Gianfrancesco Leads Seals Past Fayetteville
December 15, 2006 - SPHL (SPHL)
Florida Seals News Release
KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The last time the Florida Seals and Fayetteville FireAntz met on the ice, it was winner take all in the deciding game of a playoff series.
Friday night at the Silver Spurs Arena, the home standing Seals got two goals from Phil Gianfrancesco as they hung on to defeat Fayetteville 5-3 for their third consecutive victory.
"I'm starting to get my confidence back. The guys are making me feel really at home," Gianfrancesco said. "Tommy's (Seals Coach Stewart) really given me confidence as well playing me with two great guys in (Chad) Haacke and (Ryan) Coghlan. They're a great aspect of this team here and they're helping me make myself a better player."
Coming off a big effort on Tuesday against Jacksonville, Florida seemed to be back on their heels in the first period. Thanks in part to three consecutive Seals penalties, the FireAntz held a sizeable shot advantage but Florida goalie Matt Balser held the fort, making 22 saves. On the other end, FireAntz goalie Garrett Kindred, thrust into the starting role after Chad Collins was called up to the ECHL, handled all eight shots he faced.
"We should have put the game away in the first period," Fayetteville Coach John Marks said. "We had plenty of scoring chances. I thought Balser played very well."
The Seals finally got on the board in the second as Coghlan fed Gianfrancesco in the slot. Gianfrancesco's wrist shot beat Kindred for the 1-0 Florida lead. They held the margin until the final four minutes of the stanza when Tim Velemirovich jammed the puck past Balser. Balser kept the score tied when in the final minute he robbed Josh Piro with a diving save.
Things got wild in the third. The Seals went back in front on a power play goal by Scott Corbett 1:01 into the period. A little over a minute later, Gianfrancesco picked up his second of the night when Haacke found him again in the slot for a wicked wrister.
Fayetteville wouldn't go away. Nick Kormanyos beat Balser at the 3:38 mark to close the gap to 3-2. Florida got that one back at 4:27 when Tim Vitek followed his own shot and muscled the rebound home for yet another man advantage score. The Seals opened the lead to three goals at 12:23 when Lawne Snyder (three assists on the night) sent Justin Keller away on a break down the wing. Keller got into the face-off circle and blasted a slap shot through Kindred to make it 5-2. BJ Stephens scored a power play goal for Fayetteville in the final minute for the final score of the game. For the game, Balser made 44 saves while Kindred stopped 36 at the other end.
"Fayetteville is a good hockey club. It was 1-1 going into the third and holy smokes we score four and they score two to make it interesting," Seals Coach Stewart said. "The guys are battling. The guys have got the edge back. The Knoxville win was huge. We're riding high. We're playing great and we're getting great goaltending and everybody's playing well."
The two teams will meet again on Saturday night at the Silver Spurs Arena. It is "Toys For Tots" night. All fans are asked to bring a new, unwrapped toy to donate to the Marine's annual campaign. Game time is 7:35 p.m.
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