Ice Dogs Squander Lead, Win In Shootout 4-3

Published on March 16, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Long Beach Ice Dogs News Release


LONG BEACH, Calif. - The Long Beach Ice Dogs (33-20-8) had trouble again holding onto a lead, but still earned two points by out-scoring the Fresno Falcons (35-11-13). The win put the Ice Dogs nine points behind the first place Falcons in the Pacific Division.

The game's first goal was scored by Ben Knopp at 13:42 of the opening period from Justin Aikins and Ash Goldie. Then less than two minutes later, Christian Larrivee made it 2-0 Ice Dogs when he scored from Sean McAslan and Steeve Villeneuve.

Midway through the second, Goldie scored unassisted to give the Ice Dogs a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead, until Fresno started to wake up. At 17:37, Jean-Franco Plourde put the Falcons on the board from Matt O'Dette and Luke Curtin to make it a 3-1 game.

The third period was all Fresno, with Plourde scoring at 4:59 from Dustin Vanballengooie and Fraser Clair to make it 3-2. At 10:32, the game was all tied up when Curtin scored from Clair and Shawn Mather. Fresno then nearly won it in the waning seconds before Long Beach goaltender, Olivier Michaud, kicked the puck away just before it was about to cross the goal line.

After a scoreless sudden death overtime period, the game went into a shootout with both teams remaining tied after four shooters apiece. After a Fresno miss, Christian Larrivee had the final shot for Long Beach and scored to give the Ice Dogs the 4-3 win.

Olivier Michaud had 35 saves in the win, while Jamie Holden took the overtime loss for Fresno with 12 saves. He came in to relieve Brett Jaeger in the second period after Jaeger gave up three goals on 13 shots. The Ice Dogs finished 0-1 on the power play while the Falcons went 2-4.

The Ice Dogs head up to Fresno on Friday to take on the Falcons in a two game series on the road. Long Beach will return home next Wednesday for a match-up with the Victoria Salmon Kings at 7 pm. For more information, call (562) ICE-DOGS for visit www.icedogs.com.

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