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Depleted RiverBlades Fall in Shootout

March 9, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Arkansas RiverBlades News Release


The Arkansas RiverBlades, playing with only 13 skaters Sunday, fell behind early to the Lexington Men-O-War, and lost 4-3 in a shootout at Rupp Arena.

Jason Bermingham, Sam Paquet, and Damon Whitten scored for Arkansas, who got 2 assists from Garry Toor.

The Blades played without defensemen Dean Stork, Matt Pagnutti, and Eric Long, and it didn't take long for Lexington to take advantage of it.

Alexandre Mathieu scored just 45 seconds in, notching his 13th of the year from Joe Vandermeer and Brett Draney on the power-play.

About 5 minutes after that, Ben Storey made it 2-0 for Lexington, tallying his 14th of the season from Alexandre Mathieu.

Damon Whitten cut the lead in half for Arkansas in the second, scoring his 9th tally of the season short-handed at 9:45. Assisted by Garry Toor and Terry Marchant, it was the only goal of the period, and Whitten's third short-handed marker of the campaign.

In the third, Sam Paquet tied it just 39 seconds into the period, with his 13th of the season from Buddy Smith and Garry Toor.

Then, just over a minute later, Lexington re-claimed the lead, as Alexandre Mathieu got his 14th of the year and 2nd of the game from Brett Draney at 1:51.

Jason Bermingham would then tie it again for the Blades, scoring his 31st goal on a breakaway at 9:15 to knot it up at 3-3.

There was no scoring the rest of the way, so that led to overtime. An since there was no scoring in overtime, the game would come down to a shootout.

Damon Whitten scored for Arkansas, but Lexington got goals from Ryan Fultz and Van Burgess to claim the narrow victory.

Scott Fankhouser made 32 saves in defeat for the Blades, and Dan Murphy stopped 34 in net for Lexington.

Arkansas outshot Lexington 37-35 for the game, and were 1-for-7 on the power-play. The Men-O-War were 2-for-5 with the man advantage.

Arkansas travels to Mississippi to play the first-place Sea Wolves on Tuesday, then returns home to the Alltel Arena Friday to host the rival Louisiana IceGators. Faceoff is scheduled for 7:05 on both nights. All games can be heard on the CSN Radio Network, FM 101 The River, and on the Internet at www.riverblades.com.

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