Frostbite look to rebound after back-to-back losses to Danbury

April 18, 2005 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Adirondack Frostbite News Release


The Frostbite returned to the playoffs after a one year hiatus and dropped two overtime thrillers to the Danbury Trashers Friday and Saturday night. Friday evening, each team exchanged goals in the second period for the only scoring in regulation. In overtime, Danbury scored the controversial game winner when Frostbite goaltender Derek Gustafson was knocked down by Danbuy's Bruce Richardson. No penalty was called and with Gustafson unable to get back into the net Mike Bayrack dumped the puck into the empty net for the 2-1 overtime victory. Saturday it took three overtimes to decide a winner after each team scored twice in regulation. Both teams had great opportunities in the first two extra sessions, but it was Jonathan Gagnon who put home a rebound off an errant shot from Francis Belanger towards the end of the third overtime to give the Trashers a 3-2 victory and a 2-0 series lead.

Frostbite – 1 vs. Danbury – 2 (OT)
Friday, April 15th
To say the Adirondack Frostbite lost a heartbreaker Friday night would be an understatement. Mike Bayrack's questionable overtime goal gave the Danbury Trashers a 2-1 victory over the Adirondack Frostbite heading into game two on Saturday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center. After 60 minutes of exciting playoff hockey, the game went into the extra session and had a very controversial ending. Danbury's Bruce Richardson while skating hard to the goal ended up knocking over Adirondack goaltender Derek Gustafson, allowing Bayrack to tap a lose puck into an open net. The goal was allowed and sent the 2,500 fans in attendance home in shock. The Frostbite opened the scoring on the power play midway through the second period when Frank Bakrlik converted on the man advantage. Danbury tied the score late in the middle period sending the game to overtime.

Frostbite – 2 vs. Danbury 3 (3OT)
Saturday, April 16th
The Adirondack Frostbite and Danbury Trashers played an instant classic on Saturday night extending into Sunday morning at the Glens Falls Civic Center. Jonathan Gagnon's goal at 17:09 of the third overtime gave Danbury a 3-2 win and 2-0 series lead over the Frostbite. The two divisional rivals followed Friday's controversial Trashers win with a game for the ages on Saturday. Adirondack fell behind early Saturday when Bruce Richardson scored just 35 seconds into the opening period. Adirondack responded on the power play when Hugo Belanger tallied at the 7:26 mark of the first period. After Jay Murphy gave Danbury a 2-1 lead late in the first period, Sylvain Cloutier tied the score at 2-2 when he converted on the power play at the 13:36 mark of the second period. In the overtimes, both teams had several chances to end the game, but both Adirondack's Derek Gustafson and Danbury's Scott Stirling were outstanding between the pipes.

SERIES NOTES:
PLAYOFF MATCH-UPS: After two games have been played in each of the four first round series three teams find themselves down 2-0 including the Adirondack Frostbite. Danbury leads the Frostbite 2 games to 0, Fort Wayne leads Missouri 2 games to 0 and Rockford leads Kalamazoo 2 games to 0. The only series that is even at the moment is Quad City and Muskegon. Each team has won a game a piece. Three series resume Tuesday, while the Frostbite and Trashers do not play until Wednesday.

INCREDIBLY CLOSE: The first two games between the Frostbite and Trashers have been nail biters with the Trashers winning both in overtime. Neither team has led by a goal in either of the games. Coming into the post-season the Frostbite dominated in the regular season in one-goal games with a record of 23-7-8, but are 0-2 in the playoffs.

SPECIAL TEAMS SUCCESS: The three goals the Frostbite have scored in the playoffs have all been on the power play. Adirondack is scoring one out of every three times they get on the man advantage. On the penalty kill the Frostbite have allowed only one power play goals in the first two playoff games.

GOALTENDING GREATNESS: Both Adirondack's Derek Gustafson and Danbury's Scott Stirling have dominated during the first two playoff games. In Saturday night's game Gustafson had 99:33 straight of scoreless hockey. He also made 77 saves and has a goals against average of 1.65. Scott Stirling has been just as impressive with a goals against average of 0.99 and a total of 87 saves.

RECORD SETTING SATURDAY: Saturday night's game between the Frostbite and Trashers that went into triple overtime set two UHL Colonial Cup Playoff records. It was the longest playoff game, lasting 117:09. The previous longest playoff game lasted 105:49 on May 7, 1998 when the Flint Generals defeated the Quad City Mallards. In that same game 121 shots were taken, which was a UHL Colonial Cup Playoff record. That was also broken Saturday evening when the Frostbite and Trashers combined for 124 shots.

TRANSACTIONS:
Monday, April 11th – The Adirondack Frostbite placed Right Wing Lyon Porter on the 21-Day IR (Unable to Perform List)
Friday, April 15th – The Rochester Americans (AHL) reassigned Right Wing Ryan Bennett to the Adirondack Frostbite
Friday, April 15th – The Adirondack Frostbite activated Right Wing Frank Bakrlik from the 7-Day Injured Reserve
Friday, April 15th – The Adirondack Frostbite activated Right Wing Trevor Segstro from the 14-Day Injured Reserve
Saturday, April 16th – The Adirondack Frostbite activated Defenseman David Vychodil from the 10-Day Injured Reserve

THE UPCOMING WEEK:
Adirondack vs. Danbury – Wednesday, April 20th, Friday, April 22nd, Saturday, April 23rd* & Sunday, April 24th*
The Adirondack Frostbite will play its 20th, 21st, 22nd and 23rd game this season against the Danbury Trashers, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday at the Danbury Ice Arena and Saturday at the Glens Falls Civic Center. The Frostbite are 10-8-1 against the Trashers this season, falling in their last match-up 3-2 in triple overtime. Hugo Belanger leads Adirondack in head-to-head scoring against Danbury with 25 points (9g, 16a). Bruce Richardson leads the Trashers in head-to-head scoring against the Frostbite with 20 points (6g, 14a).



International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 18, 2005


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