Lowell played two games over the weekend. There were three fights. At home. I feel like I should be typing this from Bizzaro World or something. That never happens! I even saw, with my own eyes, a Lockmonster ask another player to fight… AND WAS TURNED DOWN! Usually it’s like this:
Opposing Player: "You wanna go?"
Lockmonster: "Fuck off, you’re a fucking joke, you’re the worst player in the League, you’re going back to the Coast."
Not so on Saturday afternoon. I watched with my own eyes as Mike Brown turned Lee Jacobson down. It happened right in front of me. I was so surprised;I had to ask the boys if they all saw it. After a round of SlapShot lines, i.e. "We all saw it, sticks down, gloves off." They said that had seen it as well. Simply amazing.
Anyhow, on to the fights! Jeff Finger, who has the worst helmet in the AHL by the way, had a nice dust up with Norfolk’s Colin Fraser on Saturday. I didn’t see what started it, and it took the boys awhile to get going, but once they did it was a very good scrap. Nice upper cuts for Finger, and some good straight rights by Fraser. I would call it a win for Finger.
Sunday brought the always feisty Albany River Rats to town. Lee Jacobson made his fighting debut when he took on Pierre-Luc LeBlond about halfway through the first stanza. Jacobson is one of the worst skaters I think I have ever seen. He makes Mitch Fritz look like Gretz. He has an atrocious stride. Honestly, it’s painful. Imagine my surprise when he showed great balance in a long bout with LeBlond. I thought they were going to go at the beginning of the shift, as Jacobson asked him, but was turned down. Near the end, he changed his mind right at center ice. Jacobson did very well with LeBlond trying to get inside, and get him off balance. There was a flurry of punches by both guys, and Jacobson opened up a little cut under LeBlond’s eye. Win for Jacobson. If you are scoring at home, or even if you are by yourself, Lowell is 2-0 for fights on the weekend.
The last event of the weekend happened with about 5 minutes left in the second. Aaron Voros of Albany cross checked Bad Helmet Finger (Needs a better nickname incorporating his terrible helmet. Maybe I’ll run a contest.) right in the face, and BH was PISSED. They went at it sticks down, gloves off, right at the blue line across from the Lowell bench. I couldn’t really tell if anything landed, but Finger did get the takedown. I don’t have a clear winner or loser in this one. If anyone saw it, please, turn in your scorecard.
As an aside, Lowell won both games of the weekend. 4-3 over Norfolk, and 6-0 over Albany. They were dying to give away the Norfolk game, and almost did. I like the way this Team appears to be coming together right now. They have been UHL, AHL, and ECHL piece parts all year, and as such, they have been inconsistent in their play. If they play with the emotion they had over the weekend and stick up for one another, they could go pretty far. Hershey is in town on Wednesday. Doug Doull is on the roster. If you are in the area, and have never seen him play, I suggest you come on down. I have yet to see anyone wound as tight as Doull is on the ice. Since Jacobson seems to enjoy his role, I would bet there will be a fight. As always, good seats are still available.