Sens vs. Falcons 12/31/04 Articles: Hamel does the trick; Forward's three goals...
December 31, 2004

Posted by: Bob Howard
Credit: Scott Lauber of Press Connects.com

Hamel does the trick

Forward's three goals fuel B-Sens' rout of Springfield

BY SCOTT LAUBER

Press & Sun-Bulletin

BINGHAMTON -- The puck was resting on a shelf in Denis Hamel's locker and soon it will be with three others in his home in Quebec because, as Hamel says, "It's not everyday you do a hat trick."

But this one, the souvenir from the fourth three-goal game of Hamel's AHL career, may come to mean a little more. In time, it may symbolize the night the Binghamton Senators proved how good they really are.

Forty-eight hours after melting down in Chocolatetown against the Hershey Bears, the Senators ushered out 2004 in grand fashion, with a 7-1 New Year's Eve romp over the Springfield Falcons before 4,710 in a sold-out Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena.

"It shows we've got a lot of character to come back and play like that," said Hamel, whose hat trick was complemented by Josh Langfeld's two goals and a four-point performance by Jason Spezza. "But we'll always remember Hershey. We just have to remember we can't make those mistakes in the future."

Playing against a Springfield club that was without two of its top forwards -- ailing Craig Darby and Shane Willis -- the Senators pounced. They scored two power-play goals in the first period, tacked on four goals in the second and cruised to their sixth victory in eight games and their third straight lopsided victory at home.

Including last week's 8-2 and 6-2 drubbings of the sad-sack Albany River Rats, the Senators have outscored opponents 21-5 in their last three Arena appearances. And with nine of their 13 games in the first month of 2005 on home ice (granted against stiffer competition), it could be a very happy New Year.

"We played a lot of road games early in the year, so now, maybe we can pick up some points here at home," Spezza said. "It's a fun place to play. There's a lot of excitement in this building."

Nobody epitomized the Senators' about-face from Wednesday night more than Spezza, who made amends for his minus-5 outing in Hershey with a plus-3 and his second four-point night of the season. He set up Langfeld's and Hamel's first goals to raise his AHL-leading assist total to 35 before blasting two shots over goalie Brian Eklund's glove.

And Hamel redirected a Spezza pass in the first period and ripped a shot from inside the left circle in the second before tipping Brian Pothier's shot with 1.9 seconds left in the second to complete his first hat trick since Nov. 20, 2002, when he was with the Rochester Americans.

"We put seven goals in, but I think we played well defensively," said Hamel, who leads the team with 21 and may well challenge his career-high of 34. "That's what counts most."

Indeed, the Senators didn't make the defensive errors that doomed them in Hershey, and rather than running-and-gunning, put themselves in good enough position to get offensive chances.

And, of course, they took the chances Springfield gave them.

The game got ugly in the third period. After Christoph Schubert speared Springfield's Darren Reid late in the second, Falcons winger Evgeni Artukhin took a run at Schubert with 10:40 left in regulation. Schubert went down hard along the boards and left the game with an apparent muscle strain in his shin.

"I thought it was broken," said Schubert, who had ice wrapped on his lower leg and was limping noticeably after the game. "Luckily, it's the muscle, not the bone."

With defenseman Anton Volchenkov already sidelined with bruises after blocking several shots in Hershey, co-coach John Paddock guessed Schubert would be able to play tonight in Worcester, Mass. But a four-hour bus ride across New York and Massachusetts can only increase Schubert's soreness.

Artukhin also jabbed center Pat Kavanagh in the face after the final buzzer. Rookie defenseman Neil Komadoski came to Kavanagh's aid, and two fights broke out. Fights after the buzzer often result in AHL suspensions, but the Senators will likely appeal punishment to Komadoski and Kavanagh.

"To win a game like that, after how we played in Hershey, shows we're a little different team than we were at the start of the year," Spezza said. "It shows were not going to go into a funk. It was the opposite end of the spectrum (from Hershey), and that's a good thing."

Slap shots: Second-year defenseman Jan Platil skated in his 100th career AHL game. ... The Senators are 3-0 and Binghamton hockey franchises are a cumulative 17-9-3 on New Year's Eve.