RowdyFan42 Posted November 2, 2005 Share Posted November 2, 2005 River Rats goalie getting on the job training By: Chris Fitz Gerald, The Record 11/02/2005 DELMAR - Frank Doyle is enjoying his playing time. He has no choice. He's the Albany River Rats best option at goalie. Doyle played both games in goal this past weekend for the Rats because Ari Ahonen was called up to New Jersey when the Devils' all-star goalie Martin Brodeur sprained his right knee. Barring any player movement, Doyle will be in goal when Albany plays host to Springfield at 7 tonight at Pepsi Arena. "I'm definitely excited, obviously you want to play," said Doyle, who made 37 saves and was honored as first star in Albany's 3-2 victory over Norfolk on Saturday. "I was really excited to get both games this past weekend. I'm just trying to go in and get the win for the team." Doyle is no stranger to Albany. Two years ago he competed for the University of Maine in college, starting 23 games his final year with the Black Bears, when they competed in the NCAA East Regional at Pepsi Arena. Last year, in his first pro campaign, Doyle appeared in an ECHL-leading 52 games for Idaho. After he was signed as a free agent by New Jersey this past summer, Doyle's seen his share of action with the River Rats. He owns a 2-2 record after four starts. Doyle's experience in the ECHL last season, which included a league-high 32 victories, was invaluable. "That was great," the 25-year-old Doyle said. "Coming out of college I had played 20 or 23 games each year. And with the NHL not going, I kind of figured it might be tough to play a lot. I was just fortunate to get in a great situation." "It's a great opportunity for him, but it's been a great opportunity right since the onset of training camp," Albany coach Robbie Ftorek said. With the status of Brodeur's return uncertain, Doyle remains as Albany's top option in goal for now. Ahonen will continue to serve as the Devils No. 2 goalie behind Scott Clemmensen until Brodeur returns. Brodeur told the media he will not rush his return, making sure he is 100 percent before returning to the Devils. "I don't worry about that," Ftorek said. "(Ahonen's) not here until I see the whites of his eyes." Ftorek didn't say much when he made Doyle the starter for both games last weekend. "I didn't say a word, I said 'you're playing,'" Ftorek said. "Everybody knows what their jobs are and he played very well for us." Doyle stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced in Friday's 3-1 loss to Norfolk. "He played very well in both games," Ftorek said. "We probably didn't play as well as we should have. In the first game for sure, we gave up a lot of shots. ... He battled and played very, very well, he stopped a breakaway on a power-play situation, which was a huge save at the end of the second period." To an extent, Doyle is a work in progress while he continues to hone his game with Albany goalie coach Chris Terreri. He also spent time working with Devils assistant Jacques Caron in training camp. "He's changed his game, which is not the easiest thing to do and have success - but he's doing it," Ftorek said. "He's very much a student of the game." "It was kind of a shock when you have to try something new especially when you've played for so long," Doyle said. "But the one good thing about this position, is you can always learn something new and there's always a better way to do it." "I'm just trying to narrow my stance so I can get quicker," Doyle said. "That's maybe been the biggest adjustment - everything this year is a lot quicker and you've got to get quicker and faster." Doyle appeared in one period with Utah of the AHL last year before he got the call from New Jersey over the summer. "They just called me and I was in contact with them last year," Doyle said. I ended up signing with Utah and they must have seen me play somewhere and liked what they saw and they gave me a chance here. "I'm just really excited to come here and help after going through an NHL (training) camp, it was the first time I had ever been through something like that before." David Cacciola, who played the past three seasons with Providence College, has been backing up Doyle since Friday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satans Hockey Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 I didn't like Doyle in the 2 pre-season games and 1 regular season game I saw him play in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mddevsfan Posted November 4, 2005 Share Posted November 4, 2005 I didn't like Doyle in the 2 pre-season games and 1 regular season game I saw him play in. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Any reason that stood out to explain why you didn't like him? I haven't gotten to see him, but his numbers look pretty good so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Doyle was pretty good in tonight's game against Hartford. However, Al Montoya was the friggin' man (46 saves, #1 star of the game), leading the Pack to a 2-1 victory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satans Hockey Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Any reason that stood out to explain why you didn't like him? I haven't gotten to see him, but his numbers look pretty good so far. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> He was letting in a lot of bad angle goals and he just didn't look like he knew what he was doing. It was only 3 games and this year im not going to get to see the Rats as much since they don't play in the same division as the Phantoms and Sound Tigers anyway. Im sure hes going to get better with more experience but he just gave me a bad first impression but im hoping he can change my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Doyle was pretty good in tonight's game against Hartford. However, Al Montoya was the friggin' man (46 saves, #1 star of the game), leading the Pack to a 2-1 victory. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Did you go? Al has been standing on his head this season. It appears the Pack don't play any D and it's not like they don't have prospects. Baranka and Pock play there as does Taylor and Liffiton. Last week Montoya stopped over 50 in a win. I am very pleased with his progress. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Yeah, I went last night... and to be honest, I'm surprised the Rats pulled off 47 shots. Montoya was indeed very sharp, but the Rats played so sloppily that I'm convinced their shot total was a mistake. I almost stopped Fidgetess on the way out to ask whether it was for real. As I said, the Rats were quite sloppy. I want to blame it on bad ice, but the Pack didn't seem to have the problems with bouncing pucks and falling everywhere that the Rats did. I want to say Hartford's defense was stellar, but how do you give props to a defensive corps that gives up 47 shots? At times the Rats were trying way too hard and getting too fancy, and at other times they looked like someone had put vodka in their water bottles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidgetess Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 Unfortunately, that was for real The score was a lot closer than the game actually was. We looked absolutely horrible against Hartford. We didn't exactly look stellar against Springfield either. I'm hoping this isn't the start of a slide like last year. A lot of our skilled/speed guys were scratched last night. Ftorek definitely went for the muscle instead. Suglobov, Vrana, Foster, even Janssen were all out. If Ftorek thought we could outmuscle these guys to a win, he was sadly mistaken. Montoya was a wall last night. He was just gobbling up everything, leaving very few rebounds which were out of the reach of our guys. But I hate blaming a loss on a great opposing goalie. Seems like such a cop out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidgetess Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I want to blame it on bad ice, but the Pack didn't seem to have the problems with bouncing pucks and falling everywhere that the Rats did. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Actually, the ice is pretty crappy. They had moto-cross in the arena on Monday and they must have melted then redid the ice and not did a good job. There's one obvious spot right in front of me, just inside the blue line on the visitor's bench, but on the penalty box side. I saw 2 or 3 players (from both teams) fall there on Wednesday, and 2 or 3 fell right there last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RowdyFan42 Posted November 5, 2005 Author Share Posted November 5, 2005 Actually, the ice is pretty crappy. They had moto-cross in the arena on Monday and they must have melted then redid the ice and not did a good job. There's one obvious spot right in front of me, just inside the blue line on the visitor's bench, but on the penalty box side. I saw 2 or 3 players (from both teams) fall there on Wednesday, and 2 or 3 fell right there last night. They even had to delay the start of the second period while they worked on that area. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fidgetess Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 They even had to delay the start of the second period while they worked on that area. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I think that was because the zamboni took out part of the yellow dasher right there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voros19 Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 I think Suglobov might have been hurt. Saw him on the concourse and he seemed to have a noticable limp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Voros19 Posted November 5, 2005 Share Posted November 5, 2005 (edited) Double Post, sorry. Edited November 5, 2005 by Voros19 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek21 Posted November 6, 2005 Share Posted November 6, 2005 Thanks for the summary Rowdy and Fidgetess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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