Bees School Saints 3-2 in OT

Published on March 1, 2004 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees News Release


The last time the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees faced off with the San Angelo Saints, the Saints blew a 3-0 lead and then regained the lead by defeating the Killer Bees in an overtime shootout. Today, in a "Kids Day" afternoon game at the Dodge Arena, it was the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees losing out on a 2-0 lead, but then bouncing back to win in dramatic overtime fashion. Bees rookie defenseman Ryan Taylor picked up the game winning goal and his first professional goal in the eleventh round of the overtime sudden death shootout to defeat the San Angelo Saints 3-2. It was the 11th sellout (5,500) of the season for the Bees, as over 4,000 fifth grade students from over six area school districts jammed into the Dodge Arena. And for Killer Bees head coach Tracy Egeland, who was coaching in his 100th professional game, it will be one he will always remember.

The Bees jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period with goals by Ryan Shmyr and Sean Gillam. Both goals were scored by shots taken from the point. Kevin Mackie fired a shot 8:17 into the contest, which deflected off of Ryan Shmyr's stick and past goaltender Brant Nicklin. With 3:22 remaining in the period, Sean Gillam launched a shot from the point that deflected off of traffic and found the top shelf of the net.

After a scoreless second period, the Saints began to bite into the Bees 2-0 lead. Ryan Finnerty scored two hard earned goals 9:12 apart in the third period to tie the contest up at 2-2 with 10:00 remaining. Finnerty's effort forced overtime and gave San Angelo a must needed standing-point for playoff positioning.

In the shootout, only Chris Minard of San Angelo and Chris Peach of Rio Grande Valley had scored goals after five rounds to push the shootout into sudden death rounds. After Minard's goal in the second round of the shootout, Bees goaltender Jeff Levy stopped the next nine shooters to set the stage for Taylor's heroics. Taylor skated the puck into the attacking zone and after a slight fade to the left, Taylor cut across to his right and lifted the puck over Nicklin for the win. It did not take too long before he was mobbed by his teammates. Levy earned his career single-season high 24th win in net, stopping 20 of 22 shots on goal.

The win gives the Bees a 5-1-1 season series record over the Saints and an overall record of 29-20-8. The Killer Bees magic number to clinch a playoff spot is now down to one. Any Austin loss or a Bees standing-point gained will place the Bees in the playoffs. The Bees now hit the road to prepare for a three-in-three weekend, which places the Bees in Odessa on Thursday, Lubbock on Friday and Corpus Christi on Saturday.

DATE Mon, Mar 01, 2004 San Angelo (2) Rio Grande Valley (3)

SCORE BY PERIODS San Angelo 0 0 2 0 0 -- 2 Rio Grande Valley 2 0 0 0 1 -- 3

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: RGV-Shmyr (powerplay) (Mackie, Newson) 8:17. RGV-Gillam (Odegard, Linna) 16:38. Penalties: Newson, RGV (Interference, Minor, 2 min) 3:31. Doktorchik, SNG (Tripping, Minor, 2 min) 8:06. Mackie, RGV (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 9:02. Finnerty, SNG (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 10:19. Finnerty, SNG (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 18:04.

SECOND PERIOD -- Penalties: Van Parys, RGV (High Sticking, Minor, 2 min) 5:59. Silverthorn, SNG (Hooking, Minor, 2 min) 16:57. Mackie, RGV (Interference, Minor, 2 min) 18:19. Van Parys, RGV (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 20:00.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: SNG-Finnerty (powerplay) (Weisgerber, Moffat) 0:48. SNG-Finnerty (Knight, Vandewaeter) 10:00. Penalties: Odegard, RGV (High Sticking, Minor, 2 min) 4:54. Brand, SNG (Tripping, Minor, 2 min) 5:46. Weisgerber, SNG (High Sticking, Minor, 2 min) 11:14. Newson, RGV (High Sticking, Double Minor, 4 min) 12:48. Fletcher, SNG (Too Many Men, Bench Minor, 2 min) 15:07. Kralj, RGV (Tripping, Minor, 2 min) 15:16.

OVERTIME -- Penalties: Taylor, RGV (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 3:44. Wilson, SNG (Roughing, Minor, 2 min) 3:44.

SHOOTOUT -- Scoring: RGV-Taylor.

SHOTS ON GOAL San Angelo 6 7 8 1 0 -- 22 Rio Grande Valley 15 5 9 7 1 -- 36

POWER PLAY STATS PPG ADV SHG San Angelo 1 10 0 Rio Grande Valley 1 6 0

GOALIES AWAY TEAM D MIN S SV Brant Nicklin OTL 65:00 36 34 HOME TEAM D MIN S SV Jeff Levy WIN 65:00 22 20

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Central Hockey League Stories from March 1, 2004


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