Mary Schmitt Boyer Plain Dealer Reporter
The Barons flung top hats into the crowd at the start of the game, and by the end of the game, joyful fans were tipping those same hats to Hannes Hyvonen. The right wing from Finland scored a short-handed goal just 29 seconds into overtime to lift the Barons to a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Portland Pirates before a crowd of 5,566 last night in Gund Arena.
"You couldn't have written a better script," Barons coach Roy Sommer said as his team won its inaugural game.
Sommer coached this team, the AHL affiliate of the San Jose Sharks, in Kentucky last season, but when the IHL and the Lumberjacks went out of business, the Sharks, owned by George and Gordon Gund, decided to relocate to Cleveland. It was the first time the AHL played here since the original Barons left during the 1972-73 season, and the new Barons marked their return to Cleveland by skating onto the ice wearing formal jackets and top hats, just like the shark in their logo.
"It was fun," Hyvonen said of the start of the game.
But not nearly as much fun as the end. Hyvonen took the puck from behind his own net, skated the length of the ice, steered the puck between the legs of former Lumberjack Nick Naumenko and then between the legs of goalie Sebastien Charpentier. Hyvonen said he had scored overtime goals before in Finland.
"It's always been a dream of mine to play in America," he said. "When I got the puck our goalie was yelling Skate, skate,' so I skated as fast as I could. I got around the defenseman, then I saw the goalie's legs were open."
The finish made up for the fact that defenseman Rob Davison coughed up the puck in the Barons' zone, allowing Chris Ferraro to score an unassisted goal that tied the score at 5-5 at 16:19 of the third period.
The Barons opened the game by raising a banner commemorating the team's nine Calder Cup championships. Former Baron John Ferguson dropped the ceremonial first puck. Other former Barons seated in the crowd were saluted. They also honored the late Fred Glover, the former team's greatest player, who died late this summer, and Zoltan Batovsky, a 22-year-old up-and-comer who played in Kentucky last season and was killed in a car crash earlier this year.
There was a moment of silence for those lost in the terrorist attacks, including former AHL players Ace Bailey and Mark Bavis. Cleveland police and fire fighters presented the colors, while the Cleveland Symphony Brass Ensemble played the national anthem.
After the pregame ceremonies, the real festivities began when Dean Melanson scored to put the Pirates in front, 1-0, at 33 seconds. From that point on, the action never stopped.