Falcons Sweep Ice Dogs

December 22, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release


LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Fresno Falcons overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat the Long Beach Ice Dogs 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday in front of 4,570 at Long Beach Arena. The victory came on the heels of Fresno's 5-4 shootout triumph the night before. Both contests needed extra shooters and both were decided by goals from player/assistant Glen Gulutzan.

Fresno got off to a sluggish start in the first period as Long Beach took a 1-0 lead 2:11 into the game off Pat Brush's first goal as a pro. Tyler Willis would make it 2-0 when he beat Falcons netminder Mark Gowan with a backhand at 16:31, and Fresno headed to the second trailing by a pair.

The Falcons finally beat Ice Dogs goaltender Mike Buzak at 13:10 of the second period when Colin Embley sent home his eighth of the year off passes from linemates Mike Barrie and Tyler Prosofsky.

Still trailing 2-1 as the third began, Fresno was handed a two-man advantage early in the frame. With another delayed call in effect, Cory Murphy beat Buzak off a wrister at 2:18 to tie the game at two. The Falcons were unable to find the go-ahead goal despite the five-on-three situation continuing plus another four-minute power play immediately following, and the teams headed to their second straight shootout.

On Friday night it took eight rounds before Gulutzan provided the difference and Saturday's tie-breaker needed sudden-death as well. This time Gulutzan was the sixth shooter and after beating Buzak again, Gowan stopped an effort from Willis to secure the 3-2 win.

The four-point weekend brings the Falcons back to .500 at 10-10-3. Their 23 points put them fifth in the standings, one point behind Long Beach and eight points back of the third place San Diego Gulls. Fresno has now gone to a shootout in each of its last three games.

The Falcons' next game is against the Bakersfield Condors on Thursday, Dec. 26, before they return home for two games to finish out the calendar year. They will play the second half of a home-and-home series with Bakersfield on Friday, Dec. 27, and then welcome the Ice Dogs to Selland Arena on Saturday, Dec. 28. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m. with tickets still available at the Selland box office, at all Ticketmaster locations and online at www. ticketmaster.com.



ECHL Stories from December 22, 2002


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