The Manchester Monarchs return to New Hampshire this weekend after a fairly successful Thanksgiving week road trip against three divisional foes.
Manchester took two of those three games, and they would have had a third win on Saturday in Maine if not for a five-goal third period for the Mariners.
“If I think you told me before the weekend if we would get 2 out of 3, I would have taken it,” said Monarchs coach Doug Christiansen. “But at the same time being it was disappointing on Saturday night to sweep the week and lose that game. That being said, if we can learn the mistakes we made in that game, it will productive for us as a team getting that lesson this early in the year.”
In that contest against the Mariners, three of the five goals came after a fight between Matt Doherty and longtime Monarchs nemesis Riley Bourbonnais after Bourbonnais made a vicious hit away from the play. Doherty earned a instigator minor on top of the five for fighting, but Christiansen says the infusion of energy from the fans was less significant than the flurry of recent transactions as well as fatigue.
“A lot guys played a lot of minutes, three games in four nights and we were shorthanded for much of the period while they were just coming off a week off,” he said.
That last period in Maine nearly equaled the entire offensive output for Manchester’s opponents over the rest of the week, but the Monarchs situation in net remains unsettled as Chris Driedger joined Charles Williams in the AHL this week, leaving Cole Kehler and Brandon Wildung as the Monarchs’ current options.
Ultimately, frequent call-ups are to be expected in the minor leagues. The Monarchs expect to adjust,
“Over the course of the year, I think you’ll see us be fairly consistent not using one guy for four, five, six games in a row,” said Christiansen. “When we have players playing at a high level, we’re obviously going to utilize them, but we want to make sure we have enough depth at that position.”
The Monarchs now have 18 points in 19 games, a pace that keeps them in the middle of the pack in the ECHL’s North Division.
They hit the ice again on Friday night against Adirondack, followed by a rematch on Saturday night against Maine.
Three Stars
Top Star: Zeb Knutson (3 goals, 0 assists, +5, 5 shots on goal)
Second Star: Joe Pendenza (2 goals, 1 assist, 0 +/-, 11 shots on goal)
Third Star: Matt Marcinew (1 goal, 2 assists, +1, 7 shots on goal)
