Barracudas Take Game One of "Battle of Florida"
November 3, 2006 - SPHL (SPHL)
Florida Seals News Release
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - No two teams in the SPHL hate each other any more than the Florida Seals and the Jacksonville Barracudas.
The Barracudas rode a three goal first period, two goals by Patrick Doherty and the goaltending of Darcy Munro to a 6-4 victory over the host Seals at the Silver Spurs Arena Friday night.
"Winning's pretty good," Barracudas Head Coach Rick Allain said about his team's first win of the season. "We had some pretty good fore checking all night."
Much like Huntsville had done a week ago, Jacksonville jumped on Florida for two quick goals. Greg LeColst started it by picking up a perfect rebound off the pads of Seals' goalie Terry Denike and blasting it home from the slot. 27 seconds later, Tyrone Garner found Ryan Crowther alone in front. He went five hole and the Barracudas had a 2-0 lead.
"That was great. I thought our guys did a pretty good job of preparing," Allain said about his team's start. "I thought we came out playing pretty hard and we got some pucks on the net."
It got worse for the home team when Caleb Moffat beat Denike with a shot from the side boards, sending Jacksonville to the intermission with a 3-0 lead.
"It was guys just not showing up, taking the night off because it was Jacksonville, "Seals Head Coach Tommy Stewart said. "Jacksonville came in here and worked hard."
Stewart made a goaltending change to start the second, inserting Matt Balsar between the pipes. Florida was still having trouble finding any weaknesses with Munro. Steve Zoryk thought he had until he heard the clank of the post. Finally, Florida got on the board when Rob Sich fed a pretty cross-crease pass to Glen Painter who one-timed a shot from the open back side.
Jacksonville got that one back seconds later as Derek McKinlay scored a power play goal with a wicked blast from the point.
Florida finished the period with a flourish and gave the home fans hope. First Steve Zoryk took a cross-crease pass from Kahlil Thomas on a Seals' man advantage for a goal. Then with just 27 second left in the stanza, Zoryk returned the favor, feeding Thomas for a clean break away goal, slicing the Barracudas lead to 4-3 at the intermission.
Florida pounded at the Jacksonville net early in the third period but Munro was equal to the task. Then the Barracudas got a huge break when Doherty came out of the penalty box and immediately grabbed the puck. He raced in alone and went high on Seals goalie Matt Balsar to restore a two goal lead for the visitors.
The Seals got within one again on a power play goal by Sich out of a scramble in front of Munro with just under four minutes left. An untimely penalty forced Florida to play shorthanded, leading to Doherty's second score of the night with 91 seconds left on the clock to the final score.
"We took some untimely penalties and that cost us the game because we got back into it," Stewart said. "It doesn't matter. We weren't ready from the get go."
The Seals get right back into action when they host the Richmond Renegades at the Silver Spurs Arena Saturday night. Game time is 7:35 P.M.
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SPHL Stories from November 3, 2006
- Barracudas Take Game One of "Battle of Florida" - Florida Seals
- Huntsville signs four - Huntsville Havoc
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