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Gators swamped three in a row by Everblades

March 7, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


For the Week: 0-3-0

Season record: 19-31-6, 44 points, 5th place in the South Division

Leading scorers: Wes Mason 26-29-55, Chris Thompson 16-23-39

Lafayette, LA – The Louisiana IceGators completed their four game series with the Florida Everblades last week, losing all three contests. With 16 games left in the regular season, the Gators would have to go at least 12-4-0 to avoid the first losing season in franchise history.

Last Week

Wednesday, the Louisiana IceGators gave up a team record three goals in a 1:01 span of the second period, as Florida rolled to a 6-2 victory. After first period goals by Jade Galbraith and Shawn Skiehar made the score 2-2, the Everblades went on a tear in the 2nd period as Kris Vernansky, Greg Hornby and Reggie Berg scored just 61 seconds apart to break open a close game and send Florida on it's way to a 6-2 victory.

Saturday, the scene shifted to Estero, Florida but the results remained the same. After a tightly played first period, the Gators gave up three second period goals in a span of 7:02 as the Everblades rolled to a 4-1 victory. Max Fortunus lit the lamp on the power play at 16:07 of the 3rd period for the only IceGators goal of the night.

Sunday, on a night when Kyle Kettles brilliance kept the Gators in the game, a penalty call on the Louisiana goalie with 1:37 remaining in the game led to a Simon Trembley power play goal and a 4-2 Everblades win. Josh Barker and Jim Shepherd scored for Louisiana and Kettles stopped 47 of 50 shots on the night.

The Nominees are: The IceGators nominees for ECHL of the weekly awards are defenseman Max Fortunus and Goalie Kyle Kettles.

The Week Ahead

The Gators will continue to play on the road with the final long bus trip of the year. On Friday, the team will take on the Gwinnett Gladiators at 6:35pm CST. Louisiana is 1-4-0 against Gwinnett this season losing the only game in Gwinnett this season, 5-3 on January 11. Saturday night the Gators will make their final visit to North Charleston to face the South Carolina Stingrays. On January 22, the Gators dropped a 3-1 decision in their only contest against the Rays this season.

Broadcast Info: The game on Friday can be heard on 960am "The Gator". In addition to the radio broadcasts, all games can be heard via the internet at www.icegators.com. Both games this week can be viewed on the web via the B2 network and the team website.

Notes

Saving the day: With 47 saves against Florida on Sunday night, Kyle Kettles set a season high for most saves in a game by an IceGators goalie. Nathan Marsters held the record of 43 set on November 13 at Mississippi, a 2-1 (SO) win

Leonard Lurking: Prior to Sunday's game rookie Roger Leonard had assists in his last four games. For the rookie from Bowling Green, this is a career high as he registered 5 assists during the four games.

Net Returns: During his 4 year career at RPI, Nathan Marsters never played more than 35 games in an entire season. Through Sunday, the All-Star rookie has set an IceGators rookie record, by appearing in 4 games. Marsters is the ECHL leader in minutes played (2447), saves (1276) and losses (23).

Racing toward 30: With 26 goals this season, Wes Mason needs only four more goals to become the 2nd Gator in the last two seasons to reach the 30 goal plateau. Bobby Brown, with 33 goals last season, is the only Gator to reach 30 goals in the last two campaigns.

Breaking even: Of all the players who have played more than 40 games for the Gators this season, Josh Barker and Chris Thompson are the only players with a plus rating. Both lead the team with a +/- rating at +2.

Plametto Problems The game on Saturday is the IceGators last chance to win a game in the state of South Carolina. The Gators are 0-6-2 in the Palmetto state and 1-6-3 overall against Greenville, South Carolina, Columbia and PeeDee this season.

Community News

"Gator Talk" at Tampico's will return this week, Tuesday Night at 7pm. Join Head Coach Todd Gordon and Bruce LeVine for all the fun and discussion of IceGators hockey. Wes Mason and Joe Dustin are the scheduled guests on this week's show.

With the top 28 basketball tournament at the Cajundone, all practices will take place at the Hockeyplex in Carencro, beginning at 10am.. The team will leave Wednesday for the weekend set on the East coast, departure time TBA

Project MAMA

For the entire season the Gators are encouraging fans to participate in the Project MAMA. A list of supplies needed by our local troops serving overseas is listed at http://www.icegators.com/news/?cat=1&id=627 and in the lobby of the Cajundome for during every IceGators home game.. The team will have drop off points at the Cajundome for every home game and the effort will culminate our next Armed Forces Nights on March 20, 2005. On this night, children of our deployed troops will have a special day of IceGators hockey complete with a tour of the locker room and a picture with their favorite player. That picture along with supplies will be sent to loved ones overseas. Any business wanting to participate in project MAMA by donating tickets for these families, can call the IceGators office at (337) 234-4423.

Individual game tickets for all regular season home games are on sale now. Tickets are available at the Cajundome Box Office, and all TicketMaster outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information call the IceGators office at (337) 234-4423.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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