Brown bats IceGators past Bandits in OT

December 15, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Lafayette, LA – Bobby Brown swatted a puck out of mid-air for a goal with 55.1 seconds left in overtime for his second tally of the night, as the Louisiana IceGators rallied by the Jackson Bandits, 4-3, at the Cajundome. Frederic Cloutier made 25 saves and Bruce Richardson and Cal Benazic each scored for Louisiana, which snapped a five-game winless streak (0-2-3) and moved back into a first-place tie with Mississippi with 38 points.

The IceGators, who played their seventh straight one-goal game, continuing to better their franchise record, play at Pensacola on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. in their seventh game in 10 nights and their eighth in 12.

Adam Hauser, bidding for his fifth straight win, turned aside 36 shots, including 18 in the first period, but yielded Brown's game-winner. Reagan Rome, Sean Gillam and Brent Gauvreau each scored for the Bandits, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

J.P. Morin started the winning play with a clearing pass out of the IceGators zone to Mitchell in the neutral zone. Mitchell streaked into Jackson territory by the right boards, and attempted to flip a pass to Brown between the circles. The pass went off a Bandit player's stick right to Brown, who knocked the puck in at waist-height for his 10th goal of the season.

Hauser and the rest of the Bandits argued that the puck was hit with a high stick, but the tally stood.

"I'm fortunate that I played baseball as a kid," said Brown, whose shot went low on Hauser. "This was a huge monkey off our team's back, and mine. We hadn't won since I got back from Cincinnati." Brown returned from the AHL Mighty Ducks on December 7, and the team was 0-2-3 since.

"We had another streak early in the season like this, where we were playing well enough to win but weren't," said IceGators head coach and vice president of hockey operations Dave Farrish. "Tonight, we just found a way to win. That's what you have to do to win more games."

It was a tightly-contested battle from the beginning, as neither team held more than a one-goal edge.

Richardson, who had an 11-game point streak snapped in last night's 2-1 shootout loss at Jackson, began the scoring 1:28 into the game. Dennis Shiryaev carried the puck into the zone along the right wing and left a drop pass to Richardson, who walked between the circles and let a wrister go low past Hauser for his 15th goal of the season.

The Bandits evened the score at 13:03 on a defensive misplay by the IceGators. On a dump in, a backpedaling Rod Sarich and Cloutier collided, with the puck going off Sarich's skate into the net to tie the game. Gillam was awarded the goal, his first of the season in 24 games.

Brown gave the IceGators the lead back with 1:54 left in the period on the power play. With Rome in the penalty box for holding, Sarich launched a shot from the point, and the rebound came right to Brown in the low right circle. Brown flipped the puck up and over Hauser for his ninth goal of the season.

With the IceGators on the power play early in the second, Jackson's John McNabb broke in on Cloutier alone. Cloutier stretched to make a pad save on McNabb, keeping Louisiana in front.

During Louisiana's next power play, Jackson had a 2-on-1, but Cloutier twice stopped the Bandits from close range. At the end of that power play, Brown hit the left post from the low slot.

The Bandits had a 5-on-3 just a minute later, with Gauvreau scoring with 13:55 left in the period to make it 2-2, just seconds after missing from close range. Gillam took a shot from the right point that Cloutier blocked, but Jeff Bes tapped the puck to Gauvreau at the left doorstep, and Gauvreau got the puck past a recovering Cloutier to tie the game.

Jackson went on top 3-2 with 9:11 left in the period, with Rome providing the go-ahead goal. Rome shot a changeup in transition from the lower left circle, and the puck deflected off Cloutier's glove and off the crossbar for Rome's third goal of the season.

The IceGators evened the score at 3-3 with 57.5 ticks left in the second on the power play. Shiryaev, along the left boards, sent a pass just wide of Benazic at the blue line, but the lanky defenseman was able to corral the puck, and send it through traffic past a screened Hauser for his sixth goal of the season.

The third period was mostly a neutral zone battle, with only 13 shots. Louisiana controlled most of overtime, thanks to a power play when Brian Forslund was called for tripping with 12 seconds left in regulation. The IceGators finished the extra session with three shots, while Jackson had one.

The IceGators finished 2-for-9 on the power play, while Jackson was 1-for-8, improving to 1-for-28 against Louisiana on the power play this season.

Gator Bites:

Richardson has 12 of his 15 goals and 30 of 40 points at home this season.

The IceGators have scored in the opening 90 seconds of the game in three of their last five contests. Louisiana has a goal in the opening 2:30 of a period on 14 occasions this season.

Louisiana has scored in the final 2:30 of a period on an astounding 20 occasions in 29 games this season, including three tonight, counting overtime. The IceGators are 11-1-2 when yielding one of less power play goals this season.

Richardson and Gauvreau fought 2:37 into overtime.

Louisiana improved to 6-4-6 in one-goal games this season. The team was 21-5-4 in that situation last season.

Cloutier became the second IceGator to record 40 wins, joining Doug Bonner (64). He also moved into third place on the team's all-time games played list among goaltenders. His 57 games are one behind Bryan Schoen for second. Bonner leads all Louisiana netminders with 99 games played.

The IceGators are 4-1-2 in the third game of three-in-three sets.

Tony Tuzzolino picked up an assist on Benazic's goal, extending his career-high point streak to nine games (7g, 7a).

Louisiana's previous record for one-goal games was five straight, set twice, last from February 10-21, 2001.

The IceGators improved to 9-2-1 all-time against Jackson at the Cajundome. In their three home non-wins against the Bandits, Louisiana didn't score a goal, getting shut out by the now-retired Mike Tamburro each time. Tamburro is the only netminder to ever shut out the IceGators at the Cajundome.

Morin and Shiryaev each had two assists.

Jackson fell to 10-3-2 in one-goal games.

IceGators rookie forward Chris Taliercio, who had five goals in 11 games before injuring his knee, returned to the lineup after a 16-game absence.

Taliercio, out of Dartmouth, hadn't played since November 9 at Arkansas. He didn't have a shot and had a minus-one rating.



ECHL Stories from December 15, 2002


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