The Wrap: Snickas vs. HSBC Banks

November 7th, 2006
Snickas lose a wild one, 6-5 to HSBC Bank.

Tonight's game wrap is going to be in two parts; one will be a regular game recap and the second part will be a sit interview with Snickas goalie Kirk Burgess.

Through two periods the game mirrored Snickas season. They held the lead 3-2, scoring two shorthanded goals and kept HSBC in the game with defensive mistakes and weak goaltending. After about a minute into the third period the game came undone. Snickas found themselves in penalty trouble and HSBC were able to tie the game on a two man advantage. With the score now tied at 3-3, Craig Morton took a penalty for seemingly playing too hard. Snickas goalie Kirk Burgess shouted out his frustrations and after a brief exchange with the referee the Snickas goalie was ejected from the game. There was over 9 and half minutes to go and Snickas found themselves down two men and now without a goalie.
The Squadron rallied together and with less than a minute to go found themselves now tied at 5-5. With less than 10 seconds to go HSBC dumped the puck in the Snickas end and one of the Snickas players knocked the net off. The referee, in one of the most bizarre moments this reporters has ever seen, singled for a Penalty Shot. A PENALTY SHOT with NO GOALIE! Snickas players went mental! The ice became littered with sticks and the language was straight out of the gutter. The referee's decided to award the goal automatically and end the game right there.

In all my years covering hockey I've never seen a game quite like this one. Snickas must now wait for the official League report and face the possibility of seeing 3 of their players suspend; Goalie Kirk Burgess and forwards Dave Pearson and David Mammoliti.

Even though there is no 3 stars selection because of the loss a special shout out must go to Craig Morton, who busted his hump all night and scored two absolute beauties. Craig's form took a bit of a dip last season but the talented centre has certainly broken out of his funk this year.

Snickas return to the ice next week against the Brampton Sharks, puck drop is 11:15pm

Special Snickas Interview with Goalie Kirk Burgess.
Snickas Weekly - First lets talk about tonight, obviously we hoped to be doing this interview after a Snickas win but what happened out there?
Kirk Burgess - It should've been a win and I really let the team down. We're struggling for points right now and this should've been an easy two. I'm not going to lie or hide and I know I deserved a penalty but to be ran from the game was a bit ridiculous.

SW - Can you tell us what was said?
KB - Yeah, I shouted out that it was a bullshit call. It was, Craigy was just battling, neither player was giving in, it was totally 50-50. We'd just finished being two men down and with that call we were down two again. I had nothing to lose so I shouted out my feelings. The ref then challenged me to say another word, which I didn't and then he got cocky and responded with "That's what I thought" and I responded by telling him how f-ing tough he was. Next thing I know I'm tossed and like I said I probably cost us the game.

SW - Snickas seem to be having a lot of penalty trouble this year, how much of it is you and how much of it is the officiating?
KB - I'd say it's a bit of both. Tonight was the first game though where most of the calls went against us.

SW - What did you think when they award the Penalty Shot?
KB - Totally laughable. After they kicked me out I sat in the stands right beside HSBC's bench and when that happened I was joking with the other Goalie that he should take it.

SW - Enough about tonight, how do rate Snickas this season?
KB - That's tough because I don't think any of us players feel we've played a complete game yet. We had solid periods but that's about it. We get good offence, then good defense but not normally at the same time. Its been a bit frustrating and my play as been so wacky this year. I'm really fighting the puck and as you saw on that second goal tonight I was really out to lunch. If I do get suspended it will give me a chance to rest up some wounds and hopefully start fresh when they let me back out there.

SW - You guys have won two League Championships, how important is the regular season to a veteran loaded team like Snickas?
KB - Oh extremely, like you said we've got those two championships but the one thing we don't have is a Super Series Crown. We've played in the tournament twice, but have come up empty. You don't get in the Super Series unless you finish first in the regular season so it means a lot to us.

SW - I hate to bring this up but the Milton Chiefs won again tonight, so coupled with your loss the gap between you two is now 5 points.
KB - They're a tough bunch, the don't lose that many. We've been battling them for 4 years now, 5 points doesn't sound like a lot but you look at it and we're already a third of the way through the schedule and it will be tough to make up ground. We just have to win our games against them and hope for the best. Hockey in April in the best because you know you've earned the right to be there and tournament hockey is like no other.

SW - Lets move onto some personally stuff before we let you get out of here. Talk about the new baby and talk about that hair.
KB - Oh Hannah is great, she's just the most amazing thing ever. We just celebrated her 1st birthday and she had a blast. She's walking now and is a total handful but a great handful. The hair is just me being me, I took four months off work to stay at home with the baby and thought 'I've never had long hair, maybe I'll grow mine out' I've kinda gotten used to it but I said after last week that I'd cut it if we lose 2, so guess it'll be gone by next week.

SW - Thanks a lot Kirk for sitting down with us after a tough game like that and I know a win would've been better but we got you little Gift Card to Alice Fazooli's. Hope you and the family can enjoy that.
KB - Thanks for having me, and I just wanted to say to the fans that don't give up on us, we'll turn this around in no time.

Thanks to Kirk Burgess for taking the time and speaking with us after a tough game and thanks to Alice Fazooli's for providing a nice little Gift to all the Snicka players who will be joining us for One on One's this year.See you all next week.