Dec. 9 Manchester (Raw Heat)
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- There was plenty of emotion , make that venom, spewing from the Portland Pirates’ dressing room, after the Buccos dropped a 3-2 overtime toughie to the Manchester Monarchs.
Granted, I was only in the Pirates’s room….didn’t have the time to head down the hall to see the Monarchs. But Portland felt that they taken a little too much chirping.
Plus they didn’t appreciate what they felt was some less than stout-hearted work by Manchester enforcer Mike Hoffman on Portland tough guy Trevor Gillies.
Portland’s Zenon Konopka, the club’s defacto captain since Shawn Thornton was recalled, led the verbal charge.
“It’s a frustrating game,” he said face reddening by the moment.
“Maybe those guys like to talk a lot, when there’s refs in the way. I hope one of these games gets out of hand, so a few of those guys can eat their words.”
He didn’t stop there.
“If they want to fight, we’ll fight ‘em in the street, or wherever they want to fight. All they do is talk. All they do is chirp.”
He didn’t stop there, either.
“You see Hoffman. Everytime he fights Gillies, he falls on the ground. Once, twice. Now he says it’s coincidence. He’s ducking punches. It’s unacceptable.”
Nope, he didn’t stop there, either.
“We’re upset over the loss. We’re a pretty bitter team right now. I wish we played tomorrow.”
Stop.
Portland d-man Aaron Rome was a tad more conciliatory, yet the sarcastic smile he bore while biting his own tongue revealed a bit more about his feelings.
“It’s all part of the game,” he said, appearing not to believe any of it. “I’m not going to say they were chirping more than they should have. But it all comes back to you in the end.”
I don’t know how they felt in the Manchester room, although a reporter friend of mine who WAS there said that Hoffman came in for praise from Monarchs.
Regardless….both teams are off until Friday, when, of all things, they’ll hook up again, this time in Portland.
Dan Hickling
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