Gulls Blank Roadrunners 3-0
by Andrew Nordmeier
February 25, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners
Steve Hildenbrand scored twice and Tom Lawson stopped all 30 Phoenix shots to lead the San Diego Gulls to a 3-0 win over the Roadrunners Friday night at the US Airways Center.
In a game that featured a combined 20 power-play opportunities for both teams, San Diego (21-23-5) the only one and it proved to be enough to get the win over Phoenix (18-29-3). The Gulls finished 1-of-13 with the man advantage while Phoenix was 0-for-7 despite hanging four power play goals in the Utah Grizzlies three nights earlier.
"That's why we couldn't come back at the end," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said, "Those guys that killed the penalties had empty tanks, they were dead tired so they couldn't come back and score."
The game was filled with penalties and an early revenge fight just 28 seconds into the game. That was when Doug MacIver, making his first appearance in Phoenix since jumping on the back of Roadrunner forward Ben Knopp and tearing both of his medial collateral ligaments in late October, got pummeled by Garrett Burnett and seemed to cool off the revenge factor very quickly.
Hildenbrand struck first at 13:52 of the second period. He found a loose puck and jammed it up off the crossbar, trickling down over the glove of Phoenix netminder Ryan Cyr and into the net for his 18rh goal of the season. Jesse Bennefield and former Roadrunner Mark Wires picked up the assists on the first goal.
He struck again 50 seconds into the third period for a back-breaking goal. A San Diego defenseman blocked a shot and the rebound came out perfectly to Hildenbrand, springing him on a breakway at his own blue line. A few seconds and 110 feet of ice later, he ripped a missile over Cyr's blocker to make it 2-0.
A controversial call for a high-sticking double-minor on Brent Henley at 10:01 of the third led to a 10-minute misconduct for the Roadrunner defenseman. It took one of Phoenix's better penalty killers off the ice for the rest of the night and further crippled Phoenix's chance to come back.
San Diego's Pierre-Luc Sleigher added an empty-net goal with eight seconds left to close the scoring.
"Our guys didn't show up for the game and weren't ready. They were undisciplined," Filion said, "San Diego showed up to play a hockey game and we didn't."
The Roadrunners hopped on a bus and took a long ride to Long Beach where they battle the Ice Dogs Saturday night before heading back home and taking on the Grizzlies to close out a three game, three night weekend.
"That's the beauty of playing pro hockey, you don't have much time to cry about your losses," Filion said, "Tomorrow we need to get back on the saddle and go back to work."
Three Stars
3. Lawson-SD 30-save shutout
2. Cyr-PHX Stopped 40 of 42 shots and kept his team in the game
1. Hildenbrand-SD Two goals in the win
Notes: Cyr is still seeking his first professional win and his first win at any level since the 2004-2005 season in the Western Hockey League...The Roadrunners' "French Connection" line of Miguel Lafleche, Mike Ouellet and Justin Quenneville was silenced, stopping their run of 34 points in their last 12 games; Quenneville's seven-game point scoring streak went by the boards as well...San Diego picked up its first road win since January 21st at Long Beach...Of the 10 goals San Diego has scored against Phoenix, six have them have come in the second period...San Diego has scored just twice in the second period this month...San Diego is 2-for-53 on the power play this season against Phoenix...Attendance was a season-high 5,438.
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