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Farrish goes after win No. 399 tonight

January 3, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


IceGators at RiverBlades – Arkansas tries to even the season series at four games apiece tonight when the RiverBlades welcome Louisiana to ALLTEL Arena. The IceGators are 4-1-2 this season against Arkansas in a tightly contested rivalry that has seen four of the seven meetings go into overtime or a shootout. Louisiana won the last meeting impressively, 6-2 at the Cajundome on December 21, as Nathan Rempel and Daniel Goneau each scored two goals and Frederic Cloutier made 31 saves. Rempel, who added an assist, and Bobby Brown (1g, 2a) each had three points for the IceGators. Ernie Hartlieb had two goals and Buddy Smith added two assists for Arkansas. Jason Saal stopped just three of 12 shots before getting pulled late in the first period. Prior to the blowout, the last three games had all gone into extra time, with Arkansas winning twice. Louisiana, which is 1-0-1 at ALLTEL Arena this season, sports an 18-7-5 all-time mark against the RiverBlades, including a 12-2-2 mark in the last 16 meetings. The IceGators are 8-3-3 all-time in North Little Rock, going 4-1-1 in the last six meetings.

Wednesday night – Dave Stewart scored the game-winner in the shootout and Tyrone Garner made 24 saves, then all four in the shootout, as the Jackson Bandits outlasted the Louisiana IceGators, 3-2, at Mississippi Coliseum. Josh Olson and Billy Newson each scored for Jackson, which moved past Pensacola into fourth place in the Southwest Division. Kyle Kettles made 36 saves for Louisiana, which is still unbeaten in regulation in nine straight (6-0-3) but had its five-game winning streak snapped. Daniel Goneau and Dennis Shiryaev scored and Bruce Richardson added two assists for the IceGators, who hit the ice just 15 hours after their emotional 3-2 come-from-behind New Year's Eve victory over Baton Rouge.

Scouting the RiverBlades – Arkansas, in first place as late as November 28, is currently third in the Southwest Division with 40 points, but could be in fifth by the end of the weekend, as fifth-place Pensacola is just two points behind the RiverBlades. Arkansas is winless in its last two (0-1-1) and has just two wins in its last seven games (2-4-1). The RiverBlades are coming off a 4-3 shootout loss in Pensacola on Saturday night, a game that saw them rally from two goals down to tie the game early in the second period. The Ice Pilots then took a 3-2 lead late in the second, before Mike Cirillo tied things up for Arkansas at the 12:30 mark of the third to earn a point for his team, despite falling in the shootout. Mike Sandbeck and Terry Marchant also scored for Arkansas, while Garry Toor had two assists. Jason Saal made 32 saves for the RiverBlades. Pensacola accomplished what few ECHL teams have been able to this season, keep Buddy Smith and Ernie Hartlieb off the scoresheet. Smith, an All-Star selection this season, has 47 points (17g, 30a) in 36 games, while Hartlieb has 37 points (16g, 21a). The duo leads a quintet of players that have already reached the 30-point mark. The RiverBlades also have a strong defensive corps that can find the scoreboard. Eric Long (5g, 25a) and former IceGator Matt Pagnutti (9g, 17a) are the team's fifth and sixth leading scorers, respectively. Eight of Pagnutti's nine goals have come on the power play. Saal has had most of the workload this season, going 12-10-5 with a 3.14 goals against average and a .900 save percentage. Jimi St. John, who relieved Saal in the December 21 game at the Cajundome, is 5-3-1 with a 3.36 goals against average and a .893 save percentage.

Four straight OT's ties franchise record – The IceGators have played four straight overtime/shootout games, matching a franchise record. Louisiana also played in four consecutive overtime/shootout games from January 10-17, 2001. The IceGators are still five games shy of the ECHL record for consecutive extra time games. Their three straight overtime/shootout games on the road are a new franchise record, bettering the old mark of two, which was set four times.

More overtime snippets – The IceGators have gone to overtime 14 games this season, most in the ECHL. The IceGators are 3-4 in overtime games and 3-4 in games decided in a shootout. Louisiana is 3-2 after regulation at home but just 3-6 on the road. The most times that the IceGators have gone into overtime or a shootout in one season is 18, in 1999-2000. That season, Louisiana was 9-9, including a 7-3 home mark. The ECHL record for most overtime/shootout games in a season is 25, by Toledo in the 1995-96 campaign.

Richardson on pace for 100 points – Bruce Richardson has six assists in his last three games. He has 52 points at the season's midway point of 36 games and is on pace to become the IceGators' first 100-point scorer since John Spoltore had 119 points in the 1999-2000 season. Spoltore, Don Parsons, Ron Handy and Bob Berg are the only IceGators to ever notch 100 points in a season. All of this is even more impressive when you realize that Richardson's previous career-high in points was 49, set with three teams, including Louisiana, in the 2000-01 campaign.

Brown still looking for goal No. 150 –IceGators forward Bobby Brown, who played in his 450th career game Tuesday, needs one more goal for 150 in his pro career, while he is also one assist shy of 100 in his ECHL career. Brown has 361 points (149g, 212a) in 451 professional games. McNeil reaches 250 – Shawn McNeil has 250 points in his 238 games with the IceGators, just the fourth player in team history with 250 points. McNeil, who has all of his pro points with Louisiana, has 114 goals and 136 assists with the IceGators. His 114 goals are three behind Don Parsons for third place on the team's all-time list, while his 136 assists are just one behind Louis Dumont for fifth. McNeil had a nine-game point streak snapped Tuesday, despite scoring the deciding shootout goal. McNeil is without a point in his last two games for the first time since March 2-5 of last season. McNeil last went three straight games without a point from December 22-27 of last season and has gone four straight without a point just once in his career, in his rookie season in 1999-2000. Cloutier has won five straight... – Frederic Cloutier has won five straight starts, tying a season-high, which he accomplished by winning his first five games this season. Cloutier's 5-0-0 stretch comes after an 0-2-1 span, and in his last five games, Cloutier sports a 2.11 goals against average and a .930 save percentage. Cloutier has lowered his goals against average from 3.19 to 2.97 since December 13.

But he's not the only goalie playing well – Kyle Kettles has played in less than half the games of his counterpart, but his laurels are also impressive. Kettles is in the midst of an eight-game unbeaten in regulation streak (4-0-4) and hasn't lost in regulation in nearly two months, since a 4-3 loss in Columbus on November 2. Each of Kettles' last five games have gone into overtime or a shootout.

Special teams update – The IceGators have gone back-to-back games without yielding a power-play goal for the first time this season. Louisiana hasn't scored a power play in its last three games, the first time that's happened since a seven-game stretch from October 17-November 9, 2001.

McNeil leads all ECHL goal scorers, since 2000-01 – Shawn McNeil has more goals than any other ECHL player since the beginning of the 2000-01 season. McNeil has 87 goals, three more than former teammate Jay Murphy, who is currently on IR with Greensboro.

Halfway home – The IceGators hit the halfway mark of the season on Wednesday with 50 points, most in the ECHL. The start tied their third-best 36-game record in team history. The IceGators' best 36-game record was last season (62 points), while in 1998-99 they had 54 and in 1995-96 they also had 50 points.

Home sweet home – Arkansas goaltender Jason Saal is no doubt happy to return home after going 0-3-1 in his last four road games. At ALLTEL Arena this season, Saal is 7-3-3 with a 2.21 goals against average and a .928 save percentage. On the road, Saal is 5-7-2 with a 4.07 goals against average and a .875 save percentage. Saal, who played for the IceGators in the 2000-01 season, is 5-6-4 with a 3.80 goals against average in 15 career games against Louisiana.

Quick hits

· Arkansas' Buddy Smith (4g, 11a) and Jason Bermingham (6g, 5a) have combined for 16 points against the IceGators this season.

· Bruce Richardson has at least a point in each of the seven meetings between these teams this season. He has nine points (1g, 8a) against the RiverBlades this season and has an assist in six of the seven games.

· Daniel Goneau has seven points (5g, 2a) in the last four meetings with Arkansas.

· Arkansas' Jason Saal has allowed at least three goals in each of his last six games, while Louisiana's Frederic Cloutier has yielded two or less in each of his last four contests. The goalies have also started all seven meetings between the teams this season.

· Two of Bobby Brown's three, three-point games this season have come against Arkansas.

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