons Player of the Week (2/2-2/8) is left wing
Ryane Clowe. On the week, Clowe recorded 1 goal and 2 assists for 3 points in 2
games. Clowe scored at least one point in each contest. Clowe helped the Barons
split two games with Manitoba. Clowe recorded 4 shots in each game and was +1
for the week.
The top five scorers for the Barons are: Miroslav Zalesak
(29-33-62), Brad Boyes (21-30-51), Patrick Rissmiller (9-25-34), Garrett
Stafford (8-24-32) and Ryane Clowe (9-19-28). Top five in plus/minus are: Ryane
Clowe (+12), Miroslav Zalesak (+10), Matt Carkner (+10), Robert Mulick (+10)
and Greg Labenski (+8).
The Barons moved to 2nd in the AHL on the power
play converting 18.06 percent of the time (39 of 216).
The week ahead
finds the Barons playing in Utah again Monday afternoon which is the
western-most city in the AHL. After a stop in Toronto for a game Thursday
night, the Barons will continue on to St. John's, Newfoundland, the
eastern-most city in the AHL for games Friday and Saturday night. The trip will
span 3,850 miles.
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