LW's NHL* Road Trip 2011 (Part Four)

*Apart from this bit, which is an AHL Road Trip. Here was Part Three.

A travel snafu prevented my planned attendance at the Devils-Leafs game in the evening.  I hope Marty Brodeur's return performance was as amusing for those in person as it appeared to be on TV.

Game #4: Connecticut Whale 3-4 (OT) Bridgeport Sound Tigers

• A 90-minute train journey from Manhattan for an 11am faceoff.  Not my usual kind of trip.
• The reason for the early start: Some sort of schoolkids promotion.  So, a few thousand kids in the stands make the atmosphere one part hockey game, nine parts Justin Bieber concert.
• A completely indecipherable P.A. system and unfamiliarity with many of the players will make it tougher than normal to keep up.  And to know when the building is being evacuated.
• Line-up news:
  
  • The Whale are now Avery-less (must've been publicised somewhere), but still feature recent Ranger demotions Tim Erixon, Kris Newbury and Mats Zuccarello-Aasen.  The mini-Fishsticks include Nino Niederreiter and the overwhelmingly talented Trevor Gillies.
  • Kevin Poulin versus Cam Talbot in net - no start for Chad "Dos Nueve" Johnson (apparently "Tres Cero" in the minors)
• Why does the typeface on Calvin de Haan's nameplate say: dE HAAN?
• The Whale's first goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and Tim Erixon) smashes the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen.
• Gillies (who doesn't appear to even get a regular shift at this level) takes an appropriately dumb penalty, leading to the stuff of nightmares: Wade Redden as the PP quarterback.
• The between period T-shirt toss produces a painfully shrill noise.
• A fight between Micheal (sic) Haley and Stu Bickel is broken up almost as soon as it starts, while doing so, the linesman presumably screaming "Won't somebody please think of the children?!"
• The Whale take a 3-1 lead early in the third, the goal (Jonathan Audy-Marchessault from Mats Zuccarello-Aasen and John Mitchell) smashing the record for most letters combining on a goal I've seen, if falling just short on the syllables equivalent.
• Showing impressive dedication to becoming Rangers, the Whale then blow their lead over the last 11 minutes and lose in OT, the Tigers' Tim Wallace completing his hat-trick on the winner.

Next up: Back to MSG for yet another intense clash for the Rangers against a hated divisional rival, the Anaheim Ducks.