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Home  Articles 98/99 Season Road-weary Edmonton heading home
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Road-weary Edmonton heading home |
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Written by Joanne Ireland
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Sunday, 14 February 1999 |
BLAST 11
DRILLERS 10 (OT)
*
Sick and tired and down an overtime decision, the Edmonton Drillers will pack a 16-10 record for the trip back to Edmonton.
The Drillers ended their five-game road swing in Maryland Saturday, losing 11-10 to the Baltimore Blast.
"We really need to get home and get some rest,'' coach Ross Ongaro said.
Three of the 10 losses were recorded on this road swing, a trying trip punctuated by a flu bug that battered the lineup.
Aldredo Valente, Nikola Vignejvic and Ongaro were all down during the week.
Saturday the list was even longer but the players gutted it out.
Even Martin Dugas, the Drillers' ironman who had been hospitalized with a severe bout of food poisoning, was back in the lineup.
Dugas was sidelined for Thursday's victory over Florida -- the first time he had not suited up for a game since the team entered the National Professional Soccer League.
But in the end, grit wasn't enough.
"We just didn't finish our chances and I didn't think we created enough,'' Ongaro said.
With goals from Valente and Domenic Mobilio, the Drillers took a 4-2 lead into the locker room at halftime.
Mobilio and Vignejvic chipped in another two to lift Edmonton to an 8-4 lead.
But it was then that Baltimore blasted back, scoring three unanswered two-pointers for a 10-8 advantage.
In the final frame, Todd Rattee evened the score and the two teams headed to sudden-death overtime.
Thirty-eight seconds in, Chris Handsor was flagged for tripping and Baltimore ended the game on a one-point shootout goal.
"You don't expect that kind of call in overtime. Not when those kind of tackles were happening throughout the game,'' said Ongaro.
"But that's part it, that's the way the game goes."
Next up on the schedule are back-to-back home games against the Buffalo Blizzard. The series opens Feb. 23 at Skyreach Centre with the second Feb. 25.
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