Jacks

The conversation in the training room after the Skipjacks' practice on Wednesday afternoon was a strange sight to behold.There sat defenseman Rob Mendel, neatly dressed in street clothes, smiling as usual, sharing a laugh with left wing Bobby Reynolds, who was wrapped in a towel drenched with sweat.It almost forced a double take."Kind of funny, huh?" Reynolds said. "Seeing us here together was probably the last thing you expected."Sure enough.For the uninitiated, Mendel and Reynolds were traded for each other a month ago today, just minutes before the NHL's trading deadline.

Nothing ever seems to change with the Hershey Bears.Ever the tough guys, the Bears, even in exhibition play, once again found themselves in trouble with the officials last night in Hershey, Pa., against the Skipjacks.The Bears racked up 63 minutes of penalty time to the Jacks' 39, and allowed two power-play goals in a 5-4 loss to the Jacks last night before 1,508 at the Hersheypark Arena.For the Jacks, Reggie Savage continued his offensive assault with three assists on goals from Vic Gervais, John Purves and Todd Hlushko.

It was weekend of contradictions for the Skipjacks.At home, where coach Robbie Laird expects victories, the team dropped a pair of games to the Maine Mariners, 3-0 and 5-4.But last night, on the road in New Haven, Conn., the Jacks dominated play and salvaged the weekend with a 3-2 win over the Nighthawks."We got a win, and we're still in first place," said Laird, whose Jacks (4-3) are a point ahead of Hershey (3-5-1) in the Southern Division. "We'll take it."The Jacks fell behind last night, as they had in their previous two games, on the first of two goals by Stan Drulia at 14:30 of the first period.

The long road to opening night on Oct. 4 begins today for th Washington Capitals and the Skipjacks.The organization will christen the new Piney Orchard Ice Arena in Odenton with a grueling four-week training camp that includes 69 players -- 39 forwards, 23 defensemen and seven goalies.Plenty of questions remain for both teams.The Jacks, in particular, should see many new faces with Steve Maltais, Alfie Turcotte, Chris Felix, Thomas Sjogren, Tyler Larter, Kent Paynter, Rob Murray, Bob Joyce and Joel Quenneville all gone.

The Skipjacks didn't spare themselves any drama in a pair of season-opening weekend victories.Both Friday's home opener vs. Hershey and Saturday's game in Glens Falls, N.Y., against Adirondack, were decided in the third period. The Skipacks won Friday's game, 7-6, and Saturday's, 6-5.The Jacks fell behind in each game -- 2-1 against the Bears and 1-0 against the Red Wings -- but coach Robbie Laird said the deficits were no problem with the Jacks' new-found scoring punch."We're scoring a lot [13 goals in two games]

The Skipjacks finally ran into a team that could more than keep up with them on the offensive end while exploiting their porous defense.Last night in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Jacks proved once again that their offense is in fine form. But, again, the defense and goaltending did them in, allowing three goals to the Citadels in less than 3 1/2 minutes of the third period as the Jacks fell 7-5.As bad as Shawn Simpson's goaltending may appear -- he allowed all seven goals before being pulled for rookie Olaf Kolzig with 4:45 remaining -- it could have been worse.

It took some time -- almost 50 minutes -- but once the officials took control, the Hershey Bears and the Skipjacks actually played some hockey at the Baltimore Arena yesterday.The outcome, a sloppy 5-4 Hershey exhibition victory, seemed irrelevant compared to what might have been learned about the 1991-92 Jacks.It doesn't look like this is going to be a passive team.The hardest job yesterday belonged to Hershey trainer, Dan Stuck, who had to patch up three Bears for lacerations.But that might have been expected.

Most of the Skipjacks agreed that last night's performance against the Adirondack Red Wings at the Arena couldn't have been much worse.The final score was modest enough, 5-2, but for the 2,494 brave souls who witnessed the game, there was no disguising the truth. The Jacks, outclassed for 60 minutes, simply went through the motions."I think we start believing that we're better than we really are," said coach Robbie Laird, obviously disgusted. "I hope it was a learning experience. We can't think that because we win a couple of games that we're going to come out here and automatically get a win -- especially against a team of this caliber."

The Skipjacks played well this weekend in Binghamton but just not well enough.Except for a disastrous first period in Friday's first game of the AHL Southern Division playoff series with the Rangers, the Jacks held their own and even outplayed their opponents.But as in any hockey playoff series, a hot goalie means the difference.Goalie Mark LaForest stopped all 41 shots in Saturday's 2-0 win for the Rangers, setting the Jacks back 2-0 in the series. The Rangers won Friday's opener 5-4 at Broome County Arena.