March 28, 2001

Holden Magroin- Rage Writer

Waterbury-

One word comes to mind when describing the game tonight, "Riot".  The Rage came out in the first period with a fire, a sort of passion, reminiscent of a team in first place rather than in last. 

Off the opening faceoff Rage defenseman Steve Wegiel broke free and flipped the ball topshelf on a partial breakaway to put the Rage up 1-0.  This was the first time the Rage ever had a lead.  The time of the goal was nine seconds.

The Chiefs answered right back three minutes into the period to tie the score at one.  Off an offensive zone faceoff, Steve Wegiel tickled the twine with his second goal of the night to put the Rage up 2-1.  Six minutes into the period, the Chiefs were called for a slashing call, putting the Rage on the powerplay.  Steve Roman converted on the powerplay to give the Rage a 3-1 lead and their first ever powerplay conversion.

The rest of the first period was spent going back and forth with not much happening.  Then it all went haywire.  Steve Doody, the Rage netminder went down to cover a loose puck where he was hacked at by a Chief forward.  Steve Wegiel took offense to this by giving the forward a shove, which lead to Wegiel being highsticked, causing him to go after the forward.  Doody reached in to hold Wegiel back, the result:  Wegiel and Doody received game misconducts and possible two game suspensions. 

Following the fight, Rage defenseman Andy Audet had a mere three minutes to suit up and get in the net to replace the ejected Doody.   Audet managed to hold a 3-2 lead till the end of the second period. 

In the third, the Rage fell apart.  A redirected shot tied the score at three, a screened slapshot put the Chiefs up 4-3 and a two on nothing breakaway put the Chiefs up by the score of 5-3, which would be the final.

One can only wonder, what would have happened if the fight did not take place?  Steve Wegiel was having a career night with two early goals, as well as an assist on the powerplay tally by Roman.  Doody was playing excellent in goal and everything seemed to be falling into place.  This loss drops the Rage to an 0-5-0 record at the half point in the season.