Everblades Fall to Ice Pilots 5-4
October 30, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL â The Florida Everblades (3-2-0) lost to the Pensacola Ice Pilots (2-0-0) 5-4 on Saturday night at the Pensacola Civic Center. Despite a hat trick by Florida's Reggie Berg, the Ice Pilots capitalized on their power chances and three third period goals to pull out the win in their home opener.
A high-paced first period saw the two teams fire a total of 26 shots on goal and each goaltender make several big saves. Rob Zepp for Florida and Frederic Cloutier for Pensacola both made several key saves in the period to keep the game scoreless after the first period.
Once the second period got under way, all the scoring chances turned away by the goalies in the first period, turned into goals for the two teams, with both scoring twice in the frame. The Ice Pilots took advantage of a 5-on-3 power play early in the period, with Ryan O'Keefe notching the first Pensacola goal at 4:08 for the 1-0 advantage. Just 1:56 later Aaron Phillips gave the Ice Pilots a 2-0 lead with their second power play goal of the night. However, it took Florida only six minutes to tie the game at two with a pair of goals from Berg. Berg netted his third goal on the season at 8:56 when he wristed a shot into the upper right corner of the net, and then completed a pretty pass by Brad Church from behind the net, by jamming the pass between Cloutier's pads at 12:02 to tie the game.
Pensacola took command of the game with three goals in the first 6:10 of the third period to open a 5-2 advantage. Ryan Vince tallied the first of the three at 1:35 of the period, and Jordan Krestanovich collected the next two at 1:55 and 6:10. Berg completed the hat trick just 31 seconds after the Ice Pilots took a three-goal lead. Florida battled hard and drew to within one with the extra attacker on the ice Damian Surma collected his seventh goal of the season with 27 seconds remaining the in contest.
Zepp suffered the loss in goal for Florida allowing the five goals on 35 shots to fall to 2-1-0, and Cloutier climbed to 2-0-0 by stopping 30 of 34 Florida shots. On the night, the Everblades finished 0-for-4 on the power play, and the Ice Pilots converted on two of their five power play chances.
Florida begins a six-game west coast swing on Thursday, November 4 when the team travels to San Deigo to take on the Gulls beginning at 10:05 p.m. EST. You can hear all of the Everblades action on SportsRadio 770 AM or via internet by visiting www.floridaeverblades.com, www.abc-7.com, and www.nbc-2.com with the "Voice of the Everblades" Kevin Reiter calling the play-by-play.
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