Career firsts for Kettles, Boogaard in IceGators' 5-0 win over Baton Rouge
January 4, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Baton Rouge, LA â Kyle Kettles made 31 saves for his first pro shutout, Kenny Corupe scored twice and Derek Boogaard's first pro goal went down as the game-winner, as the Louisiana IceGators routed the Baton Rouge Kingfish 5-0 at the Riverside Centroplex. The win was IceGators head coach and vice president of hockey operations Dave Farrish's 399th career coaching victory. He'll go after No. 400 Thursday at 7:05 p.m. at the Cajundome against the Columbus Cottonmouths.
Bobby Brown has a goal and two assists and Nathan Rempel added a goal and a helper for Louisiana, which rebounded from last night's 5-2 loss in Arkansas and increased its Southwest Division lead to two points over Mississippi, a 5-4 home overtime loser tonight against Pensacola.
Kettles made six saves in the first period, 14 in the second and 11 in the third, recording the IceGators' second shutout of the season. He improved to 5-0-4 in his nine-game unbeaten in regulation streak, and for the first time in his last six games Louisiana didn't go into overtime.
Jeff Blair made 32 saves for the Kingfish, who failed to win for the seventh time in eight games (1-3-4). Baton Rouge hopped on the bus after the game for a four-hour road trip to Pensacola, where the Kingfish will battle the Ice Pilots at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.
Boogaard, an enforcer with three goals in 147 junior games, scored the game's first goal at the 4:13 mark of the first period, just 30 seconds after Baton Rouge's Mike Oliveira clanged a shot off the post behind Kettles. Boogaard intercepted a clearing pass at the top of the right circle, walked in on Blair and let a wrister go high glove side that barely snuck inside the post.
The IceGators kept the pressure on, and almost made it 2-0 with 5:21 left in the opening stanza. Blair somehow got up off his back after a scramble in the crease to kick aside an attempt by Daniel Goneau, who had an open net.
Louisiana did take the two-goal edge with 1:12 left in the first, with its first power-play goal of the evening. Rempel, along the left boards, slid a pass to Brown at the center point. Brown took his time to set up, and fired a shot on net that Corupe tipped in past Blair for his ninth goal of the season.
The IceGators were forced to kill off a five-minute spearing major to Boogaard late in the first and early in the second. Boogaard and Sam Paquet got tangled up in the Baton Rouge zone, and with referee Joe Ernst in between them, it was ruled that Boogaard speared Paquet. Boogaard was given the automatic game misconduct that comes with a spearing major. Baton Rouge was limited to just two shots on the power play, which ended prematurely when Jerry Gernander was called for slashing with 36 seconds left on the man advantage.
Louisiana scored twice in a three-minute span late in the second to fully take control. The IceGators went up 3-0 with 3:52 left on Brown's 14th goal of the season and 150th of his pro career. Just after a Baton Rouge power play expired, J.P. Morin made a nice clearing pass to McNeil on the right side. McNeil led a 3-on-1 into the Kingfish zone, and he sent a cross-ice pass to a streaking Brown in the left circle. Brown's one-timer beat Blair before he could respond for the three-goal edge.
Corupe scored his second of the night and 10th of the season with 52 seconds left in the stanza, and his hard-working linemates were a big part of the tally. Semir Ben-Amor carried the puck behind Blair and got hit hard into the boards by a pair of Kingfish players. Ben-Amor managed to slide a pass to Shawn Skiehar along the corner boards. Skiehar slid a pass between defenders to Corupe, whose shot crawled over the goal line.
Rempel had a goal of his own at the 4:59 mark of the third to finish the scoring, his 17th tally of the season. Rempel started a 2-on-1 with McNeil and carried the puck deep into the Baton Rouge zone. Rempel slid a pass to McNeil on the left wing, and McNeil slid the puck immediately back to Rempel, who tapped the puck into an open net.
Baton Rouge didn't record a shot for the first 6:30 of the third, when Kettles made a nifty glove save on Joe Guenther from the bottom of the right circle. With the Kingfish on a power play two minutes later, Kettles made several more saves to preserve the shutout, including a lunging save to the left as the man advantage expired.
Kettles finished off the shutout in style, kicking aside a Trevor Demmans attempt from the point on a Baton Rouge power play with 30 seconds left. At the buzzer, Demmans' shot from the blueline was again turned away.
Louisiana was 1-for-4 on the power play, while Baton Rouge finished 0-for-6.
Gator Bites:
Louisiana led after one period on the road for just the third time this season (2-0-1), and the second time against Baton Rouge in seven days.
Skiehar's assist was his first since October 12 against Arkansas â Opening Night. He had three goals since then.
Baton Rouge has just four power-play goals in its last nine games.
Corupe had his second two-goal game of the season. The other came on October 27 against Jackson, a 6-1 IceGators win.
Brown's three-point night was his fourth of the season. He trails only Daniel Goneau in games with three or more points. Goneau has five, including a four different three-point contests.
Louisiana is 20-2-3 when yielding three or less goals, including an 12-0-1 mark when allowing two or less. When allowing four or more goals, the IceGators are 2-6-5.
The IceGators are 16-1-4 when yielding one or less power play goals this season, but they are 6-7-4 when allowing two or more.
Louisiana is 5-0-3 when Corupe has a goal and an amazing 12-0-4 when he has a point.
Corupe now has 99 points (39g, 60a) in his 159-game pro career.
The IceGators are 7-5-4 this season after a loss or overtime/shootout loss.
Frederic Cloutier has Louisiana's other shutout this season, making 25 saves in a 3-0 win at Mississippi on November 30.
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ECHL Stories from January 4, 2003
- Jackals Use OT To Beat Mallards - Elmira Jackals
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