ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades down Ice Pilots 4-3

December 30, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


PENSACOLA, FL - The Florida Everblades (17-10-3) picked up two big points in the standings after hanging on for a 4-3 win over the Pensacola Ice Pilots (7-20-3) on Saturday night in front of a crowd of 2,163 at the Pensacola Civic Center.

The Everblades got off to a fast start carrying a 2-0 lead into the first intermissions after collecting an early and late opening period tally. Steve Ward got the scoring started notching his first professional goal at 4:59 of the period. Ward's tally came off a shot from the right point that deflected off an Ice Pilots defenseman and into the net. Jarret Lukin and Kirk MacDonald picked up the assists on the goal.

The game remained 1-0 throughout until the final minute of the period. The Everblades extended their lead to 2-0 on a short-handed goal by J.B. Bittner. The play began with MacDonald racing the puck out of the Florida end of the ice, splitting between a pair of Pensacola defenseman before firing a shot from the right circle that Ice Pilots goaltender Cam Ellsworth saved, but coughed up a rebound. MacDonald chased down the loose puck and slid a pass to a wide open Bittner at the left post who banged it into the empty cage with 27 seconds remaining in the period. The short-handed goal was Bittner's first of the season and the Everblades' fifth of the year.

A wild start to the second period saw the Everblades open a 3-0 lead when Joe Guenther one-timed home a pass from Bittner at 3:25 of the frame. Brad Herauf extended his point scoring streak to three games by starting the play with a pass out of the Everblades zone up to Bittner who carried the puck into the offensive end on the left side before feeding the pass to Guenther for his second goal of the season.

The Everblade lead however quickly evaporated down to a one goal advantage after the Ice Pilots registered a pair of goals separated by 32 seconds midway through the second period. Bryan Esner notched the first of the two goals banging home a rebound at the left post at 6:54. The Ice Pilots then cut the Florida lead to 3-2 when Mathieu Roy chased down the puck at the top of the Everblades crease and slipped it past Florida net-minder Justin Peters at 7:26.

The Everblades regained some of the momentum by regaining their two-goal lead at 11:56 on MacDonald's third goal of the season. Good work down low led to the tally as the Everblades cycled the puck behind the Pensacola net between Ryan Van Buskirk and Mike McLean, before McLean fed MacDonald and buried the shot from the slot.

The Ice Pilots worked their way back to within one midway through the third period when Enser fired a wrist shot from the top of the left circle that snuck between the pads of Peters and into the net at 10:43.

Peters battled to pick up the win and improve his record to 12-4-2 by turning aside 31 of 34 shots, while Ellsworth fell to 7-10-0 after allowing four goals on 44 Florida shots.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 0-for-7, while the Ice Pilots finished 0-for-7.

Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Tuesday, January 1 when they take on the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 8:05 p.m. from the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Everblades return home on Friday, January 4 to host the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:30 p.m. Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Stop by the Germain Arena box office to reserve your seat for all the exciting action! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Three Stars:

1) Kirk MacDonald - FLA

2) Bryan Esner - PEN

3) J.B. Bittner - FLA

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 30, 2007


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