IceGators Cling to 3-2 Victory over Knoxville
March 27, 2015 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
LAFAYETTE, La.--A goalie duel ended in the Louisiana IceGators' favor Friday night.
Scott Diebold put up yet another solid performance, stopping 17 shots to lead the Louisiana IceGators to a 3-2 victory over the Knoxville IceBears.
The IceGators and the IceBears will meet again Saturday night in the SPHL regular season. The game, set to start at 7:05 p.m., will determine who the fifth seed will be in the President's Cup Playoffs.
"I think it was a similar effort to (Thursday) night's," said IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli. "We're still turning the puck over way to much, but somehow we found a way to win the game.
Once again, Ben Rubin brought a ton of energy for us. He was extremely physical. He's been the sparkplug for us over the past two weeks going into the playoffs. I can't say enough about the play of Scott Diebold. He's so square and sound to the puck. He makes difficult saves look routine."
The first 37 minutes of the game were dominated by the goalies. Both Diebold and Knoxville goalie Braely Torris made a number of spectacular saves through the first two periods.
The scoreless streak was broken by Bret Peppler, who took a cross-ice pass from Jeremy Boyer and scored a goal through Torris' five-hole with 2:44 left in the second period. Brian Berger also assisted on the play.
The IceGators tacked on a power play goal with 9:28 left in regulation when Boyer scored from the left point following a series of tic-tac-toe passes with Adam Stuart.
Twenty-four seconds later, Eric Satim put the IceBears on the board with a backhanded shot on Diebold's blind side after taking a pass from Ben Power. Mark Corbett also assisted on the score.
The IceGators regained a two-goal lead with 4:39 left in regulation when Shawn Skelly took a pass from Stuart during a two-on-two opportunity and launched a backhander past Torris.
Knoxville made it a 3-2 game with 42 seconds left in the game when Francis Drolet rebounded a Jason Price shot and went top shelf. Power picked up his second assist of the night on the play.
Omicioli says the last two games have been a learning experience for him.
"It's been a humbling two games for me because I know we're so much better, but picking up four points against two very solid hockey teams lets me know that when we fire on all cylinders that we will be a force to be reckoned with during the playoffs," Omicioli said. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. Our main objective is to win (Saturday) night.
"On a positive, we're giving up very few shots, which is allowing us the opportunity to win hockey games. We need to continue that, but on the flip side, we need to achieve our goal of shooting 12 or more shots per periods."
Omicioli and the IceGators know the importance of Saturday night's season finale and know that they will determine their own playoff seed.
"We'll be in a position to grab fifth place (Saturday night)," Omicioli said. "That's been our goal. We have to come out, maximize our energy level, and attack the IceBears from the start. We need more from our veterans contribution wise and leadership wise in order to be successful and achieve our goal of winning the President's Cup."
SPHL Stories from March 27, 2015
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