Checkers fall to Louisiana 4-2
December 22, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Charlotte Checkers News Release
Lafayette, Louisiana - Tuesday, December 21: The Charlotte Checkers put up a good fight but fell short in the seventh game of their season-long, eight-game road trip, losing to the Louisiana IceGators 4-2 Tuesday night in Lafayette, Louisiana. A hot Gators goalie and some Charlotte players who didn't compete hampered the Checkers from going over the .500 mark for the first time on the road trip. Charlotte outshot the Gators 32-24 for the game, including 16-8 in the second period. Ryan Cuthbert and Eddie Pershin scored for the Checkers, while Dan Sullivan, Max Fortunus, Troy Smith and Randy Daganais all had single goals for the Gators with Smith's tally ending up as the game winner. Louisiana goalie Nathan Marsters was sharp in goal with 30 saves. Charlotte goalie Alex Westlund made 20 saves and took the loss. The win allowed Louisiana to even the brief two-game season series between the two clubs at 1-1. The Checkers defeated the Gators 3-2 on December 8 in Charlotte.
"You have to give their goalie a lot of credit, Marsters was outstanding," remarked Checkers coach Derek Wilkinson. "But we had several players that didn't compete tonight. Right now with our lineup we need everyone competing and we didn't have that tonight. During certain stretches we played very well and the guys that wanted to play played well. We'll certainly need everyone on the same page to have a chance to win tomorrow night when we close the road trip in Mississippi."
Louisiana scored a pair of first-period goals in a 35 second span to take a 2-0 lead. Mark Rooneem fired a shot that was stopped by Westlund, but the save bounced up in the air. Westlund briefly lost sight of the puck as it landed at his feet, and Sullivan flipped home the rebound for a 1-0 Louisiana advantage at 10:01. Thirty five seconds later Fortunus fired a shot from the top of the right circle that eluded Westlund and the Gators led 2-0. Charlotte sliced the Louisiana lead to 2-1 as Cuthbert took a pass from Mike Harder near the net and beat Marsters just inside the far post at 12:33. The IceGators snagged their two-goal lead right back with just 1:37 left in the first period as Smith's weak screen shot from the center point got by Westlund, and the Gators took a 3-1 lead to the locker room after 20 minutes.
The Checkers played a superb second period and cut the Louisiana lead to 3-2. Pershin scored his team-leading 10th goal of the season when, after taking a pass from Juris Stals, came into the Gators zone on a two-on-one with Dusty Jamieson and launched a shot past Marsters from 30 feet. Charlotte outshot Louisiana 16-8 in the period and held a big territorial edge.
In the third period the Gators tightened up their defense, keeping the puck deep in the Checkers zone for much of the first five minutes. The Checkers did have a good opportunity to tie the game with back-to-back, power-play chances but failed to light the lamp. Louisiana got an insurance goal late in the period on a power-play when Dagainais barreled in on Westlund and beat him short side for a 4-2 IceGators lead at 16:42. A late five-minute major penalty for cross checking on Pershin at 18:34 gave Louisiana a power-play for the rest of the period, allowing the Gators to skate away with the 4-2 victory.
The loss dropped the Checkers record to 15-9-2 for 32 points and snapped Charlotte's two-game winning streak, while Louisiana won its second game in a row and improved to 13-9-3 for 29 points.
The Checkers long road trip concludes on Wednesday night in Biloxi, Mississippi when Charlotte will take on the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 8:05 p.m.
Following the eight-game road trip, the Checkers will return home to Cricket Arena to host the Augusta Lynx on Sunday, December 26 at 3:00 p.m. Tickets available at the Cricket Arena Box office, the Charlotte Coliseum box office, and at all Ticketmaster locations. Tickets may also be purchased on line at www.ticketmaster.com or by phone at (704) 522-6500. Group, season and mini-plan tickets cab be purchased through the Charlotte Checkers office by calling (704) 342-4ICE.
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