The Musicmen had been in four straight one-goal games over the last week. Confidence was growing slowly and the team seemed to be playing with more discipline. Even the performance in the face-off circle had shown signs of improvement over the last few games.
The Portland Owls, 7-3-0 in their last ten games, have seen their offense gel over the last two weeks and sit 6th in goals for in the CCHL.
A team with a hot offense, playing Dayton with their very suspect defense has the potential of a bad outcome for the Musicmen.
Which is exactly what happened last night in Portland.
The Owls blasted Dayton 7-1 in a game where Portland outscored and outhit their guests and according to most of the Dayton brain trust, it wasn't even that close as the score suggested.
"No, we're not going to win many games if we play like that," said Thomas Vanek. "We had a good first period, we outshot them, Aho had a power-play goal and we were within a goal on the road. We were ok with that. All of a sudden in the second period, the wheels came off and that was that."
Owl Derek Brassard had a four-point night (2+2) to lead the Portland attack. "That's a weird team. Their offense is so young. Their checking line is frankly a little soft and the defense is old and slow. Not trying to insult them but they don't have much to work with this year." said Brassard.
When told of Brassard's comments, Dayton General Manager Bill Corfield reportedly tried to gain access to the Portland locker room and had to be restrained by rink security.
"Bill was pretty hot, and I don't blame him. That's the last thing a young player like Brassard should've said. Yes, Dayton is young up front and not very imposing on the back end, but that's possibly the greatest franchise the CCHL has ever seen. They have a lot of pride." said one hockey scribe who wished to remain anonymous.
"Brassard better watch his ass the next time they play the Musicmen. I promise you Corfield won't let the boys forget what he said to the press."
After returning to the Dayton locker room, Corfield commented, "Unreal. For a guy who has had some decent but hardly great production in his first few years in the league to talk like that about another team is unacceptable. I'm sure Zoladz will be talking to him. That will probably fix the issue going forward, but he'll still need to answer for what he said tonight in a future game. It'll be handled on the ice, trust me. Right now, I've got a line of guys outside my office asking to line up against him when we play them in a few weeks."
"The kid understands what to expect, I hope..."
What's next:
Dayton has a long flight to Wisborg for Wednesday night's game. Elliott is not expected to play and his groin is not quite healed enough for game action.
Dylan Larkin has been told he will take a regular shift against the Donuts and play on a line with Sean Monahan and Nate MacKinnon.
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