IceGators send out Qualifying Offers
July 1, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Lafayette, LA â The Louisiana IceGators today announced the names of six players from the 2003-04 season who received qualifying offers to return to the team for the 2004-05 season. All players are non veterans and have until August 1 to decide whether to accept the offer. Players receiving qualifying offers are:
Armands Berzins C, The youngest player to score a goal in ECHL history at age 19, Berzins finished his first pro season with 14 goals, 12 assists for 26 points
Semir Ben-Amor F, Returning from his native Finland in January, the hard nosed winger scored 16 goals and 11 assists for 27 points in just 39 regular season games
Kenny Corupe C, Corupe was on his way to a career year when an injury sidelined him in early January. Despite missing 14 games, the 24 year Center finished 5th in the team in scoring with 18 goals and 37 assists to finish with 55 points.
Derek Gustafson G, Gustafson was spectacular in the net for the IceGators in 2003-04. "Gus" earned 2nd team All-ECHL honors by compiling a 28-14-0 record, finishing 2nd in the league with a 2.09 GAA and a save percentage of .927.
Alex Materukhin RW, One of the biggest surprises on last year's team, the 2nd year pro finished 2nd on the IceGators with 27 goals, 34 assists for 61 points. The 22-year old native of the Ukraine set a team record for fastest hat trick by scoring 3 goals in just 3:22 vs. Florida on January 25.
Josh Mizerek D, Mizerek was a solid stay at home defenseman for Dave Farrish's club last year. Teaming on the blue line with 1st team All-ECHL Defenseman Ben Storey, Mizerek finished the year with three goals and 25 assists for 28 points.
"Qualifying offers were made to bring a solid core of players back while giving the team financial flexibility to put a contending team on the ice for next season", said IceGators Head Coach, Dave Farrish. "Veteran Players become unrestricted free agents if they turn down the qualifying offer anyway, so we felt it was best to make the offers to our non-vets."
The qualifying offer must remain open for acceptance until August 1 at which time the qualifying offer becomes null and void and the team may sign the qualified player to any salary or may elect to take no further action. Teams that extend a valid qualifying offer to a non-veteran player shall retain the rights to that qualified player for one playing season.
Season Ticket, Flex Plans, and IcePack ticket vouchers are on sale now for the IceGators 10th anniversary season. For more information call the IceGators office at (337)234-4423
ECHL Stories from July 1, 2004
- Storm re-sign five and add two - Toledo Walleye
- Gladiators extend qualifying offers - Atlanta Gladiators
- Ice Dogs extend qualifying offers to 5 players - Long Beach Ice Dogs
- Garrow remains in Gulls' nest 2004-2005 - San Diego Gulls
- Rivermen Re-sign Four; Extend Qualifying Offers to Six More - Peoria Rivermen
- Falcons Extend Qualifying Offers to Seven Players - Fresno Falcons
- Eight Players Receive Qualifying Offers - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- Players With Signed ECHL Contracts As Of June 30 - ECHL
- ECHL Releases List of 178 Qualified Players - ECHL
- Steelheads extend qualifying offers to seven players - Idaho Steelheads
- Sea Wolves Qualify Five Players - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- IceGators send out Qualifying Offers - Louisiana IceGators
- Wranglers sign Attard and Wright - Las Vegas Wranglers
- Eight Is Indeed Enough - Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies
- Crane and Pittman return - Trenton Devils
- Aces dispatch eight qualifying offers - Alaska Aces
- Royals Make Qualifying Offers to Maximum Eight Players - Reading Royals
- Qualifying Offers Extended to Barber and Lent - San Diego Gulls
- Titans qualify four players - Trenton Devils
- Grrrowl qualify six and sign two - Greenville Grrrowl
- Thrashers Sign Gladiators Top Scorer - Atlanta Gladiators
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