Amarillo Bests Colorado, Win Fifth Straight

Published on December 19, 2005 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Amarillo Gorillas News Release


AMARILLO, TX - Already having won four consecutive games, the Gorillas welcomed the Central Hockey League defending champion Colorado Eagles to town for the first of six regular season match-ups between the two squads. They had last battled twice during this past pre-season, both games going to the Eagles at the Budweiser Events Center. This time around, the Eagles were greeted by a very different Gorillas team.

Amarillo, well rested after a 3-2 exciting home win over Odessa, dethroned a weary and somewhat short-handed Colorado 2-1 at The Jungle on Saturday night in front of a 3,914-person crowd.

The Eagles were coming off a 1-0 home win over Youngstown the prior evening and were playing without forwards Ed McGrane, Nick Parillo, Lee Arnold and Chris Hartsburg. McGrane and Parillo are on the 45-day Injured Reserve while the latter two are day-to-day, reducing Colorado's line-up to 13 skaters. Still, the Eagles entered the game with the CHL's best record at 18-5-1 and had won eight straight road contests.

Phenomenal goaltending and defensive play were the stories of the game on a night that the Gorillas were on live television for their first ever occasion, courtesy of UPN Amarillo. Shawn Degagne, riding a personal four-game winning streak, blocked 34 shots for the Gorillas while Jeff Blair, riding an impressive five-game winning streak of his own, knocked aside 45 would-be goals for the Eagles. Amarillo out-shot Colorado a season-best 47-35.

The Gorillas kicked off the scoring late in the first period when Rich Hansen, on the man-advantage, put the puck behind Blair front just in front of the goalie's crease. The goal was the rookie's sixth of the year and 17th point. The winger is riding a six-game points streak, totaling nine points. Captains Mark DeSantis and Derek Hahn picked up the helpers, DeSantis' 13th and Hahn's team-leading 20th. The center, also riding a six-game points streak for a total of 16, has 37 points overall.

Amarillo extended its lead to 2-0 early in the second frame when Keith Rowe took a pair of great passes from Dave Rattray and Bryan Lachapelle to poke home his fifth goal of the season. Rattray earned his fifth assist and Lachapelle took his fourth.

Just under six minutes later, while on the power play, the Eagles cut the deficit in half. Center Mark Desrosiers fisted the puck toward Degagne, who initially stopped the biscuit before it crept between the goalie's legs for the score. The goal was Desrosiers' eighth of the year and made the score 2-1 Amarillo. Sean Robertson earned his 11th assist and it was the seventh for Aaron Grosul.

The final period was quick-moving, featuring only a pair of minors, and did not produce any goals. On the whole, the game marked the first time this season that the Gorillas out-shot an opponent in every period, with advantages of 17-12, 17-14 and 13-9.

Each team was 1-for-6 on the power play with 21 penalty minutes and Amarillo is now 34-of-its-last-37 on the penalty kill. The lone fight came during the middle period between the Gorillas' Jason Chafe and Fraser Filipic of the Eagles, also a relatively even draw.

Degagne earned his fifth straight win to improve to 8-5-1 while lowering his goals-against-average to 3.11. Blair, in net for Paulo Colaiacovo who had the night off, had his winning streak snapped at five and is now 5-3-1. Still, Blair earned the game's third star with his 45 saves, Rowe picked up the second star with his first career game-winning goal and Degagne was the top star of the contest with 34 saves on the night before his 27th birthday.

The Gorillas host the Corpus Christi Rayz on Tuesday for the second of three match-ups between the two teams during the 2005-2006 regular season. Amarillo Gorillas Hockey Presented by NewsChannel 10 will be broadcast on 1440 AM The Score with Gorillas Pre-Game set to begin at 6:45 pm. The game will also be available at www.amarillogorillas.com and on CHLTV (www.chltv.com).

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Central Hockey League Stories from December 19, 2005


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