IceGators Beat Fayetteville to Retain First Place
January 20, 2013 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Fayetteville, North Carolina--An old sports adage says, "Winners always want the ball." In his short time with the Louisiana IceGators, Jeremy Boyer has shown time and again that he wants the puck in clutch situations. Tonight, Boyer took the puck in overtime and delivered yet another game-winning goal, lifting the IceGators to a 2-1 victory over the Fayetteville FireAntz.
The IceGators--who, with the win, regained sole possession of first place in the SPHL standings--return home for a Friday night contest against the Pensacola IceFlyers. Game time is 7:05 P. M.
"What a game!" remarked IceGator head coach Kevin Kaminski. "Both teams played great. We had some great chances to go ahead late in the game, but both goalies were sensational."
Indeed they were. Riley Gill and Marco Edmond stopped a combined 52 shots in the contest. Gill had a shutout working until midway through the third period. In all, he stopped 29 Fayetteville shots.
The first period featured lots of shots, but no goals. Kaminski said his team didn't show its full potential in that frame. "We were mediocre in the first," he said. "After that, we turned it up a notch and started skating. We started paying the price with a lot of blocked shots and executing the game plan."
Their adjustments paid off early in the second period, as Matt Robertson's powerplay goal gave the IceGators a 1-0 lead. Kirk Byczynski picked up the assist. Josh McQuade, however, tied the game midway through the third period off of an assist from Derek Elliott. Boyer's game winner came at the 42-second mark of overtime.
Kaminski was highly complimentary of the defensive work of Clark and Kirk Byczynski. "The Byczynski boys did a hell of a job shutting down McQuade's line tonight," he said. "McQuade's goal came when they weren't on the ice." He continued, "They also had a few chances to score late in the game, but Edmond was sensational."
Kaminski also says he's satisfied with the weekend's results. "We'll take three out of four points against a very good team any day," he said. "The boys were road warriors and did what they had to do to hold on to first place."
SPHL Stories from January 20, 2013
- Cottonmouths Slither Past 'Hawks, 4-2 - Augusta RiverHawks
- IceGators Beat Fayetteville to Retain First Place - Louisiana IceGators
- Ice Bears Sail Past RiverKings - Knoxville Ice Bears
- Ice Flyers Come from Behind to Win 5-3 - Pensacola Ice Flyers
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
