If you were looking for some insight into the character of the Newfoundland Growlers, it might have been revealed Friday night in Portland, Me., where they edged the Maine Mariners 3-2.
Without knowing the back story, the result might mot be very surprising. After all, the Growlers have made a habit of winning lately; Saturday marked the defending ECHL champions’ seventh straight win and 12th in their past 14 outings.
But considering that the Growlers only arrived in Portland just over an hour before Friday’s game, this after a travel day that had started 14 hours earlier in St. John’s, the win might have been at least somewhat unexpected. At least they seemed to have a built-in excuse for a less-than average performance.
They didn’t use it.
Goaltender Parker Gahagen, whose bumped-up contract was announced earlier in the day, made 31 saves for Newfoundland (25-10-0), while first star Trey Bradley had a goal and an assist. Team-leading scorer Giorgio Estephan and Justin Brazeau, also scored for the Growlers, with Brazeau’s late second period-tally standing as the game-winner.
The Newfoundland team was to have left St. John’s Wednesday afternoon, but saw its flight cancelled because of weather issues. With such a large group requiring rebooking and part of a considerable backlog of travellers, finding an alternate flight proved impossible on Thursday. That meant the team departed St. John’s International just after 6 a.m. Friday, flew to Toronto, where they awaited another flight to Boston, and from there moved on to Portland on a bus, which doubled as sleeping quarters and dining room for hockey players habitually used to pre-game meals and naps.
The Growlers fell behind early, with Dillan Fox scoring a minute into the contest on the second shot on goal by Maine (17-15-1), but Estephan tied things up with power-play goal late in the opening frame.
Alex Kile put Maine back in front 3:16 into the second on a well-placed shot, but goals by Braley and Brazeau put Newfoundland in front before the end of the period, while Gahagen shut down the Mariners the rest of the way, turning aside 20 straight shots, including 13 in a scoreless third.
Gahagen has a 6-1-0 record, 2.19 goals-against average and .930 save percentage since joining Newfoundland from the Southern professional Hockey League. His play has helped convince the parent Toronto Maple Leafs his worth to the organization; Gahagen, who had been operating ion an ECHL contract, was signed to an AHL deal this week, allowing the Leafs to retain his rights at both minor-league levels.
Dog Bites
Friday’s game was the first of three in three days for the Growlers, who take on the Worcester Railers tonight (8:35 p.m. NT), then return to Portland for a rematch with the Mariners at 4:30 p.m. Sunday … Newfoundland now is four points behind the South Carolina Stingrays (25-5-4), owners of the ECHL’s best record. The Stingrays lost Friday night to the Brampton Beast, who are in second place in the North Division, four points behind Newfoundland … Brazeau now has 30 points (154G, 16A) on the season, the fourth-highest total among ECHL rookies. Newfoundland has four players among the league’s top-scoring first year players. Besides Brazeau, there is defenceman Joseph Duszak (8-19-27), who played his first game after being returned by the Marlies; forward Colt Conrad (5-20-25), on recall to the AHL affiliate; and Riley Woods (7-16-23) who had two assists in the win over Maine … Not all the Growlers who played Friday night made the trip earlier in the day; Estephan had been re-assigned to Newfoundland by the AHL’s Toronto Marlies on Tuesday, but was sent directly to Portland where he was expected to hook up with the Growlers Wednesday night, but ended up waiting two days for the team to arrive … The Railers have a recent Growler on their roster, defenceman Philip Johnansson, who was claimed by Worcester on waivers. Johansson had been waived by Newfoundland after Growlers captain James Melindy was activated from injured reserve this week, Melindy played his first game since Nov. 23 on Friday …
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