No Kindness
Admirals take first game of the 2004 Calder Cup with a 2-1 overtime over the Penguins.

06.01.04 Milwaukee, WI – Neither overtime nor the referees were kind to the Baby Pens' Tuesday Night.

As tensions rose and the OT clock steadily wore on, left wing Mathieu Darche scored a power play goal to lift the Milwaukee Admirals to a 2-1 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in Game One of the 2004 Calder Cup Finals.

The power play came off of a controversial penalty called by referee Dan O'Rourke which sent two Penguins to the penalty box.

The game began amicably enough, as the first went by with both teams scoreless. The Admirals took the early lead 6:06 into the second period, on Libor Pivko's seventh goal of the playoffs. Pivko loosed off a slap shot from the point that slid through goalie Andy Chiodo's pads off an assist from Darren Haydar.

The Penguins retaliated to tie in the third. Shane Endicott picked up his eighth goal of the playoffs at 12:53, as he wristed in a rebound off Toby Petersen's blocked shot. Netminder Wade Flaherty, after blocking the first shot, could not come up with the second save.

As the clock ticked down, the Penguins realized they were headed into familiar territory; overtime. Wilkes-Barre has been in 10 overtime games this postseason, an AHL record. Their last three road games have been decided in overtime, including two historic game sevens.

However, 12:08 into overtime, officiator Dan O'Rourke broke up an altercation in the corner, and sent Admiral Jay Henderson and Penguins David Koci and Rob Scuderi to the penalty box for roughing.

The Admirals quickly took advantage of the power play, scoring just 53 seconds after the call as Curtis Murphy fired a slap shot from the point that Darche tipped into the net.

This is the second time this postseason that Darche has hit the OT game winner, his last being the series-clinching shot in double-OT during the division finals against Chicago.

Predictably, the Penguins were not too ecstatic about O'Rourke's call.

"How can you not be upset?" said Penguins coach Michel Therrien. "Let the players decide. Both teams played very well. Both teams gave all they got. It's pretty frustrating when you see a (referee) decide the game.

"I'm not saying Scuderi didn't push," said Therrien, who believed that Henderson should have received a double minor for roughing. "I'm not saying Scuderi didn't get in an altercation with (Jay) Henderson. That's good. But Koci and Henderson again got in an altercation.

"This is playoff hockey," he added. "This is the finals of the Calder
Cup. Both teams played a hard game. It could have gone both ways in overtime. But the guy decides to give a chance to the other team. How can you not be upset?"

David Koci, who was sent to the box alongside Scuderi, was also unhappy with the late game officiating.

"He maybe knew I had 300 penalty minutes in the regular season and he just picked me out," said David Koci. "I don't understand. I just came in to hold that guy. I couldn't just stand there and watch what happened, our guy getting punched by Henderson. I just held him. I didn't do anything wrong."

Admiral keeper Flaherty made 35 saves to improve his record 13-5, while his counterpart, Andy Chiodo, stopped 36 of 38 shots in the loss.

Game two of the series will be played on June 2, again in Milwaukee at the Bradley Center.

 

 

 

 

 

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