IceGators Fall to Ice Pilots 5-2
Published on February 6, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, LA -- The Louisiana IceGators lost their first home game since January 11th tonight when they lost to the Pensacola Ice Pilots 5-2. Tonight's tilt was the second straight game the Gators have dropped to Pensacola and the first game the Pilots have won at the Frozen Swamp. The Gators still lead the season series 5-3-2. The Gators are now 31-12-2 on the season with 64 points in the standings.
The Ice Pilots led by only one goal at the end of the first period. Gator netminder Derek Gustafson kept the Pilots scoreless for the first 18:54 of the period, until Tyler Beechey managed to slide the puck under Gustafson's glove. Down at the other end of the ice, Brian Eklund kept the Gators' scoreless for the first 20 minutes.
The second period saw the Pilots leap out to a 4-0 lead. While Gustafson fended them off for the first half of the second frame, Brian Collins beat Gustafson with a short-handed goal, to put the Pilots up 2-0. The Pilots also scored two even-strength goals 15 seconds apart, at 19:15 and 19:30, to end the second period. Evgeni Artukhin beat Gustafson five-hole for the 3-0 lead and Wes Mason clanged one off the post with 30 seconds left on the clock. The Gators kept up a steady volley of shots on Eklund, but were unable to solve the Pilots' netminder.
Semir Ben-Amor put the IceGators on the board early in the third period. The Gators had the man-advantage and were finally able to beat Eklund. Ben Storey bounced the puck off Eklund and Ben-Amor capitalized on the rebound. Storey scored the second Gators' goal less than three minutes later when Bobby Brown won a face-off and shot the puck straight to Storey at the blue line. Storey wound up and blasted the puck past Eklund for his 14th of the year.
The Pilots managed to put one more puck past Gustafson when Jean-Francois Soucy shot in a high wrister that clanged off the crossbar and into the net.
The IceGators travel to Biloxi tomorrow to take on the Mississippi Sea Wolves at 7:35 pm. The Gators will be back at the Frozen Swamp on Sunday to welcome the Florence Pride at 4:05 pm.
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