Falcons Beat Ice Dogs 5-4 in Season Finale
April 10, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release
Fresno, Calif. - A day after being eliminated from the playoff race by the Long Beach Ice Dogs, the Fresno Falcons came back from an early three-goal deficit to defeat the Ice Dogs 5-4 in overtime at Save Mart Center.
It took the Ice Dogs less than a minute to score the game's first goal when Evan Cheverie knocked in a slap shot 51 seconds into the first period for a 1-0 Long Beach lead. The Ice Dogs went up 2-0 at 7:10 of the first after Marco Rosa's slap shot bounced off the goal post and past Fresno goaltender Jamie Hodson.
The Falcons cut the lead to 2-1 after Brian Stacey scored his third goal of the season at 8:36 of the period. Steeve Villeneuve pushed Long Beach's lead back to two with a power play goal at 14:47; 44 seconds later, Michael Lambert made the score 4-1 after he knocked in a rebound in front of Hodson. Fresno would not go down without a fight, however, and John Wroblweski shortened the Ice Dogs' lead to 4-2 with 13 seconds left in the first.
The Falcons netted the only goal of the second at 11:45 of the period when Terry Marchant controlled the puck on a break away and passed it at the bottom of the circles to David Brisson, who knocked it in for a 4-3 score that lasted for over 20 minutes of playing time.
Fresno kept up a strong attack through the third period. The continual offensive pressure paid off when Shaun Sutter tied the score at 4-4 after he grabbed a rebound and scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season, sending the teams into overtime.
Long Beach was aggressive to open the overtime period, but wasn't able to score a goal. At 3:12 of the extended play, Sam Ftorek scored the game-winning, season-ending goal that bounced off Long Beach goaltender Sebastien Centomo's blocker and into the net.
The victory in front of 5,034 gives Fresno a final record of 39-25-8, good for 86 points and fifth place in the ECHL West Division, narrowly missing the playoffs.
The Falcons look forward to the 2005-06 ECHL campaign and the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game and Skills Competition presented by Bud Light, which will be held at Save Mart Center on Jan. 24 and 25, 2006.
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