First-place showdown, diamond giveaway highlight Friday matchup with Mississippi

Published on December 12, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


The IceGators and Sea Wolves meet Friday at 7:05 p.m. at the Cajundome with first place in the Southwest Division once again on the line. The teams will meet for the eighth time this season (Louisiana holds a 5-1-1 edge), and in six of the meetings, first place has been on the line. As if that's not enough of a reason to head to the Cajundome, the IceGators will give away diamond earrings and a diamond bracelet (pictured below) as part of Try Your Luck night, sponsored by Starz Sports Memorabilia. The first 1,000 fans through the doors, which open at 6 p.m., will receive a free Chuck a Puck. While a set of the diamonds will go to the Chuck a Puck winner in the second period, the organization will be pulling lucky numbers throughout the night for great prizes. Complete game notes follow.

Sea Wolves at IceGators – Louisiana looks for its eighth win in 10 tries against Mississippi tonight when the Sea Wolves venture into the Cajundome for the 50th all-time meeting between the teams. Louisiana dropped a 4-3 overtime decision in Biloxi on November 30, but is still 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings with the Sea Wolves. This season, the IceGators are 5-1-1 versus Misssissippi. Back on November 30, newcomer Kent Davyduke scored just five seconds into overtime - tying a 14 year old ECHL record for the fastest goal in a period - as the Sea Wolves rallied by the IceGators, 4-3, at Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Dave Paradise had a pair of goals, including the tying score early in the third period for the Sea Wolves. IceGators rookie Kyle Kettles was outstanding in goal, turning aside a career-best 37 shots. Greg Gardner made 25 saves for Mississippi, and Darryl Campbell also scored. The shootout loss dropped the IceGators to 25-16-8 all-time against Mississippi. At home, Louisiana has enjoyed more success, going 15-6-2 versus the Sea Wolves.

Wednesday night – Steve Cheredaryk capped off a four-point night with the game-winning goal with 3:27 left in regulation, lifting the Baton Rouge Kingfish to a 6-5 win over the Louisiana IceGators at the Centroplex. Joe Guenther a goal and two assists, and Bryan Richardson scored twice for Baton Rouge, which improved to 4-1-1 in its last six. Nathan Rempel had a pair of goals, Bobby Brown, Kevin Mitchell each added a goal and an assist and Dennis Shiryaev also scored for the IceGators, who had their 10-game unbeaten in regulation streak (7-0-3) snapped and are winless in three straight. Jeff Blair made 24 saves for Baton Rouge, while Frederic Cloutier stopped 23 shots in net for the IceGators. The game was tied 5-5 after two periods, and Cheredaryk's goal was the third-period's lone tally. Richardson won the draw back to Cheredaryk, whose one-timer from the right point eluded Cloutier for his sixth goal of the season.

Scouting the Sea Wolves – After opening up a four-game road swing with a 4-1 win in Pensacola last night, Mississippi looks for its fourth win in five games tonight. Against the Ice Pilots, Cody Bowtell scored twice, Travis Lisabeth had a goal and an assist and Jim Baxter added three assists, as the struggling Sea Wolves' power play exploded for three tallies. Greg Gardner made 34 saves, including 15 in the first period, to improve to 13-7-2, and Kent Davyduke scored his second goal in as many games for Mississippi, which scored four unanswered goals and killed off all seven Pensacola power-play attempts. For much of the season, the Sea Wolves have had a four-pronged offensive attack, led by Dave Paradise (16g, 19a) and Steffon Walby (10g, 18a). Bowtell (11g, 16a) and Jim Baxter (7g, 21a) have also contributed heavily this season. Walby hasn't played in nearly two weeks due to injury, but he could return tonight. Davyduke, added last week from Trenton, is one of the most promising young players in the ECHL, and is averaging more than a point per game this season in his two stops. After that, though, the production decreases quickly, with Mike Scott's 13 points the next highest total. Greg Gardner has been the workhorse in goal this season for Mississippi, going 13-7-2 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .923 save percentage. Gardner has struggled, though, against the IceGators, going 2-4-0 with a 3.56 goals against average. Gardner's gaa against the rest of the league is 2.27, which would be good enough for third in the ECHL. Sean Matile has suffered through an injury-plagued season, but when he's healthy, he's performed well. Matile sports a 3-2-0 record with a sparkling 1.34 goals against average and a .954 save percentage.

First place on the line – In a familiar theme, Louisiana and Mississippi meet tonight with first place on the line. The IceGators, whose 35 points are one up on the Sea Wolves (Louisiana has a game in hand), have been in sole possession of first place since November 30, while Mississippi has had at least a share of second place every day since then. Louisiana's biggest lead was four points, on December 8. In six of the team's eight meetings this season counting tonight, first place has been on the line.

All-time meeting No. 50 – The IceGators and Sea Wolves meet tonight for the 50th time. That makes it the third-most often played rivalry for Louisiana. The IceGators have played Baton Rouge 64 times, and Mobile 55, and also Pensacola 50 times. This series is one of the most even in all of the ECHL. In the previous 49 games, the IceGators have 25 wins, while Mississippi owns 24.

Eight is enough – Mississippi and Louisiana are already meeting for the eighth time this season, as the IceGators have played 30 percent of their games against the Sea Wolves. No other set of ECHL teams has played each other more than six times this season. The Sea Wolves and IceGators meet again next Friday in Biloxi, then take more than a month off before their next meeting, on January 24 at the Cajundome.

Woods coaches game No. 100 – Mississippi head coach Bob Woods, who was the ECHL's all-time games played leader (599) when he retired following the 2000-01 season, coaches in his 100th game tonight. Woods has led the Sea Wolves to a 57-35-7 mark, including a 41-26-5, second-place record last season.

Another one-goal game would tie team record – The IceGators have played four straight one-goal games, and another one would tie the team record, set twice, most recently from February 10-21, 2001. The IceGators went 1-4-0 in those games. This is the eighth time that Louisiana has played in four straight one-goal games, counting the two five-game stretches.

McNeil passes Dumont - Shawn McNeil's assist Wednesday was his 240th point as an IceGator, moving him past Louis Dumont for fourth place on the team's all-time list. McNeil had already passed Don Parsons and teammate John DePourcq on the list this season. It will take McNeil a little while longer to go any higher than fourth; Jay Murphy is third at 366. McNeil's game-winner last Friday was his 17th with the team, tying him with Chris Valicevic, John Spoltore and Don Parsons for third place on the team's all-time list. Dumont is up next with 22, while Murphy leads the category with 39.

He's the guy who puts the special into teams – IceGators defenseman Kevin Mitchell has 31 points (5g, 26a) this season, and 24 of those points (4g, 20a), or 77.4 percent, have come special teams. Eight of Mitchell's 12 career goals (66.7 percent) have come on the power play.

Richardson in career-best form, and nearly tops in franchise history in points per game - Bruce Richardson's point streak is up to a career-best 10 games, with 10 goals and 12 assists in that span. Shawn McNeil has the longest IceGators point streak this season, an 11-game span to open the season. Richardson has 69 points (24g, 45a) in 46 games with Louisiana for an average of 1.5 points per game. That mark is third on the team's all-time list behind Bob Berg (1.60 ppg) and John Spoltore (1.56 ppg). Richardson is just ahead of Ron Handy, who averaged 1.49 ppg.

Mitchell one away from career-high point streak – IceGators defenseman Kevin Mitchell has 10 points (4g, 6a) in his six-game point streak, which is one off his season- and career-best. Mitchell opened up the 2002-03 season with at least one assist in each of the season's first seven games.

Helping out a friend - Shawn McNeil has 18 goals this season, and defenseman Kevin Mitchell has assisted on an astounding nine of the tallies. No other IceGator has assisted a teammate more this season.

Shiryaev tied with Maxwell - Dennis Shiryaev's fighting major Sunday was his 34th with the IceGators, tying him with Roger Maxwell for sixth on the team's all-time list. Shiryaev has played 17 fewer games. Eric Cloutier is up next on the list with 44 majors.

It's all about special teams – The IceGators are 10-1-1 when yielding one or less power play goal this season, but they are 5-5-4 when allowing two or more.

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 85 goals, four more than former teammate Jay Murphy, who had a hat trick last night.

Special teams critical in this series – Mississippi entered last night's win in Pensacola 24th in the ECHL on the power play, but the Sea Wolves clicked three times in six opportunities. Mississippi is just 3-for-46 (6.5 percent) on the power play against the IceGators this season, while the IceGators have scored on 13-of-48 (27.1 percent) of their chances with the man advantage versus the Sea Wolves. Shawn McNeil has five of his nine power-play goals this season against Mississippi.

Quick hits

Tony Tuzzolino has a career-best six-game point streak (6g, 5a).

Shawn McNeil has scored Louisiana's first goal in nine games this season, and 10 of his goals have given his team the lead. He has also scored the game's first goal in five contests.

Nathan Rempel has 199 penalty minutes in the ECHL

Dennis Shiryaev's goal Wednesday was his 50th career pro point and 20th career goal.

Frederic Cloutier needs one more win for 40 in his pro and IceGators career.

Last season, the IceGators failed to win just two games (45-1-1) when leading after two periods. This season, they are 12-0-3.

Shawn McNeil has already set a new career-high with nine power-play goals.

Dennis Shiryaev has tied a career-high with his current three-game point streak.

Bruce Richardson is tied for the team lead with Daniel Goneau with 11 multiple-point games, but Sunday and Wednesday were his first two on the road.

The IceGators are just 5-3-5 in one-goal games this season after going 21-5-4 in that same situation in 2001-02.

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ECHL Stories from December 12, 2002


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