By BRUCE BERLET, Courant Staff Writer
There may be no crying in baseball, but there's plenty in hockey, especially in the playoffs.
Lowell coach Tom Rowe tossed the first salvo Thursday night, accusing Wolf Pack coach Ryan McGill of whining to referee Steve Kozari and getting an early edge in penalty calls.
Though the Pack did not convert until two Alexandre Giroux goals in the second and third periods, Rowe said the groundwork had been laid for a 5-2 loss in the opener of the Atlantic Division semifinals at the Civic Center.
As a playful jab at his coach and to add some fuel to Game 2 tonight, Pack captain Ken Gernander highlighted Rowe's complaint in The Courant and hung it on the team's locker room bulletin board Friday.
When asked about Rowe's remark, McGill said, "He can say what he wants."
Asked if he cared to elaborate, McGill said, "No. I was told many years ago by my dad that when you lose, say little and when you win, say less. So I'm saying less."
Rowe said he does not plan to imitate McGill's alleged actions.
"There will be no whining," Rowe said. "Not from our side anyway."
It was Rowe who received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for smashing Dustin Johner's stick on the boards, protesting because Ryan Hollweg's empty-net goal with 13.7 seconds left came after a two-line offside pass. Replays showed Rowe was right.
"It wasn't even close," he said. "[The playoffs] is an emotional time. What I feel bad about is breaking the kid's last stick."
Said McGill: "He's probably right, but officials are just like players. They make mistakes."
The coaches tried to focus on hockey in team meetings Friday.
McGill said his talk centered on momentum being a big part of the best-of-seven series.
"We have to make sure when we have a chance to keep momentum, we keep it," McGill said. "And when we have a chance to get momentum back, we try to do everything in our power to do it."
Rowe said he stressed cutting down on penalties, which led to the Pack being on the power play for 8:15 of the first period, including 5-on-3 for 2 minutes, 26 seconds.
"You can't give a team like that that many opportunities on the power play," Rowe said. "I know they had supposedly been struggling on the power play, but they've got too many skilled guys who can really throw it around and kill you. But we had a lot of young kids who I thought played real well for their first game and got the butterflies out so they should be better [tonight]."
Center Dominic Moore said the Pack's strategy is to be better in all areas.
"We're pretty well-rounded and know if we stick to our game plan that we're going to be successful," said Moore, who scored opening goal. "We had some good chances on the power play and debatably some goals got called back. It's a good sign that we stuck with it and eventually capitalized. We talk a lot about good habits, and we just have to stick with those."
Grenier In; Germyn Out
Pack defenseman Martin Grenier will return from a two-game suspension for his part in a melee in the Pack's 4-1 victory over Springfield April 16. He will replace Ivan Baranka, who made his AHL debut Thursday after signing an amateur tryout contract after Everett was eliminated from the WHL playoffs.
"Baranka did just fine," McGill said. "It's very hard for any kid coming out of juniors, no matter how good they are." ... Lowell right wing Carsen Germyn was suspended one game for a five-minute elbowing major on Joel Bouchard. "It's unfortunate, but a legitimate call," Rowe said.
