IceGators Beat Fayetteville for Weekend Sweep
November 8, 2014 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, La.--The Louisiana IceGators seem to have the number of the Fayetteville FireAntz.
The IceGators have played the FireAntz four times in this young season and have beaten the FireAntz four times, including Saturday night's 5-2 victory in the Cajundome.
Four IceGators earned their first goals of the season in the victory. Goalie Andrew De Fillipo stopped 24 of 26 shots to pick up his second consecutive win.
The IceGators (4-2-0) hit the road Tuesday to take on the first-place Pensacola IceFlyers (4-0-0). Game time is set for 7:05 p.m.
"I thought we played 50 solid, solid minutes," said IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli. "We had a few lapses, including four minutes in the first in which Fayetteville scored twice, but we came back. We brought it to them in the second and in the third. We had a lot of Grade-A scoring opportunities, and I feel we executed well on those chances."
And execute the IceGators did.
Luke Kasteel gave the IceGators an early advantage by taking a Benjamin Rubin cross-ice pass and scoring on Fayetteville goalie Dustin Carlson's blind side at the 12:14 mark of the first period.
Fayetteville briefly took a 2-1 lead in the period. Trever Hertz tied the game on a power play at the 16:43 mark. John Clewlow scored after his shot deflected off an IceGator into the goal at the 18:24 mark. Kevin Smith and Derek Elliott assisted on the play.
Brett Peppler tied the game with one minute left in the frame with a two-time deke to beat Carlson. Chris Wilson and Greg Brown assisted on the play.
The IceGators dominated the rest of the game.
Mike MacIntyre scored the only goal of the second period on a power play at the 11:31 mark. Shawn McNeil rebounded an Adam Stuart shot and passed it to MacIntyre, who scored on Carlson's blind side.
Rubin got in on the scoring 35 seconds into the third period. Rubin rebounded a McNeil shot and put the puck in the net. McNeil and MacIntyre received credit for an assist on the play.
Tanner Burton added one final insurance goal six minutes into the third after skating into the play from behind and shooting on a drop pass from Adam Stuart.
In addition to going two-for-two on power plays, the IceGators went five-for-six on penalty kills. Omicioli attributes this newfound special teams success, as well as the recent win streak, to his players finally meshing.
"What we saw tonight were the new and young guys starting to click with the veterans and the returning players," Omicioli said. "There was a comfort level that you could see on and off the ice, and we need that to be successful. They all have a great level of respect for each other."
Omicioli knows his team will be facing its toughest opponent to date on Tuesday, but he says tonight's game lays the blueprint for the upcoming contest.
"If we play physical and aggressive hockey--the kind of hockey we played tonight--we'll take two points on Tuesday night," Omicioli said. "We know their style, and we're going to come at them and be aggressive. If we sit back and watch the puck, we'll lose.
"We have to play with control and execute our systems to a tee. We did that for a majority of this weekend, but we'll have to do it for a full 60 minutes against Pensacola."
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- IceGators Beat Fayetteville for Weekend Sweep - Louisiana IceGators
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