STEELERS OVERCOME FLU BUG WITH SUPPORT FROM FARM

It appeared like the flu bug and other ailments picked up over the holidays hit the Steelers hard as they took to the ice for their first game of 2008. The Toronto Stingers provided the opposition on this night. GM Durigon called up Greg Gilpin and Mike Didulka from the farm and dawned the pillows in absence of injured Marc Andre Pouliot. The Steelers were without Coach Lindsay and Jones - each with the flu bug, Lam - expecting an addition to the Lam household (and it's not a puppy), Nichols - actually showed up to the game but had to run to deal with an emergency (hope all is ok), K-Man - business (did I mention it was guaranteed win night), and Pouliot who violated his performance contract for the second time this year by suffering a knee injury while skiing. Reliable sources say that the Steelers will be offering Andrew Raycroft a walk on try out.

The depleted line up played a well controlled tight checking game against the Stingers. The only goal of the first 2 periods came late in the first as Durigon was caught wandering by the Stingers top scorer (87) who ended up banking a shot from behind the net off of Larry Romanuik who was covering for Durigon who had lost the puck to # 87 in the corner (Durigon only wandered a few more times during the game). The Steelers came back and scored two big goals in the 3rd. The first came from the stick of Mike Didulka who scored on a hard slap shop along the ice and then while short handed Jeff Garner neatly tipped in a nice feed from Justin Warkentin for the game winner. The team still had to earn their win by killing off a 5 on 3 power play before the final buzzer.

Scoring Summary:

Didulka G 1 (1) A 0
Garner G 1 (3) A 0
Warkentin G 0 A 1 (5)

Next Game: Tuesday, Jan 15 at 10:15pm against the Rexdallions

Known Scratches: Beausejour (I think there were a couple of more people that said they couldn't make it, but I can't remember)

Let me know if you can't make it.

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