ECHL ECHL

Ice Dogs Win Team Record Six Consecutive Games

January 3, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Sweeping a three-game series at Victoria over the weekend, Long Beach extended its winning streak to six games. The Ice Dogs, who are 9-0-1 in their last 10 games, have improved to 18-8-3 moved into first place in the West Division of the National Conference with 39 points, one point ahead of Bakersfield (17-9-4). The current streak began on December 10 after a six-game winless streak (0-4-2) from November 24-December 4 that left the Ice Dogs at 9-8-2 and in fifth place in the division.

The six consecutive wins is an ECHL best for the Ice Dogs, who had won three games in a row twice this season after not winning three straight games in 2003-04. Long Beach has won four road games in a row, surpassing the team mark of three consecutive road wins on February 21-March 7, 2004, and four straight home games, surpassing the team record of three consecutive home wins on November 14-23, 2003.

Long Beach will conclude its current six-game road trip with games at Idaho on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The Ice Dogs have won the last two meetings, both played at Long Beach, with the defending Kelly Cup Champions beating Idaho 3-2 in a shootout on December 27 and 3-2 on December 29. Long Beach is 2-1-0 against the Steelheads in 2004-05 after going 3-5-2 in 2003-04.

In the last 10 games, Chris Kenady leads the team with three game-winning goals and eight goals and is tied for the lead in points (13) and plus-minus rating (+11). Kenady has moved into a tie for the league lead with six game-winning goals while ranking second in the ECHL with 17 goals and 17th in scoring with 28 points.

During the winning streak, Chris Madden, who came off injured reserve on December 15, has gone 4-0-0 with a goals-against average of 1.96 and a save percentage of .947 while Olivier Michaud has gone 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .942. Madden is 12-1-0 overall and leads the league with a goals-against average of 1.39 and a save percentage of .962. Madden is tied for second in the league with three shutouts and tied for third in wins.

Conference, Division Races Remain Close

As the New Year begins, the races for the Kelly Cup Playoffs remain tight as only nine points separate the top 16 teams in the league and 20 teams are within 12 points of Atlantic City which sits atop the ECHL with 42 points and a 19-6-4 record.

In the North Division of the National Conference, Atlantic City (19-6-4) is in first place with 42 points, four points ahead of Trenton (17-6-4). Wheeling is in third place with 37 points while Reading (16-9-1) and Johnstown (12-6-9) are tied for fourth place at 33 points.

Long Beach (18-8-3) is second in the league and atop the West Division of the National Conference with 39 points, one point ahead of Bakersfield (17-9-4). San Diego (15-8-4) is in third place with 34 points while Fresno (14-13-3) is in fourth place at 31 points, one point ahead of Alaska (14-12-2), Idaho (14-12-2) and Las Vegas (13-12-4).

In the American Conference, the top nine teams are separated by only six points. Florida (18-12-1) and Pensacola (17-8-3) are tied for first place in the South Division of the American Conference with 37 points while Pee Dee (17-10-2) and Charlotte (17-13-2) are tied for first place in the East Division with 36 points. Gwinnett (16-9-4) is tied with Pee Dee and Charlotte for third place in the conference with 36 points, one point ahead of Greenville (16-12-3) and three points ahead of Columbia (15-8-3) and Mississippi (15-12-3), tied for seventh place with 33 points. Louisiana (14-13-3) is in ninth place with 31 points. Because of geographical proximity in the American Conference, first-round playoff berths will be awarded to the top eight (8) teams - the first-place team in each division (based on regular-season point totals), as well as the next six-best teams (based on regular-season point totals). The two division winners will be seeded first and second (in order of points) and the next six-best teams (in order of points) will be seeded third through eighth. In the Conference Quarterfinals, the first-place team will meet the eighth-place team, the second-place team will meet the seventh-place team, the third-place team will meet the sixth-place team, and the fourth-place team will meet the fifth-place team. The Conference Quarterfinals are a best-of-five series and home ice is granted to those teams seeded first through fourth.

The playoff qualifiers in the National Conference will be the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the North Division and the top four teams with the highest regular-season point total from the West Division. The Division Semifinals will be best-of-five series with the first-place finisher meeting the fourth-place finisher and the second-place finisher meeting the third-place finisher.

Pride's Laplante Records ECHL Record-Tying Third Straight Shutout

In his first game since being activated from injured reserve, Pee Dee goaltender Sebastien Laplante made 24 saves in a 7-0 win against Columbia on Saturday. It was an ECHL record-tying third consecutive shutout for Laplante, who before being placed on injured reserve on November 21 made 28 saves in a 2-0 win at Florida on November 19 and had 13 saves in a 2-0 win against Columbia. The league record for consecutive shutouts was set by Darryl Paquette of Hampton Roads in 1996-97 and tied by Andrew Allen of Trenton in 2002-03.

Selected in the ninth round (277th overall) by Los Angeles in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, Laplante has not allowed a goal in 180:00 which is 56:03 shy of the league record of 236:03 set by Paquette from March 23-April 2, 1997. Wheeling's Dany Sabourin, who leads the league with five shutouts, had a shutout streak of 214:37 from October 30-November 11, during which he was 4-0-0 with two shutouts. Allen did not allow a goal for 199:40 from February 5-15, 2003.

During the streak, Laplante has improved to 6-2-0 while lowering his goals-against average from 3.88 to 2.30 while raising his save percentage from .841 to .901. Laplante and teammate Nick Boucher each have three shutouts, tying them for second in the league with Long Beach's Chris Madden and Atlantic City's Jake Moreland.

Pee Dee leads the league with six shutouts, one shy of the team record of seven shutouts in 1999-2000. Wheeling, which set the league record with 11 shutouts in 2003-04, is second in the league with six shutouts.

Greenville Streaking at Home

Beating South Carolina 7-5 on Saturday, Greenville extended its home winning streak to five games, surpassing the team record of four home wins in a row set December 30, 2001-March 1, 2002. The Grrrowl improved to 8-7-0 at home and 16-12-3 overall after finishing 2003-04 with a home record of 5-28-3 and an overall record of 14-53-5.

Greenville coach John Marks is 701-579-124 and has become the seventh professional coach to reach the 700-win plateau, joining Scotty Bowman (1,511), Al Arbour (904) John Brophy (846), Tommy McVie (708), Mike Keenan (792), and John Muckler (726). Marks leads active coaches with 1,404 professional games and ranks seventh all-time.

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