IceGators are Cup crazy

Published on March 18, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Week in review: BR 2, LA 1 (SO);
LA 5, PEO 2; JCK 4, LA 3;
LA 5, MIS 2
The IceGators clinched their second Brabham Cup regular-season championship in team history Saturday night with a 5-2 home win over arch-rival Mississippi. Louisiana finished the week 2-1-1, giving the IceGators a 51-11-4 mark with two weeks left in the regular season. Louisiana is two wins shy of Florida's all-time wins mark (1999-2000) and two points shy of the Everblades' all-time points mark (1999-2000).

Louisiana also tied the ECHL record for most home wins in a season (29) Saturday, avenging three home non-wins to Mississippi earlier this season. Cory Cyrenne led the attack against Mississippi with two goals, while Shawn McNeil, Ryan Shanahan, Jay Murphy, Chris Valicevic and Corey Neilson all had two points. Marc Magliarditi made 19 saves to improve to 26-6-1 and move into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time ECHL wins list (109). Magliarditi shut out the Sea Wolves for the final 43:17 as Louisiana rallied from a 2-1 deficit. Cyrenne's goal midway through the second period was the game-winner.

Friday, the IceGators fell down by three goals and a spirited rally fell just short, as Jackson prevailed 4-3. Russ Hewson, Valicevic and Cyrenne all scored for Louisiana, which has dropped six of its last 11 road games.

Thursday, Hewson had a goal and two assists and Magliarditi made 30 saves as the IceGators rolled to a 5-2 home win over Northwest-leading Peoria. Louisiana snapped the Rivermen's 10-game winning streak.

Tuesday, Baton Rouge got a late goal from Bryan Richardson and Rick Gorman won it in the shootout, as the Kingfish defeated Louisiana 2-1. Richardson scored with 48 seconds remaining, spoiling what would have been rookie goaltender Frederic Cloutier's ECHL-record tying seventh shutout of the season. This week:
TUE, LA @ PEN 7:05
FRI, LA @ FLA 6:30
SAT, LA @ FLA 6:30 IceGators head to the Sunshine State for three games this week. Tuesday, Louisiana battles second-place Pensacola, while also trying to tie the all-time ECHL record for points in a season. Friday and Saturday, Louisiana makes its first trip of the season to TECO Arena to visit the Everblades. Former ‘Blade goaltender Marc Magliarditi returns to face his former team. Valicevic passes Spoltore - Defenseman Chris Valicevic was sitting on 390 assists for six games, but two helpers Saturday moved him past John Spoltore (391) as Louisiana's all-time assists leader. Valicevic, the ECHL's all-time assist leader with 457, has 523 points as an IceGator - 10 behind Spoltore for Louisiana's all-time points leader. Valicevic scored his 150th professional goal Friday night. Valicevic also needs one point to tie Sheldon Gorski (608 points) for fourth on the ECHL's all-time scoring list.

Murphy slips past Melanson - Jay Murphy now has 940 penalty minutes, two more than Stan Melanson for second place on the team's all-time list. McNeil hits 200 - Shawn McNeil became just the seventh player in IceGators history with 200 career points on Friday night. McNeil now has 202, 10 behind Don Parsons for sixth place on the all-time list.

Impressive as a rookie - Center Russ Hewson has 60 points this season, and he's close to moving into second place on the team's all-time rookie points list. John Spoltore's total of 101 points in a rookie season is out of reach, but Hewson is just two points behind Rob Valicevic's rookie total of 62 in 1995-96.

Not a bad place to be - Louisiana is tied with Augusta for the league lead for most wins when trailing after two periods (eight). Road trip! - The IceGators are 22-9-0 on the road and need three wins in their remaining five road games to tie Trenton's (2000-01) and Florida's (1999-2000) single-season record for road victories. On verge of milestones - Ryan Shanahan is one assist shy of 100 in his IceGators career. Shawn McNeil needs two games played to become the eighth player in franchise history to see action in 200 games. Jay Murphy is three games shy of 400 in his ECHL career.

‘Mags' set to return to TECO - Louisiana goaltender Marc Magliarditi sports an impressive mark at TECO Arena, where he played for three seasons as a member of the Everblades. Magliarditi is 30-11-4 with a 2.00 goals against average at TECO, while he had an overall mark of 70-25-5 with Florida.

IceGators on the air waves: All IceGators games are broadcast on KPEL-FM 105.1, as well as on www.icegators. com. Andy Davis has the pre-game show 15 minutes before the puck drops.

IceGators' Practice schedule:
Monday, 3/18 - 9-10, HockeyPlex, Depart for PEN at 12:30
Tuesday, 3/19 - 10:15-11:15 in PEN, at PEN 7:05
Wednesday, 3/20 - 2-3, in FLA,
Thursday, 3/21 - 12-2, in FLA
Friday, 3/22 - 11-12, in FLA, at FLA 6:30
Saturday, 3/23 - 11-12, in FLA at FLA 6:30
Sunday, 3/24 - Off

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ECHL Stories from March 18, 2002


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