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| SportsSaturday, October 14, 2006 9:34 PM CDT |
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PrairieThunder drop opener
MUSKEGON, Mich. -- Had he been given the opportunity, Muskegon Fury coach Bruce Ramsay would have gone right down his lineup and lauded the efforts of every one of his players one by one. Ramsay was that excited after watching the Fury dismantle the expansion Bloomington PrairieThunder 7-3 in Friday night’s United Hockey League opener, which attracted 2,541 spectators to L.C. Walker Arena. “I can only give credit to so many players, but I’d like to give credit to everybody,” said Ramsay, who had two rookies and two veterans lead the scoring attack. Playing its initial regular season contest, the PrairieThunder received goals from Tyler Rennette, former Fury player B.J. Gaustad and Chris Bogas. Goalie Jeff Reynaert surrendered seven goals on 37 Fury shots. Rennette was credited with the first goal in franchise history, an unassisted shorthanded tally at the 11:29 mark of the second period. The puck ricocheted off a skate into the net when a Fury player tried to clear the puck out of the zone. “This is a first-year team and the guys have never played together before,” said Bloomington defenseman Jason Lawmaster, a former Fury player. “We’ll try to get better as we go. This is a marathon, not a sprint.” Gaustad added a power play goal off an assist from Rennette early in the third period and Bogas connected on Bloomington’s final score at the 9:20 mark with assists from Trevor Baker and Jeff Mushulak. The PrairieThunder put 29 shots on Fury goalie Clayton Pool. Rookie forwards Elias Godoy and Evan Kotsopoulos, playing in their first professional game, had two goals and one assist each for Muskegon. Veteran Mike Watt, who signed earlier this week, also had two goals and one assist while veteran defenseman Philippe Plante had three assists. “Both Godoy and Evan (Kotsopoulos) see the ice very well,” said Ramsay. “They are both quick and Rusty (Rustyn Dolyny) complements them very well.” Dolyny also scored a goal on a blast from the slot in the second period. The Fury did come out quickly in the opening period with Kotsopoulos scoring his first professional goal just 4:03 into the contest. By the time the first period ended, Muskegon also had goals from Godoy, on a quick shot from the left side, and from Watt, the veteran of 157 National Hockey League games. Centerman Todd Robinson set up Dolyny’s goal at 1:47 of the middle period and the hosts led 4-0. A Fury turnover along the left boards led to Rennette’s shorthanded goal at 11:29. That goal capped the second-period scoring. Despite facing a three-goal deficit, the Thunder came out storming in the third period and were rewarded when Gaustad scored just 17 seconds into the final period. It didn’t take the Fury long to not only restore the three-goal lead, then push it to four over a three-minute span. At 5:53, Watt scored his second of the game with a power-play tally and Godoy scored his second after stealing the puck and moving in alone on Reynaert. Bogas scored for Bloomington at 9:20 while each team was short one game, but Kotsopoulos scored his second of the night on a 3-on-1 break. “Not bad,” said Kotsopoulos, evaluating his first game as a professional. “The guys are great and they just kind of eased me into it. I just use speed and drive to the net and get involved and when you get an opportunity, you have to put it away.” Godoy and Kotsopoulos did get some playing time together in the Grand Rapids Griffins’ camp and it wasn’t a difficult decision for Ramsay to put them together on the Fury’s second line. “We clicked in Grand Rapids and it was good that we got him (Godoy) to come here,” said Kotsopoulos. “We have to keep it going.” The PrairieThunder makes its home debut tonight when it hosts the Fort Wayne Komets in a 7:05 p.m. game at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. More photos To see additional photos from this game click here. Get area high school sports scores and statistics at Varsity Sports. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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