Ice Dogs Double Up Roadrunners 4-2

by Andrew Nordmeier
November 27, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


The Phoenix Roadrunners found themselves in an all-too familiar spot yet again. Their lack of shots on goal combined with some weak play put the Roadrunners (4-9-2) in a hole too deep to crawl out of. Phoenix dropped a 4-2 decision to the Long Beach Ice Dogs (7-7-2) Saturday night at America West Arena and remains last in the West Division three points behind Victoria.

Phoenix found itself down 3-0 at the end of two periods and tried to fight its way back against Long Beach. The Roadrunners tried to change momentum by pulling out starting goaltender Mathieu Chouinard in favor of Michael Mole. Phoenix played without Cory Pecker, the ECHL's third-leading scorer as he was loaned to the San Antonio Rampage on Friday and started in the Rampage's 4-0 loss to Milwaukee Saturday night.

"I wanted to shake things up," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said about the change in net. He made no mention of injury status as Chouinard has been bothered by groin problems.

The rally started with a power-play goal from J.F. Soucy at the 7:26 mark. Soucy found the rebound of defenseman Ed Hill's rocket that hit the crossbar and slipped it past Long Beach netminder Greg Hewitt for his second goal of the season. A Brad Woods howitzer from the point found the back of the net at 11:47 for his first professional goal and cut the deficit to 3-2.

"I think I gave a reality check to some of our guys," Filion said about Phoenix's improved play in the final period, "They think they have their job guaranteed here in Phoenix and their jobs are on the line. That's why they played the way they did."

Then, in a microcosm of their season, the Roadrunners gave up the backbreaking goal with 1:39 left. The play started out innocently enough. Long Beach center Cory Urquhart was at the side of the Phoenix net and tried to send a centering pass across. It didn't get there but it deflected off Mole's stick then Hill's stick and trickled into the back of the net.

Phoenix pulled Mole late trying to get back to within a goal but couldn't execute late and has just one win in its last 10 games (1-7-2). Phoenix was outshot 28-17 and the 17 shots was a season low for the Roadrunner offense. Long Beach finished 1-of-5 on the power play while Phoenix went 1-of-4.

Long Beach started the scoring with a goal 9:39 into the game. Christian Larrivee gave Long Beach the early lead when he slid the rebound of a Mike Vellinga shot past Chouinard for his seventh goal of the season.

The Ice Dogs scored twice more in the final five minutes of the second to establish a three-goal lead. First, Kevin Ulanski was the beneficiary of a 2-on-0 breakaway as he faked out Chouinard and beat him on the short side at 17:24 for his first professional goal. The goal was crushing as the ‘Runners just came off of an 88-second two-man advantage with just one shot on it. Ash Goldie's powerplay goal at 19:04 put Long Beach ahead by three.

"That's one thing that I can't answer," Filion said when asked why the Roadrunners didn't put forth the effort in the third period for the entire game, "For me it's all about guts and a lot of those guys they don't have guts."

Phoenix has a couple days to get back on track before they host the Victoria Salmon Kings Tuesday night at America West Arena. It may be a very different looking Roadrunner roster as Filion said he'd "probably try and make a few trades" to turn things around but didn't name who he was shopping around or looking to unload.

Three Stars

3. Snider-PHX-Strong effort on both ends of the ice.

2. Woods-PHX- First professional goal.

1. Goldie-LBH Game-winning goal; third in two games.

Notes: Phoenix is now 2-6-2 when allowing the first goal of the game and 0-9-0 when trailing after two periods...Phoenix is expecting to have Miguel LaFleche and Jason Deskins come back off the injured reserve list for Phoenix's next game...Phoenix wore throwback uniforms from the 1977-78 season and will be auctioning them off to help hurricane relief efforts; The uniforms are the fifth different jersey that the goaltenders have worn this season...The Ice Dogs have just 10 power play goals this year but three of them have come against Phoenix; They were 1-of-30 in their last seven games...The game started with a fight three seconds in between Phoenix's Brett Henley and Long Beach's Jimmy Bonneau...Attendance was 4,533.



ECHL Stories from November 27, 2005


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