Ice Dogs Slide Past Roadrunners in Shootout

by Andrew Nordmeier
November 10, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


There's a first time for everything, an old saying runs. Unfortunately for the Phoenix Roadrunners, their first time in overtime and the shootout didn't go as well as they hoped.

Cory Urquhart and James Sanford scored in the shootout and Ice Dogs' netminder Greg Hewitt stymied all four Roadrunner shooters to give Long Beach a 5-4 win. Long Beach is undefeated in five games now (4-0-1) while the Roadrunners are winless in four games (0-3-1).

It was surprising to see the game go to overtime and shootout as Phoenix held a 3-2 lead and momentum going into the third period. Then they stopped shooting and were losing draws at an alarming rate, which let Long Beach (4-4-1) back into the game. The Ice Dogs outshot the Roadrunners 19-7 over the third period and overtime.

First, Derick Martin scored at 11:03 of the third to knot the score at 3-3 when he beat Mole in the five-hole. Adam Kostichka responded for Phoenix when he batted a loose puck past Hewitt at 12:46 to make it 4-3 and put the Roadrunners in position for the win.

It didn't come to fruition as Chris Kenady scored at 14:34 to tie things up at 4-4. He crashed the net and pushed the loose puck past Mole who was caught out of position following a Phoenix turnover.

"You should never give up two one-goal leads in the third period and it that happened to night," Roadrunner forward Cory Pecker said, "We fought hard and played well but came up short."

Things didn't start out well for Phoenix (3-5-1) as they fell behind 2-0 in a 20-second mental lapse.

Ash Goldie scored on the power play to put the Ice Dogs up 1-0 at 14:03. The puck hit the stick of Phoenix defenseman Paul Ballantyne and came out to Goldie in front. Roadrunners' netminder Michael Mole was caught out of position and couldn't make the save off the odd hop. Twenty seconds later, Sean McAslan beat Mole from the low slot to give Long Beach a 2-0 edge. McAslan was left unguarded in front of the net and made no mistake from close range.

Normally, Phoenix would go into the second period, fall apart and never recover. This game was the exact opposite as Phoenix scored three in the period to lead 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Shawn Snider scored his fourth of the season on the power play at 2:57 to get Phoenix on the board. His backhander slipped in just under the crossbar and over the glove of Ice Dogs' netminder Greg Hewitt to make it a 2-1 game.

Phoenix tied it on one of the most bizarre goals most hockey fans will ever see. Speedy forward Cory Pecker came in on a breakaway and his shot was high and wide by about eight feet. The rebound hit the glass at just the right angle and bounced back towards the net. Hewitt ducked down and slid back to try and dodge it but it hit him in the back of the head. The puck rolled down his back and into the goal as he coasted deeper in the net. Pecker's goal at 6:08 tied the game and was the first of his two goals on the night.

Pecker struck again at 15:34 when his bullet of a shot beat Hewitt high to the glove side from the low slot. He gave Phoenix the lead and a reversal of fortune from the usual way second periods play out for the team.

"It's just a show for the players that they can achieve want they want when they put their mind to it and follow the system," Phoenix Head Coach Filion said.

Long Beach had a chance to tie in the waning moments of the period with a two-on-none breakaway but Phoenix goaltender Michael Mole stopped the chance and kept the Roadrunners' lead intact.

These two teams meet again Friday night at 7:11 PM at America West Arena as the Roadrunners seek their first win in their last five games.

"We need to play like we did in the second period and play as a group and put the puck on net and good things will happen." Filion said about what the team needs to do to get a win.

Pecker had the same vision on how the team needs to get a win.

"We've got to come out hard and skate well right from the drop of the puck," Pecker said "We've got to get the first goal and come with the same effort and hopefully we'll win the game"

Three Stars

3. Gaustad-PHX Two assists in the loss

2. Pecker-PHX Two goals in the losing effort

1. Urquhart-LB Game-winning goal in the shootout.

Notes...In between Long Beach's first two goals, the clock failed to run...Mole stopped 38-of-42 shots in the loss while Hewitt made 23 saves on 27 shots...Phoenix finished 1-of-4 on the power play ; Long Beach was 1-of-6 and scored just its second road power play goal this season...Roadrunners goaltender Mathieu Chouinard finally got rid of his old, bright orange San Diego Gulls pads in favor of sleeker white ones...The Ice Dogs had a goal disallowed in the third period when the net was knocked off its moorings as part of a rush...There was delay of several minutes starting the second period to make ice repairs. One of the zambonis dumped its snow load about 10 feet inside the blue line on the south end of the rink. That patch of ice was a little problematic for the rest of the night...Attendance was 2,819.



ECHL Stories from November 10, 2005


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central