Decimated by injuries and all but eliminated from the playoffs, Springfield and its reinforcements aim to please the home fans this weekend.
Cam Atkinson returns to Springfield ice this weekend.SPRINGFIELD – No practice for the Springfield Falcons on Tuesday, but some players dropped by the rink anyway.
One of them, promising winger Matt Calvert, chatted with coach Rob Riley, then headed out of the MassMutual Center on his way to lunch.
He hobbled as he left the building, his right foot encased in a special boot designed to guard an ankle injury.
It was a scene that starkly depicted what has been going on with the Falcons, who fought the good fight down the stretch but simply ran into too many injuries. Too many shoulder surgeries, too many ankle problems, too many concussions, too many man-games lost.
“That’s not an excuse. That’s a fact,” said Bruce Landon, the team’s president/general manager.
The Falcons get back to work Wednesday, prepping for their final weekend of this American Hockey League season. They’ll play at home to Adirondack on Friday and to St. John’s on Saturday. That will be it.
Two really hard-to-take losses – at Bridgeport last Wednesday and at St. John’s last Sunday – just about cooked their playoff chances.
They entered this final week knowing that one more point accumulated by either Manchester or Portland would knock them out of any shot at the eighth and final playoff spot.
“The team really has played well, with a lot of effort, and now we’ll try to finish strong before the home fans,” Riley said.
For a change, Riley will have all kinds of manpower at his disposal. In addition to newly signed defenseman Will Weber of Miami University, the Falcons are getting firepower from their parent Columbus Blue Jackets now that their NHL season is over.
Returning for the weekend are Cam Atkinson, a 29-goal scorer before his callup to the NHL; wingers Maksim Mayorov and Ryan Russell; and defenseman Dalton Prout.
ICE CHIPS: Atkinson posters will be available at Saturday’s game, honoring him for making the Eastern Conference team that played in the midseason All-Star Classic in Atlantic City, N.J. ... The Falcons were hurt by penalties in their Sunday loss at St. John’s. Over the weekend, they allowed four power-play goals. This problem could be partially attributed to the absence of Calvert, Russell and Mayorov, whose speed made them outstanding penalty killers ... Riley went with Paul Dainton in goal last weekend because of an injury to veteran Manny Legace, who had played the four previous games. “Like he always does, Paul stepped in at the last minute and did an outstanding job,” Riley said.
Garry Brown can be reached at geeman1918@yahoo.com