IceMen Fall to Komets

November 24, 2013 - ECHL (ECHL)
Evansville IceMen News Release


Tonight was rival night with our neighbors from the north, the Fort Wayne Komets (6-5-1-2; 15 pts.) in town to tango with your IceMen (8-3-0-3; 19 pts.). Both teams entered the rink for the third time in three nights, probably with some tired legs and bodies, so you knew the 2 points on the line tonight would be a grind to the finish for all 60 minutes...and it would take the ENTIRE 60:00 minutes to decide this one.

With the net emptied and the IceMen down a goal with less than a minute to play the puck bounced along the boards behind the Komet goal like a pin ball before squirting lose at the top of the point near the blue line, where the IceMen's Matt Lowry, with a full swing, slung a slap shot that hit Komet goalie, Andrey Makarov, on his top-right shoulder pad, then deflected into the back of the net with zero's on the clock. Lowry would have gotten the hat-trick with his last second heroics, but the goal was waved off as it was scored just tenths of a second too late to count. Final tally showed Komets with the win 5-4.

The IceMen played from behind most of the night, but showed a lot of character as it was evident we didn't quite have our A-game tonight, but we always seemed to find a way to bounce back. Down 2-0 early, Andre Bouvet-Morrissette, made it all square 7:11 into the second frame. Then the Komets Mickey Lang helped recapture the lead for the orange and black with his 2nd goal of the night just five minutes later.

Neither team seemed to really control momentum for very long as the IceMen's Matt Schepke snapped a pretty wrist shot from a tough angle from the left face-off circle at the 5:05 mark of the 3rd period to knot the teams all up at 3 apiece, but Fort Wayne fired right back less than a minute later with a lamp-lighter of their own. They would add one more to pad their lead by two to make it 5-3 and that would prove to be too much to overcome as the IceMen now retain 2nd place alone in the North Division while the Komets jumped up to 3rd place on the night.

Lowry earned 2nd star honors on the night netting his 6th and 7th goals of the season and goalie Garrett Bartus (0-1-1; 2.91 GAA) stopped 28 of 33 shots on the night. The IceMen will celebrate Thanksgiving on the road in a familiar place for Head Coach Jeff Pyle, Gwinnett, Georgia. The IceMen will load the bus this Wednesday and head south for the Holiday spending 4 days and 4 nights in Pyle's old home where he lead the Gladiators to the playoffs nine out of twelve years, but this time he and his team will be on the other bench. The IceMen will play 3 games in 4 nights, the first being this Thursday for Gwinnett's annual Turkey Day Hockey Game. Catch all the action LIVE on WEOA Magic 98.5FM.

Upcoming Games & Promotions:

- Thursday, December 5th vs. Toledo @ 7:15PM - EYHA Under-8's Intermission Game - Buy Tickets

- Saturday, December 7th vs. Toledo @ 7:15PM - Teddy Bear Toss & Boy Scout Night - Buy Tickets

Other Announcements:

- Monday, November 25th @ 7:00-9:00PM - IceMen LIVE Show at Beef O' Brady's

- Friday, December 6th @ 6:00PM - IceMen Official Away Game Viewing Party at Buffalo Wild Wings East Side; IceMen vs. Cyclones

- IceMen Holiday Packs now on sale starting at just $84. For details visit www.evansvilleicemen.com/holiday-packs



ECHL Stories from November 24, 2013


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