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Aces Drop One To Fire Antz

January 29, 2005 - SPHL (SPHL)
Asheville Aces News Release


The Asheville Aces played a strong game and showed definite signs of improvement tonight, despite a 4-1 loss Friday night to the Fayetteville Fire Antz in front of 2,250 fans at the Civic Center. The Aces played a solid physical game but were once again, unable to find the twine more than once.

Mark Phenow opened the scoring six minutes into the game with a power play goal on Aces goalie Mark Scally (40 saves on 44 shots). Asheville defenseman Ryan Crowther was serving a questionable two-minute Kneeing penalty when Sean Edwards put a puck towards the Asheville net and Phenow managed to deflect it past Scally. The goal against did not sink the Aces, however, as they played hard throughout the remainder of the first.

In the second, Asheville played probably one of their strongest periods of hockey in a long time, dominating the Fire Antz physically along the boards and through the neutral zone. A quick 2-on-1 goal by Sean Edwards made it 2-0 but the Aces battled hard making several big hits that gave the fans something to cheer about as did Brett Roat's goal at the 11:29 mark of the period. A strong drive down the right wing by Joel Petkoff and a drop-pass to line mate Peter Bournazakis led to a shot on goal and a short rebound with Roat on the doorstep to bang it past Fire Antz goalie Chad Collins (25 saves on 26 shots).

With the Aces heading into the third with a power play, things looked very positive. Unfortunately, some sloppy play on the power play resulted in a shorthanded chance for Fayetteville's Tyler Perry who wasted no time in burying the puck past Scally to make it 3-1. That goal was clearly the backbreaker for Asheville as they could not muster any more offense against the Fire Antz. Perry added his second of the night with just over two minutes remaining in the game for the final score of 4-1.

The Aces look to rebound from tonight's loss with a win Saturday night against the Jacksonville Barracudas. Former Aces Chris Ferguson, Sergei Visegorodcevs and Andris Vegners make their return to the Civic Center for the first time since being traded. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m.

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