Augusta Lynx Weekly

December 10, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Augusta Lynx News Release


Augusta, GA - The Augusta Lynx kept pace in the South Division this past week by winning two out of their three games, staying in a 3rd place tie with Florida in the South Division. The Lynx had another terrific Tuesday as they defeated the Johnstown Chiefs 8-2. The Lynx were paced by three points each from #12 Ryan Dingle, #19 Aaron Slattengren and #23 John Laliberte. The Lynx have scored 17 goals in their last two games on a Tuesday. Friday, the Lynx perfect home record encountered its first snag as a stingy South Carolina defense shut down Augusta in a 4-1 loss. Slattengren scored his ECHL-leading 18th goal of the season in the only loss at home to date for the Lynx. Saturday, the Lynx got back to their winning ways posting a 3-0 win over the visiting Mississippi SeaWolves. In just his third professional start, #30 Bobby Goepfert stopped 26 shots for his first pro shutout and #20 Matt Auffrey chipped in with two goals.

THREE GAMES THIS WEEK:

Tuesday, December 11 @ Gwinnett Gladiators, 7:05pm (The Arena at Gwinnett Center)

Friday, December 14 vs. Charlotte Checkers, 7:35pm (James Brown Arena)

Saturday, December 15 vs. Gwinnett Gladiators, 7:05pm (James Brown Arena)

LYNX ECLIPSE LAST YEAR'S TEDDY BEAR MARK: When Matt Auffrey scored the first goal of the night this past Saturday, Lynx fans obliged with a flurry of teddy bears and stuffed animals being thrown onto the ice. In all, the Lynx collected 469 teddy bears and stuffed animals which eclipsed last year's mark of 376. Thank you Lynx fans!

SO WHO RECEIVES ALL THOSE TEDDY BEARS? Lynx mascot Louie the Lynx and the Augusta Lynx players will be visiting the children spending the holidays at MCG Children's Medical Center on Wednesday, December 12th at 1:00pm, and at Doctors Hospital at 1:00pm on Thursday, December 13th to deliver Teddy Bears. The Teddy Bear delivery has become a holiday tradition for the Augusta Lynx.

CHRISTIE, DINGLE CALLED UP; MAKE IMMEDIATE IMPACT: This past Friday night, Augusta Lynx Head Coach Bob Ferguson has announced that the Portland Pirates recalled rookie forwards Matt Christie and Ryan Dingle. Christie and Dingle were the top two rookie scorers so far for the Lynx this season. Their impact in Portland was immediately felt in their games this weekend for the Pirates. On Saturday, the Pirates beat the Providence Bruins 5-4 led by Christie's two goals and first star honors. On Sunday, Dingle scored his first AHL goal as the Pirates won again 3-2 over Bridgeport. Christie had an assist on Dingle's goal and Dingle was named the 2nd star of the game.

FREE MOVIES FOR A YEAR! The Lynx would like to congratulate season ticket holder John Mabery. On Saturday night, he was drawn as the winner of the second Lynx season ticket holder year-long prize giveaway. John and his family received FREE movie passes for a year courtesy of Regal Cinemas. Congratulations John!

LYNX ANNOUNCE DIRECTOR OF GAME PRESENTATION: Augusta Lynx General Manager Dan Troutman announced that the Lynx have hired James Warbington as the Director of Game Presentation effective immediately. Warbington, a Georgia native, was the Director of Game Operations for the Lynx until this summer when he accepted a similar position with the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League. "We are very pleased to have James back with the Lynx," said Troutman. "When he left us this past summer, we had some big shoes to fill. Our current staff has done a good job, and James return will enable us to further enhance our fans experience during the game." Warbington's duties while with the Lynx last season primarily consisted of directing and producing all the Lynx home games including: game script, commercials for television and radio, video board spots, music, interviews, video production, on-ice promotions, and game day technical set-up and tear down.

RADIO HOUR RETURNS DECEMBER 10th: The Augusta Lynx Radio Hour returns to the air on Monday, December 10th from 7:00-8:00pm at Indigo Joe's (3730 Wheeler Rd.) in Augusta. Join the Voice of the Lynx, Alex "Cheeks" Kyrias for the weekly show that discusses all that related to the Augusta Lynx broadcast LIVE on 1630AM WRDW. This week's guests are Head Coach Bob Ferguson, Lynx General Manager Dan Troutman, and Lynx players #6 Will Bodine and #30 Bobby Goepfert.

BROADCAST INFO: The next broadcast of Augusta Lynx hockey is Tuesday, December 11th as the Lynx travel to Gwinnett for a mid-week game against the Gladiators. The Lynx and the Gladiators have met only once so far this season, which came back on October 27th, which was a 2-1 loss for the Lynx in Gwinnett. The game can be heard live on Newstalksports 1630AM WRDW at 7:05pm. The Stone by Design pre-game show will begin at 6:50pm. Games can also be watched a listened to live on B2 Networks. For more information, visit www.augustalynx.com.

COMPARED TO LAST YEAR: After 23 games last season, the Lynx were 12-11-0-0. This season after 23 games, the Lynx are 13-8-0-2 and still own one of the best home records in the league. The Lynx won a franchise-record 39 games last season.

LYNX NOTES

The Lynx have only played this week's opponents once each this season.

Aaron Slattengren scored three more goals this week to lead the ECHL with 18, and is on a 4-game point streak.

Saturday's shutout marked this 2nd time this season the Lynx have shutout an opponent. It only happened twice all of last year.

Rookie Jeremy Schenderling returned from a 20-game absence due to an injury and scored in his return on Saturday night. He has three goals in three games played.

The week that was:

Tuesday, December 4, Johnstown Chiefs 2 @ Augusta Lynx 8

Another Tuesday, another resounding win for the Augusta Lynx. Led by three points each from #19 Aaron Slattengren, #23 John Laliberte, and #12 Ryan Dingle, the Lynx stayed perfect at home with a big 8-2 win over the visiting Johnstown Chiefs. The Lynx extended their season-high winning streak to four games in a row. The game started quickly for the Lynx and their leading scorer Slattengren got the first goal of the game as he pounded home a rebound drive from #5 Ken Scuderi with more help from #25 Adrian Veideman. Five minutes later #9 Louis Goulet got his 5th goal of the season, as he got a great give and go pass from Laliberte and Dingle to give the Lynx a 2-0 in a dominating 1st period that saw Augusta outshoot Johnstown, 22-3. The 2nd period was more Lynx as they increased their lead to 3-0 with Dingle's first of the night thanks to a nifty pass from behind the net from #20 Matt Auffrey and help from #11 Matt Christie. #18 Igor Pohanka made it 4-0 with an unassisted goal as he skated down the right wing and sniped a snap shot over the shoulder of Ryan Nie for his 2nd goal of the year. Slattengren's second goal of the game made it 5-0 Lynx with more help from his linemates, Laliberte and Goulet, and chaced Nie from the net in favor of Andrew Penner. The change worked for a bit for the Chiefs as back-to-back goals from Jean Desrochers and Ryan Garlock spoiled #35 JP Levasseur's shutout and brought the score to within 5-2. However, that would be as close as it would get as Dingle made it 6-2 with a snipe of his own that beat Penner clean to the glove side. The 3rd period saw the Lynx score two more goal. Laliberte made it 7-2 on the power play off a great tip from a shot from #27 Nick Toneys and another assist to Slattengren. #21 Bobby Bolt put a cap on the scoring as his centering pass from behind the net went off Penner and behind him for an 8-2 lead with an assist to #10 Jason Kostadine. For Slattengren, it was his 9th and 10th goals of the season on four Tuesday games.

Friday, December 7, South Carolina Stingrays 4 @ Augusta Lynx 1

The South Carolina Stingrays gave the Augusta Lynx their first loss of the season at home on Friday night handing them a 4-1 loss, also snapping the Lynx four-game winning streak. The Lynx spolied the shutout of Davis Parley with only 1:18 remaining in the game as #19 Aaron Slattengren scored his league-leading 18th goal of the season, but it was little consolation to the Lynx as they managed only 17 shots on goal. The Lynx began the game on the offensive with the first two shots, but a defensive turnover in the Lynx slot led to a 2 on 0 for the 'Rays and Marty Guerin made the Lynx pay, putting the back door pass above #35 JP Levasseur for a early 1-0 lead just 1:18 into the game. The 'Rays made it 2-0, as a Lynx turnover deep in the corner found the stick of Matt Reid. Reid walked in from the corner and squeezed one past Levasseur for an unassisted goal. Both teams were held scoreless in the 2nd period, but the Lynx failed to generate much offense with only three shots on goal. The 3rd period saw the Stingrays score twice more to make it 4-0. First, Steve Pinizzotto scored on a 2 on 1, then Reid got his second of the night with a backdoor pass. Slattengren's goal, was assisted by #9 Louis Goulet and #6 Will Bodine.

Saturday, December 8, Mississippi SeaWolves 0 @ Augusta Lynx 3

Led by the first pro shutout from goaltender #30 Bobby Goepfert, the Augusta Lynx got back to their winning ways at home with a 3-0 win over the visiting Mississippi SeaWolves on Saturday night. After a scoreless first period, which saw the Lynx outshoot the 'Wolves 13-4, the Lynx got on the scoreboard first with Auffrey's 9th goal of the season on the power play. Auffrey received a pass from behind the net from #18 Igor Pohanka and #15 Eric Lundberg and slid one by Mississippi goaltender Ryan Munce for the 1-0 lead as teddy bears and stuffed animals littered the ice on Teddy Bear Toss night. With a 1-0 lead in hand, Goepfert made the lead stand with 15 saves alone in the 2nd period. The Lynx took a 2-0 lead early in the 3rd period as Auffrey swooped in from the left wing and slid a shot underneath Munce for his second goal of the night and 10th of the season with assists to #2 Jason Platt and Goepfert. The Lynx put the nail in Mississippi's coffin with a late 3rd period goal from #17 Jeremy Schenderling, who returned after missing 20 games with an injury to score his 3rd goal of the year with help from #19 Aaron Slattengren and #9 Louis Goulet. The Lynx were without the services of three of their top five scorers on Saturday, but made up for it with some timely scoring by Auffrey and a great defensive effort led by Goepfert. In just his first three games as a pro Goepfert has allowed a total of two goals and has yet to lose a game.



ECHL Stories from December 10, 2007


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