Sports stats



Blades Win, Clinch Third in Southwest

March 30, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Arkansas RiverBlades News Release


Matt Pagnutti and Buddy Smith each lit the lamp, as the Arkansas RiverBlades defeated the Baton Rouge Kingfish 2-1 Sunday. With the Jackson loss to Louisiana, Arkansas clinched third place in the Southwest Division, and will face the Louisiana IceGators in the first round of the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Matt Pagnutti, who had a goal and an assist, quickly dented the scoreboard just 29 seconds into the game, notching his 15th goal of the campaign assisted by Aaron Davis and Terry Marchant. Then, just before the first intermission, Buddy Smith scored a power-play goal, his 30th of the season, from Matt Pagnutti and Dean Stock to make it 2-0.

That would be all of the scoring until the Kingfish cut the lead in half just 2:47 into the final frame, as Alexandre Burrows tallied his 13th of the year from Mike Renzi and Mike Kiesman.

The Kingfish could not get the equalizer, however, and the Blades held on for the 2-1 victory.

Baton Rouge outshot Arkansas 33-22 for the game, and the Kingfish were 0-for-8 on the power-play. The Blades were 1-for-5.

Scott Fankhouser made 32 saves to earn his 11th victory in a RiverBlades uniform. Jeff Blair stopped 20 of 22 in the cage for Baton Rouge.

Arkansas will now face the Louisiana IceGators in a best-of-five series in the first round of the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs. The Blades will play Wednesday and Thursday in Lafayette, but then host the Gators on Saturday and again on Sunday if necessary. A deciding fifth game, if it comes down to that, would be played Wednesday, April 9th, in Lafayette.

For more information on the Blades first playoff game since 2001, call 501-975-2327.

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from March 30, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Arkansas RiverBlades Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central