Photo by Angie Marie
In front of a capacity crowd of 8,000 at the Lucas County Arena, the Toledo Walleye took the ice to play in their first-ever regular season game tonight. Facing the Florida Everblades, the Walleye however lost the first game of the three-game series 2-1.
Fans were given plenty of entertainment before the players even took to the ice, with the ceremonial puck drop featuring notable members of the community, team and league who helped make the team possible as well as Jeremy Garrett who won the Walleye Fan Firsts contest.
Following an introduction of the the Everblades players, which was met with constant cheers of "who cares?" the lights went down and fans were treated to a video introduction to Toledo hockey, showing stars of the past and present.
The taking the ice for the first time as a full member of the inaugural roster, the Toledo Walleye players were announced, skating onto the ice in front of an impressive pyrotechnics display.
The pre-game festivities were capped off with the singing of the national anthem by local jazz singer Ramona Collins. Carrying on a tradition that dates back to the old Toledo Storm days, fans erupted with "hit somebody!" just before the final line.
Just around 7:15 p.m. the puck was dropped and the inaugural game began. Following a nice Walleye shot that hit the post just 20 seconds into the game, Toledo goaltender Alec Richards was tested early, making numerous exceptional saves. Toledo tried to convert moments later on their own power play, but despite some great efforts, they failed to connect. Florida got on the board first, with defenseman Scott Hotham scoring on the power play.
The second period was relatively quiet and despite two power-play chances, the Walleye recorded just two shots. The third period however was another story, seeing a second Florida goal at 2:38 as Jacob Micflikier connected on a pass from Rob Hennigar to put the Everblades up 2-0
Photo by Angie Marie
Following a minor penalty to Florida's Matt Duffy for tripping, the first regular season Walleye goal was scored, sending fans to their feet in excitement. Maxime Tanguay, brother of NHL star Alex Tanguay, lit the lamp for Toledo, with Adam Hobson and Brock Wilson getting the helpers. The goal prompted a small school of large fish, presumably walleye, to be thrown to the ice in celebration.
The Walleye nearly tied it up moments later as Justin Hodgman caught Florida on a change for a breakaway scoring chance. In the end, Florida was victorious, winning the game 2-1.
After the game, Walleye head coach Nick Vitucci described his team as a bit cautious in the first period, but he was happy with their strong work ethic in the second and third. He praised both goaltenders, for keeping the scoring low, as well as the fans, who were loud and having a good time.
Comments
Those were indeed walleye thrown on the ice! And the throwers asked us pregame if they could get them back... so we kept them in a bucket full of Zamboni ice. I was the fishy swinger in the black shirt.
Couldn't make the game because of work. Watched it on BCSN and suprisingly the play-by-play and video coverage had a professional look and feel to it. A win would have been better, oh well we got two more games against a good Florida team.
Great write-up Angie that walleye guy was cracking me up when he showed us the fish he was preparing to throw out at their first goal. Wish I had gotten a picture of that one.
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