Daniels, Hood Push IceGators to Victory
February 13, 2016 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
PEORIA, Ill.--The Louisiana IceGators' special teams lines gave their best performance of the season Friday night.
Louisiana scored on four of their seven power play opportunities and killed three of the five penalties against them to beat the Peoria Rivermen 7-5. Dylan Hood led the IceGators with two goals and two assists. John Daniels also contributed two goals, while Jake Hauswirth picked up four assists.
The Rivermen and the IceGators will face each other in the second game of a three-game weekend series Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.
"This is a great character win for us," said IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli. "We started red hot on the power play, but most importantly, we executed on our opportunities against a great opponent. We had big games all around from every player. Hauswirth and Hood were especially fun to watch."
The IceGators dominated early in the game.
Daniels put the IceGators on the board four minutes into the game off assists from Hauswirth and Alex Hudson. Mike Kavanaugh and Hood each contributed power play goals before the 10-minute mark of the opening frame to put Louisiana ahead 3-0 after one period.
Hood scored his second power play goal of the night 80 seconds into the second period to put the IceGators ahead 4-0.
Peoria's offense then woke up.
Ben Power ended the shutout at the 5:11 mark of the middle frame, while former IceGator Chris Wilson's power play score cut the Louisiana lead in half.
The IceGators quickly made up for those two goals. Blake Hietala and Zac Frischmon each scored in the waning minutes of the period to give the IceGators a 6-2 lead going into the second intermission.
The Rivermen climbed back into the game in the third period.
Mike Gurtler cut the IceGator lead to three when he scored with 10:09 left in regulations. However, the IceGators' Daniels scored 10 seconds later to make the score 7-3.
Dan Bremner and former IceGator Adam Stuart each scored in the waning minutes of the contest, but their efforts were too little, too late.
In the end, penalties doomed the Rivermen, who accumulated 60 penalty minutes on 15 infractions. Frustrations boiled over for the Rivermen early in the contest. Peoria head coach Jean-Guy Trudel was ejected from the game late in the first period for verbal abuse of officials.
"The game got chippy at the end, but we battled through and got two huge points," Omicioli said. "Ending the night with eight forwards and five defensemen was tough, but my hat's off to the boys for sticking together and finding a way to win."
Omicioli says he needs to see the same kind of performance from his team in Saturday's rematch.
"We have another battle on our hands," Omicioli said, "but I know we're up for the challenge."
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SPHL Stories from February 13, 2016
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- Rivermen Fall 4-3 Saturday - Peoria Rivermen
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- Ice Flyers' Blue Wahoos Night and Teddy Bear Toss Tonight Tonight - Pensacola Ice Flyers
- Rivermen Game Notes vs Louisiana - Peoria Rivermen
- Daniels, Hood Push IceGators to Victory - Louisiana IceGators
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