10/11/05 Medicine Hat, Alberta.  The Los Angeles Quakes fell to the Medicine Hat Monkey Time 9-3 in the season opener for both teams.  Medicine Hat City Centre was packed to the rafters with 12,375 screaming fans, a lot of them there to witness the return to the ice of Hall of Fame Quake defensemen Carl “Goose” Gosewich.  The fans got what they paid for as they witnessed their beloved Monkey Time score 9 goals, 4 in the third period, and saw Gosewich record two assists and make a couple of his patented end to end rushes.  Gosewich was a little shaky defensively but, overall, had a decent evening after taking two seasons off.

The Monkey Time were led by Pierre St. Pierre Gauthier who recorded a hat trick and chipped in with an assist.  The Monkey Time jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period and extended it to 5-2 after two.  The Quakes seemed to tire in the third as the Monkey Time continued their assault on the Quakes’ goal. The Monkey Time held the puck in the Quakes zone for 9:48 seconds of the first 10 minutes in the last period.  The tiring may have been caused by the long trip into Medicine Hat on Monday.  The Quakes charter flight developed engine problems and they were forced to land in Great Falls, Montana to have the problem corrected.  This turned out to be a 8 hour delay and the Quakes did not arrive in Medicine Hat until 4 AM, getting to their hotel at about 5 AM.  Coach Randy Carbone canceled the morning skate but the team did seem out of sorts throughout the game.  Coach Carbone, Ray Razo and young Jeff Allen scored for the Quakes.  The Quakes had a number of great scoring opportunities but were stopped by the brilliant play of Louis “Shorty” Glavan in Monkey Time net.  Glavan finished with 15 saves on 18 shots.  Veteran Quake keeper John Gornick was not nearly as sharp allowing 9 goals on 40 shots.  “A lot of those were quality shots from quality spots,” commented Gornick.  “I certainly wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be but that’s the way things go in this league some nights.  We’re a veteran team and I expect we’ll bounce back with no problem.  This night was really about Goose anyway.”

The Quakes, as a whole, did not seem to upset about the loss.  Even cantankerous coach Randy Carbone was in a pleasant state of mind after the game.  “It was great to have Goose back out there.  Sure we lost the game, but the travel was tough and we’ll need a couple of games to get used to Carl again,” said Carbone.  When pressed about his team’s lackluster play in the third period he only chuckled and quoted Donald Sutherland in Kelley’s Heros, there you go with the negative vibes”.  General Manager Bill Burden commented, “I’m sure the travel didn’t help us but we do need to be able to play through that.  I think some of the younger players were awestruck in front of the big crowd and in playing with Goose.  I don’t see this as a major setback, it’s only one game in a long season.  We’ll pack our bags and be ready to go next week in Alaska.”   The Quakes opening three game road trip continues next week in Fairbanks against their long time rival, the Klondike Kings.

Wide eyed youngster, Nick Wood, could only gush over being on the ice with Gosewich.  “It was awesome, I grew up watching him play and would dream about meeting him.  To be on the same team with Mr. Gosewich is unbelievable.  I would play as him with my video games.”  Veteran forward Bob Reefman said “It was a lot of fun to be back out there with Goose.  Once we get our positioning down we will be a force in this league.”  Jeff Sax added, “I don’t think any of us played great but we didn’t play horribly.  This team is going to be good, very, very good, by the end of the year.”  Razo chipped in, “We’ll be fine, one bad game is not going to bother a veteran team like this.”

            The media was 4 deep around Gosewich after the game.  The Monkey Time had 800 requests from media all around the world for the game.  Gosewich said, “I didn’t have my best night, you forget how fast the game is when you don’t play for awhile.  I did have a couple of great shifts and will build on that.”  The always gracious Gosewich added, “I want to thank each and every one of you for being here tonight.  You don’t know how much it means to me to be so well received on the road and by my teammates.  It’s going to be a great, great year.”

            The Quakes may have been in a relaxed mode because high strung CFO Larry Glascott was in West Hollywood attending a same sex marriage and team owner was in Kentucky thoroughbred country looking to invest in race horses.  As he was leaving the locker room, Carbone, with a twinkle in his eye, said, “We’ll win next week, I guarantee it.”