59 Penalty Minutes??

Going into Friday night's game the Express, as a team, had 417 penalty minutes on the season. Their opponent, the Albert Lea Thunder, had 855 penalty minutes on the season. So which of those 2 teams would you guess got called for 59 minutes, and which got called for 33 minutes for the game??

The Express overcame their 59 penalty minutes with Stephen Carew scoring a pair of goals, and Dmitry Lugin scoring the eventual game winner, as the Express beat the Thunder for the 9th straight time this season. The officiating was absolutely brutal all night long, and not just for the Express, as there were plenty of questionable calls on the Thunder as well. However, as legendary Owatonna High School football coach Jerry Peterson always said, the only thing that matters is the win. That is 3 straight for the Express, who remain undefeated in 2009. If you want more details, you can read the People's Press article here: http://owatonna.com/news.php?viewStory=32573 or see the boxscore here: http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/boxscore.html?gameid=764100 .

- The Express went most of the season without a fighting major, but have picked up 2 in the last 3 weeks, both by Michael Palmiscno. By the way, Palmiscno is the shortest guy on the roster at a very generous 5'6". Friday night he was jumped after the whistle by the Thunder's Mikita Feaktsistau who had about a 7" height advantage and about 30 pounds weight advantage.

- The newest Express player, Dan Cecka, was in uniform Friday night wearing sweater #24 and playing on a line with Zach Vierling and Stephen Carew.

- In a first for me in my hockey watching career, I saw a triple minor penalty called. Express forward David Kurbatsky was called for a double minor checking from behind and a hooking minor early in the 3rd period. This resulted in a 6 minute powerplay for the Thunder, and an early trip to the showers for Kurbatsky, as he also got a game ejection on the play.

- I have said this before, and I'll say it again: The Thunder aren't anywhere near as bad a team as their record would indicate. The have gotten markedly better since the beginning of the season, and if they can ever get it all figured out, they will win some games. That is good news for our favorite junior hockey team, as we will need the Thunder to win some games against the 3 teams in front of the Express in the standings if we want to improve our playoff seeding.


Next up for the Express is a game with the Blizzard tonight in Alexandria. The Express have split their 4 games with the Blizzard so far this season, so tonight should be a competitive game. Looking even further ahead, if the Express can get the win in Alexandria tonight, they have a chance to string together a nice long win streak. After tonight, the Express play at Albert Lea next Friday, followed by a 5 game home stand.

See you at the rink.

--BK