Cullaton, Kotsopoulos Lead Jackals To 6-3 Win Over Flint

Published on November 13, 2006 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Elmira Jackals News Release


Flint, MI - Forwards Tommy Kotsopoulos and Brent Cullaton each scored two goals as the Elmira Jackals beat the Flint Generals 6-3 Sunday afternoon at Perani's Arena.

It took Flint a mere 3:39 of the first period to get on the scoreboard. While on a 5-on-3 power play, defenseman Shaun Fischer's slap shot from the blue line found the net for a 1-0 Flint lead, assisted by Gerard Miller and Bobby Reynolds. Elmira was hit with another blow in the final two minutes of the period when right wing Yevgeny Lazarev was given a 5-minute major penalty and a game misconduct for Boarding on a check delivered on defenseman Tyson Turgeon.

Early in the second period, Tommy Kotsopoulos opened his goal scoring account, with a short-handed goal at 1:13, assisted by captain Brent Cullaton. But with the penalty to Lazarev carrying over from the first period, Flint cashed in with their second power play goal of the game, scored by Terry Marchant at 2:38, assisted by Fischer and Jeff Zehr. Four minutes later Curtis Tidball dropped the gloves and Flint defenseman Martin Ondrej and his one-sided performance seemed to energize his team. Elmira tied the game at two when David Morelli stole a break-out pass and fired a back-hand shot through the legs of goaltender Jason Muzzatti at 12:59 for an unassisted goal. As the face off at center-ice was dropped, so did the gloves of Frank Littlejohn and Flint's David Frawley, ending in another Elmira fisticuffs win. 19 seconds later Kostopoulos scored his second of the game, assisted by Brent Cullaton and Dale Lupul at 13:18, giving Elmira their first lead of the game 3-2.

97 seconds into the third period Jason Selleke leveled the game again, scoring from Ondrej and Mike Zbriger, to tie the game 3-3. But then the Jackals captain took the game in his own hands. Cullaton was sent free on a breakaway from a crafty long pass from Kostopoulos and the captain lifted a back-hand shot at 5:20 over the glove of Bryan Worosz, who replaced Muzzatti in the Flint goal at the start of the third period. Then Cullaton scored an insurance goal, on the power play at 7:49, assisted by Kostopoulos and J.F. Soucy, giving Elmira a 5-3 lead. With 2:45 left in the game, Flint's head coach Kevin Kerr called a timeout and pulled his goalie in a late attempt to get back into the game. Jackals defenseman Dale Lupul put an end to Flint's hopes, firing a shot from behind his own goal line almost 200-feet down the ice and into the empty net for an unassisted goal at 18:21 and a 6-3 final score.

Kris Tebbs improved to 6-2-0 in 9 games played this season as he made a massive 43 saves on 46 shots for Elmira. Bryan Worosz was credited with the loss, stopping 9-of-11 while playing the third period for Flint. Flint starter Jason Muzzatti blocked 13-of-16 shots in a no-decision after playing the first 40 minutes of the game. The Jackals finished 1-for-6 on the power play and added their UHL-leading 10th short-handed goal of the season, while Flint was 2-for-10 on the power play.

The Jackals head home for a couple days of practice before heading back out on the road for a big East versus West Clash as the 2nd place Jackals face off with the 1st place Fort Wayne Komets Friday night in Indiana. Elmira's next home game is on Wednesday November 22nd as they host the Chicago Hounds at 7:05 pm for the first of three games at the First Arena.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from November 13, 2006


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