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Ice Pilots Win Team Record, ECHL Season-High 10 Games

February 14, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Posting back-to-back home wins over Texas on Friday and Saturday, Pensacola extended its winning streak to 10 games and its home winning streak to seven games. The 10 wins ties the ECHL season high by South Carolina (January 7-February 1). The seven home wins tie the league season high by Columbia (December 10-January 21), Charlotte (December 28-January 28) and Peoria (December 28-January 29).

Ironically, the Ice Pilots will go for their 11th straight win and their eighth home win in a row against South Carolina on Monday.

The 10 wins eclipses the team record of seven set October 27-November 5, 2000 while the seven home wins in a row is the most in Pensacola and ties the all-time team record set March 6-23, 1996 in the final season in Nashville.

The Ice Pilots are 32-11-4 and remain atop the league in wins, points (68), road wins (16) and winning percentage (.723). The Ice Pilots, who are 15-2-1 in their last 18 games, are two points ahead of Bakersfield (29-12-8) and three points ahead of Long Beach (30-14-5), which are first and second in the West Division of the National Conference. Pensacola is nine points ahead of Charlotte (28-17-3), which leads the East Division, for the top seed in the American Conference.

Pensacola will travel to Florida for games on Friday and Saturday against the Everblades, who are 26-15-6 and 10 points behind the Ice Pilots in the South Division of the American Conference.

Winning six consecutive starts, Frederic Cloutier is 8-0-0 with a shutout, a goals against average of 1.86 and a save percentage of .947 during the Ice Pilots streak. Cloutier, who was the ECHL Goaltender of the Year in 2002, is 20-19-3 with a goals-against average of 2.44 and a save percentage of .926. He is tied for the league lead in wins while ranking third in saves (948) and tied for fifth in shutouts with three. All-Star rookie goaltender Todd Ford, who is currently on call up to St. John's of the American Hockey League, is 2-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.00 and a save percentage of .927 during the streak.

All-Star forward Tyler Beechey leads the Ice Pilots during the streak with 11 assists and 15 points. Beechey leads the league with 60 points and eight game-winning goals while his 37 assists tie him for second in the ECHL. Two-time All-Star defenseman Corey Neilson is second on the team during the streak with nine assists and 14 points while his five goals tie him for the team lead the last 10 games with Scott May (5g-8a), Jordan Krestanovich (5g-8) and Aaron Phillips (5g-7a). Neilson leads ECHL defensemen in goals (12), assists (30), points (42) and game-winning goals (3) while he is tied for the league lead with six power-play goals. He is second among defensemen with 21 power-play points and tied for second with 15 power-play assists. Neilson was named ECHL Defenseman of the Year in 2003-04 after leading league defensemen in points (78) and assists (59) while tying for the lead in goals (19).

Six West Teams Battle For Four Spots, North Becoming Five-Team Race

The Kelly Cup Playoff race in the West Division of the National Conference remains close as 13 points separate six teams battling for four playoff berths.

Bakersfield overcame a 4-0 first-period deficit to post a 5-4 overtime win against Long Beach on Saturday and improve to 29-12-8, allowing the Condors to move back into first place with 66 points. Long Beach is 30-14-5 and in second place with 65 points, three points ahead of Alaska which swept three games from North Division leader Wheeling to improve to 29-15-4 and 17-8-3 at home. Holding onto the division's final postseason slot is Fresno with 57 points (26-17-5), two points ahead of San Diego (25-17-5) and four points ahead of defending Kelly Cup Champion Idaho, which has won its last four games, all on the road, to improve to 25-20-3.

Long Beach has 14 more points than its inaugural ECHL season total of 51 and it has 30 wins, 16 home wins and 14 road wins, surpassing its totals of 23 wins, 13 home wins and 10 wins. Bakersfield has seven more points than its inaugural ECHL season total of 59 and its has 29 wins, 15 home wins and 14 road wins, surpassing its totals of 25 wins, 14 home wins and 11 road wins. Greenville in the East Division of the American Conference has the largest point gain from last season with 19. The Grrrowl is 24-18-4 and has 52 points after finishing 2003-04 with 23 points (14-53-5).

Bakersfield will host Wheeling on Thursday and Long Beach, which plays at Las Vegas on Friday and Saturday, on Sunday while traveling to San Diego on Saturday. Alaska opens a five-game road trip east when it visits Peoria on Friday and Saturday and Dayton on Sunday while Fresno travels to Victoria on Tuesday and Wednesday before hosting San Diego on Friday and Las Vegas on Sunday. Idaho returns home to host Victoria on Friday and Saturday. Victoria is winless in an ECHL season-high 11 road games and is 1-20-2 in its last 23 games, including an ECHL record 20-game winless streak.

Posting back-to-back shutouts while Wheeling lost three in Alaska, Toledo moved into a first place tie with Wheeling in the North Division of the National Conference.

Wheeling (28-17-2) and Toledo (27-16-4) are two points ahead of Atlantic City (26-16-6) and three points ahead of Reading (26-14-3) and Trenton (24-13-7), who are tied at 55 points. Peoria, which is 10-2-1 in its last 13 games, is in sixth place with 49 points (22-17-5).

Toledo, which lost 6-2 at Reading on Sunday, visits Trenton on Wednesday and Friday and Atlantic City on Saturday and Sunday. Wheeling concludes its six-game road swing, visiting San Diego on Wednesday and Bakersfield on Thursday before traveling to Reading, which hosts Trenton on Tuesday and Atlantic City on Friday while visiting Trenton on Saturday. Peoria will host Johnstown on Tuesday and Alaska, which has won its last five road games, on Friday and Saturday.

Fresno's Hodson Makes League-High 58 Saves

Fresno goaltender Jamie Hodson stopped all four shooters faced to pick up his league-leading sixth shootout win with a 3-2 victory against Bakersfield on Tuesday and on Friday he made an ECHL season-high 58 saves in Fresno's 1-0 loss at Bakersfield. Hodson, who stopped 19 shots in the first period and 20 shots in the second, had 57 saves before Paul Rosebush's goal at 15:09 of the third period. Hodson is 16-6-1 with a goals-against average of 2.54 and a save percentage of .928 in 23 games for the Falcons.

ECHL Feature Games Of The Week

National Conference - North Division

Trenton at Reading
Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET
* Teams are battling for final playoff spot.
* Trenton is 4-2-0 against Reading in 2004-05, but Reading has won two of the last three.

American Conference - East Division

Columbia at South Carolina
Saturday at 7:05 p.m. ET
* Teams are tied for second place in the division with 55 points.
* Season series is tied 4-4; South Carolina is 2-1-0 at home and Columbia is 3-2-0 overall.

American Conference - South Division

Pensacola at Florida
Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* First place Ice Pilots have 68 points - Florida with 58 points.
* Pensacola is 2-0-0 playing at Florida in 2004-05.

National Conference - West Division

San Diego at Fresno
Friday at 7 p.m. PT
* San Diego is fifth and Fresno is fourth for the final playoff spot in the division.
* Kevin St. Jacques (1g-4a) and Ryan Gillis (2g-3a) each have five points against Long Beach.


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