Cottonmouths beat Kingfish in shootout, 5-4
December 8, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Baton Rouge Kingfish News Release
Three second period goal and 29 saves by Brian Leitza was not enough as the Kingfish fell in a shootout to the Columbus Cottonmouths, 5-4
Carlyle Lewis opened the scoring at the 9:44 mark of the first period as he picked up a loose puck along the crease and fired it top shelf over Brian Leitza. Jay Vancik and Brent Cullaton picked up the assists on the power play goal.
Five minutes later, Jason Norrie tied the game at one as he deflected a Trevor Demmans slap shot from the high slot past Matus Kostur. Marquis Mathieu added an assist on the power play goal.
Columbus regained the lead before the end of the period as Sean McAslan beat Leitza over the shoulder after taking an outlet pass around center ice from J.J. Hunter with under three minutes left in the period.
The second period was a Kingfish, as Bryan Richardson made Kostur pay for wandering out of his net just four and a half minutes into the period. Kostur wandered out of his net to try to clear the puck. The Kingfish intercepted and Joe Guenther threw a shot that got deflected before getting to the empty net. Richardson found the rebound and put it into the net.
Sam Paquet gave the Kingfish their first lead of the game with just 5 minutes left in the period as Richardson threw the puck off Paquet's stick and into the net. Guenther also added an assist on the goal.
Trevor Demmans gave the Kingfish a two goal lead about a minute and a half later as he intercepted an errant clearing pass, stepped by a Cottonmouth's defender and fired a laser from the high slot past Kostur.
Columbus controlled the third period as they used two goals by John Morland to send the game to a shootout.
Morland tallied his first at the 4:35 mark of the third as he took an outlet pass around the redline and punched one past Leitza. McAslan added an assist on the goal.
His second came with less than three minutes left in the third period as the beat Leitza on a back door slapshot. Tiemstra added an assist on the play.
Brian Leitza made 29 saves in the contest but the Cottonmouths scored three times in the shootout to put the game away. The Kingfish could not punch a single puck past Kostur in the shootout.
Get ready for the Holidays with a 12-pack of Kingfish Freedom vouchers. Get 12 vouchers good for any Kingfish regular season home game for the price of 11 tickets and save. Freedom Voucher packages start as low as $121. Call the Kingfish office at 225-336-GOAL for more information.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
ECHL Stories from December 8, 2002
- Anchorage Polishes off Sweep of Bakersfield - Alaska Aces
- Four point performance from Wieckowski paces Grrrowl in win - Greenville Grrrowl
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Sea Wolves Out-'Duke' IceGators, 4-3 in Overtime - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- Mississippi newcomer lifts Wolves past IceGators in OT - Louisiana IceGators
- Cottonmouths beat Kingfish in shootout, 5-4 - Baton Rouge Kingfish
- Bennett Placed on Injured Reserve - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- All Along the Coast - ECHL
- Friesen Blanks Ice Dogs - Fresno Falcons
- Person Wins First as Aces Go Back-to-Back - Alaska Aces
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 Baton Rouge Kingfish Stories
- Kingfish Weekly
- RiverBlades Clip Kingfish, 2-1
- Kingfish fall to Gators, 4-1
- Sullivan Called up to Lowell
- Sea Wolves down Fish, 4-1
