IceGators Beat Huntsville in Season Opener
October 26, 2012 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, Louisiana--Louisiana IceGators head coach Kevin Kaminski often tells his players to play "five o'clock hockey," which is his way of instructing them to shoot when there is traffic in front of the net. The IceGators followed his advice, shooting early and often en route to a 4-1 win over the Huntsville Havoc. The second game of the two game weekend slate will be played Saturday night at 7:05 in the Cajundome.
"We had a much better first period tonight than we had all of last year," Kaminski said. "We made some good plays. We had some good traffic and capitalized."
The IceGators took an early 1-0 lead when Matt Miller scored on a powerplay midway through the first period. The IceGators tacked on two more goals in the second period. Jordy Trottier scored less then two minutes into the frame after he deked his way past Huntsville goalie Dan McWhinney. The second came from Shawn McNeil after taking feeds from Kirk Byczynski and Denny Kearney. Huntsville cut the IceGator lead to two on a Justin Fox powerplay score. A few minutes later, Clark Byczynski gave Louisiana an insurance goal.
IceGator goaltender Riley Gill stopped 32 of 33 shots during the contest. Afterward, his coach sang his praises. "Gill was outstanding tonight," remarked Kaminski. "We had some breakdowns, and he made some key saves. He had a big one in the third when he came across and made a pad save. I guess you can see why he played in the American Hockey League."
Kaminski admitted his team still has to make many improvements. "We faded in the second and third periods," he said. "We did a lot of good things systems-wise, but we still had too many turnovers." Kaminski also felt his team took too many high risk plays late in the game. "We went up 3-0, and we thought it would be easy. We had too much 'dipsy-doodle' in the second and third periods."
SPHL Stories from October 26, 2012
- RiverHawks' Comeback Falls Short - Augusta RiverHawks
- IceGators Beat Huntsville in Season Opener - Louisiana IceGators
- Cottonmouths walk away with win - Pensacola Ice Flyers
- Snakes Set Opening Night Roster; Elect Bowles, Hergott Co-Captains - Columbus Cottonmouths
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