Manchester update
The blog server appears to be working today, so I'll give this whole posting thing a go. Don Fulton tracked down coach Mark Morris, whose Manchester Monarchs are in dire straits, down 3-0 to Providence and facing elimination tonight. Don also has an interview with Jeff Zatkoff ready to go. Here's what Morris had to say about the Monarchs' situation:
On being down 3-0 in the series.
"We've gotten great goaltending from both Bernier and Quick, and I don't think we have to hang our heads at all. We had those two goals disallowed (in Game 3), that in our opinion, were both good goals, and we didn't have a whole lot of things go our way. I really believe that we are really on the verge of winning any one of those games. These are the types of battles that are going to make these guys better hockey players."
On the absence of Brian Boyle:
"That was a huge blow. Brian is such a physical presence, guy who played half the season as a defenseman and still lead the league in rookie scoring. I can't say enough for what he has meant to our hockey club. There aren't too many 6-7, 250-pound people that can replace him. He's been a huge presence in front of the net on the power play, and a good face-off man. He knows how to distribute the puck and he is a hard guy to hold. My guess is that his recovery time is going to be too lengthy unless we are able to turn this thing around."
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About the bloggers
Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.com.
Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at jill.painter@dailynews.com.
Boyle didn't lead rookies in scoring. Purcell did.
That's my bad.
I went back and listened to the tape again and Morris says; "...he was a league leader in rookie scoring."
Sorry about that.
maybe he meant among defensemen?
Boyle was only at defense for maybe half of the season, and even then, the vast majority of his points while starting the game at defense were while playing center on the powerplay and late in games where he was shifted back to forward.
in goal scoring yes in overall points no.
Boyle led the AHL in rookie goal scoring.
Boyle did lead the league in goals scored by a rookie I believe...
Too bad about Boyle, he played really well while at LA. Tough loss for Manchester, obviously they miss him, his physical presence and his scoring touch.....