NITTY STOPS 44 IN LOSS

Copenhagen, Denmark-
After a twelve hour flight that took them from Calgary-to-Toronto-to-Copenhagen, the Thunder Bay Timberwolves arrived in Denmark late morning Tuesday for their game against the Crusaders the next day.

Still adjusting to the time change and long flight, the Timberwolves looked weary in the opening period of their game against the Crusaders.

Through ten minutes in the game, Thunder Bay's Josh Harding faced fourteen shots. Eventually Copenhagen would tally one after Chris Kelly crashed the net and the puck slid through Harding. More than the goal though was the health of the Timberwolves netminder. Harding appeared to take a knee to the head on the play and struggled to get up. After an assessment from the trainer, it was decided to bring in Antero Niittymaki to finish the game.

Thunder Bay was able to limit the shots allowed on Niittymaki to close out the third. The Finnish tender stopped all seven that he seen. Shots were 22-5 in favour of Copenhagen in the first period.

The second period seen the same onslaught of shots from the Crusaders. Through fifteen minutes, Niittymaki made twenty saves on twenty shots. Compared to Copenhagen's Marc Denis seeing five.

With thirty-six seconds left on Copenhagen rookie Patrick Kane's minor, Thunder Bay's own Patrick scored to tie things up. Sharp's eighth goal of the season came from rookies Sergei Kostitsyn and Matt Niskanen.

Niittymaki kept his club in the game through the second period. Eventually stopping all of Copenhagen's twenty-three shots. Compared to Thunder Bay's five.

In the third the Crusaders would put the Timberwolves away when Rostislav Olesz scored at 14:47.

Thunder Bay lost 2-1, were out shot 13-60 and lost one of their goalies for presumably the next two games due to injury.

"The second period was by far our best," said Timberwolves coach Craig Hartsburg. "Nitty kept us in it. Without solid goaltending tonight, this is a complete blowout. Our D did a nice job of clearing lanes and letting our goalies see the shots. But way too many shots and opportunities for Copenhagen. The neutral zone is where we're getting killed. We're letting them skate through that zone unabated and no one is stepping up on the blueline to make them work. We were tired and looked tired. But that's no excuse. It's my job as the coach to prepare our players mentally for the game. It's their jobs physically to get it done. We have to start taking it to our opponents to be successful. I'm confident we can."

Thunder Bay's next game is Saturday at home against the Lahr Lynchjustiz. Antero Niittymaki will likely get the start as Josh Harding will be unavailable due to his injury. It's unknown whether the Timberwolves will call-up Karri Ramo from Duluth or try and pick up a "loaner" until Harding returns.

"It's a long season," said GM Blake Wendt. "If Harding was hurt for a long time, then we'd probably look around and let Ramo develop in Duluth. The problem is that no matter if we send him back down. Which we will when Harding returns. Is that he counts against our roster limits. Not a big deal since we have room right now. But if the injury bug hits us hard and we have to go out and bring in loaner-type players. Then we have to cut guys with guaranteed contracts. Every team deals with this throughout the season though."

In other news, Thunder Bay signed free-agent forward, B.J. Crombeen to a two-year, $550,000 contract. The 6'-2", 200 pound twenty-three year old, Denver native was immediately assigned to Duluth.

"Crombeen brings alot to the table that we like," said Wendt. "He's hard nosed, tough and skates very well. He's raw in alot of areas, but he's young and coachable."

Crombeen spent four years in the OHL with the Barrie Colts. He was teammates with Bryan Little there and will be again in Duluth.

3 STARS
#1 Rostislav Olesz (COP) - Game-winning goal
#2 Antero Niittymaki (THU) - 44 saves in a relief loss
#3 Patrick Sharp (THU) - Game-tying goal in second