Wild start for Ratchuk in AHL
No way Michael Ratchuk thought his pro career would be this wild this soon. Just over a month ago, the defenseman from Buffalo was finishing his sophomore season at Michigan State. But he left school when the Spartans were eliminated a win shy of the Frozen Four and opted to sign with the Philadelphia Flyers, who drafted him in the second round in 2006. They sent him to the Philadelphia Phantoms of the AHL and Ratchuk was in the middle of history Thursday night/Friday morning
Ratchuk, whose first professional goal on April 14 against Albany was a classic (check out the video below), will never forget his first playoff point either. He got the key assist on the winning goal early Friday morning as Philadelphia outlasted Albany, 3-2, in a five-overtime classic that was the longest playoff game in AHL history. The Phantoms lead the series, three games to two.
Click here to get the radio call of Ratchuk's feed to Ryan Potulny for the game-winning goal at 2:58 of the fifth OT.
Check out the stat sheet: Philadelphia finished with 101 shots on goal, including 63 in the five overtimes. Albany goalie Michael Leighton made 98 saves and lost! The game took 5 hours, 38 minutes and ended at 12:39 this morning before just a few hundred folks in Albany's Times Union Center. Only three NHL playoff games have gone longer.
Here's Ratchuk's first goal I promised above. Lousy camera work. And how about the call: "a little shake and bake ... and the piece of chicken was in the back of the net?" Yikes.
---Mike Harrington
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Mike Ratchuck is SO much better than his brother Peter!
Posted by: pst 22 | April 25, 2008 at 11:51 AM