Jackals Finish Season With Shootout Win In Adirondack
Published on April 19, 2006 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Elmira Jackals News Release
Week 26 Game Results:
4/14/06 Adirondack 5 @ Elmira 4
Elmira, NY - Captain Trevor Burgess scored his 100th career goal in the third period, but it was not enough to give the Elmira Jackals the win as they lost 5-4 to the Adirondack Frostbite Friday night at the First Arena.
Playing in their final home game of the 2005-2006 UHL regular season the Jackals were looking to finish their 38th appearance at the First Arena in style. But the visitors struck first when J.F. Picard's shot from the blue line ricocheted off an Elmira defenseman and into the net a mere 64 seconds into the game. Scott Drevitch made it 2-1 Frostbite at 5:54 when he slapped in a power play goal. The Jackals then turned it on an out-shot Adirondack 13-5 in the period, but failed to score, leaving the home team down two goals after one period.
In the second period Sam Paolini scored an unassisted goal at 1:53, his 17th goal of the season. Kevin Cooper then tied the game at two at 7:08, scoring his 33rd goal of the season assisted by Chris Chaput and Jarrett Konkle. But Adirondack would answer back with two more goals. First Kevin Watters scored at 11:44 to make it 3-2 Frostbite. Then Ryan Bennett turned in Adirondack's 2nd power play goal of the game at 14:43 for a 4-2 advantage after forty minutes.
In the third period the Captain reached a professional milestone. Trevor Burgess snapped in his 7th goal of the season, and 100th goal of his professional career, at 13:33, cutting the lead to one. But Drevitch quickly answered with his second goal of the night, only 1:24 later, at 14:57 for a 5-3 Adirondack lead. Elmira made it interesting when Mathieu Wathier blasted a slap shot from the point past goaltender Jason Saal at 18:17, his 3rd goal of the season, cutting the lead back to 5-4. With goalie Tyson Gajda pulled for the extra attacker, Jarrett Konkle was hauled down while driving to the net, drawing at 2-minute hooking penalty on Adirondack's Chris Mei at 19:31. But even the 6-on-4 advantage did not help the Jackals tie the game, as they fell 5-4 to the Frostbite.
Jason Saal earned his first win since joining Adirondack, stopping 27-of-31 shots. Tyson Gajda took the loss, while making 24 saves on 29 shots. Adirondack was 2-for-6 on the power play; Elmira was 0-for-6.
4/15/06 Elmira 2 @ Adirondack 1 - In Shootout (2-1)
Elmira, NY - The Elmira Jackals capped off their 6th season of UHL hockey with a 2-1 shootout victory over the Adirondack Frostbite Saturday night at the Glens Falls Civic Center.
Adirondack struck first 6:07 into the first period when Hugo Belanger fired in a rebound past Jackals goaltender Tyson Gajda. The goal gave Belanger 98 points on the season, two points shy of his 7th straight 100-point season. Both teams sent 10 shots on goal in the opening twenty minutes.
But the Jackals struck back early in the second period. Jason Sessa took one stride into the offensive zone and unleashed a howitzer of a slap shot from two feet above the top of the right face off circle. Sessa's shot blazed past the right shoulder of a helpless Kris Tebbs in goal for Adirondack tying the game at one. The goal was Sessa's 22nd of the season, assisted by Sam Paolini and Brett Angel at 2:05.
The rest of the game was high tempo, intense, playoff-style action, but no go-ahead goals found the net as regulation ended with the teams tied at one and Adirondack leading in shots 36-33. In the shootout both Gajda and Tebbs denied the first two shooters respectively. Then Jason Sessa stepped up for the third round and put the Jackals ahead 1-0 by unleashing a sizzling wrist-shot over the glove of Tebbs. Gajda then denied Sylvain Cloutier in the bottom of round three. In the fourth round, Anthony Blumer got the nod from Head Coach Perry Florio. Blumer sprinted in on the Frostbite goalie, weaved to his right and buried his shot to put Elmira ahead 2-0 and forcing Adirondack up against the wall. Gajda split the pads to stop Mark Hurtubise and give the Jackals an insurmountable lead in the shootout. The Jackals stormed the ice in celebration, then in a sign of true class and sportsmanship, both teams and coaches shook hands at center ice.
Tyson Gajda earned his 5th win of the season, stopping 35-of-36 in regulation and went a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout. Gajda is a UHL best 8-for-9 (88.9%), with a 2-0 record in shootouts this season. Kris Tebbs took the loss, making 32 saves on 33 shots in regulation and blocking 2-of-4 in the shootout.
Jackals Player & Goaltender of the Week: (Week 26)
Jason Sessa - RW 2 GP, 1 goal, 0 assists, 1 point, +2, 19 PIMs
Jason Sessa earns the final Jackals Player of the Week nomination of the season. Sessa was +1 with 19 PIMs Friday night against Adirondack. Saturday in Glens Falls, Sessa scored his 22nd goal to tie the game in the second period. Then he scored the game-winning goal in the 3rd round of the shootout. For the season Sessa has 55 points (22 goals, 33 assists) in 54 games played and has vaulted himself into the Top Ten of the Jackals All-Time Scoring List.
Tyson Gajda - G 2 GP, 1-1-0, 3.23 GAA, 0.908 SV%, 59 saves
Rookie goaltender Tyson Gajda capped off Week 26 with another nomination for Goaltender of the Week. Gajda made 24 saves in a 5-4 loss Friday to Adirondack. But Saturday night in Glens Falls, the young goalie from Westfield, Massachusetts put on a display. Gajda stopped 35-of-36 in regulation and went a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout for his 5th win of the year. On the season Gajda was 2-0 in shootouts and he led the League in Shootout percentage (88.9%) by stopping 8-of-9 attempts. On the week Gajda had a 3.03 GAA and a 0.908 save percentage.
Jackals Player & Goaltender of the Month: (April)
Trevor Burgess - D 8 GP, 1 goal, 8 assists, 9 point, +3, 7 PIMs
Captain Trevor Burgess led the Jackals in scoring in the month of April. His 9 points (1 goal, 8 assists) gave him 57 points on the season, the 4th highest on the team. Burgess became just the second player in team history to record 50 or more assists in a single season; Randy Murphy holds the record with 67 assists in 2002-03. Burgess had 2 assists and was a +4 in a 6-5 loss on April 8th in Adirondack.
Tyson Gajda - G 2 GP, 1-1-0, 3.26 GAA, 0.908 SV%, 59 saves
Rookie Tyson Gajda earns the Jackals Goaltender of the Month nomination for April. He posted a 2-4-0 record with a 3.26 GAA and a 0.910 save percentage in 6 games. Gajda dazzled in both of his victories, a 33-of-34 saves effort against Roanoke, allowing just one goal. Then in the final game of the season he stopped 35-of-36 shots in regulation and went a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout for a 2-1 win over Adirondack. Gajda leads the UHL in shootout percentage, going 8-for-9 (88.9%) with a 2-0 record in his two shootouts this year.
Jackals Rookie of the Month: (April)
Jarrett Konkle - RW 8 GP, 5 goals, 1 assist, 6 points, -3, 0 PIMs
Rookie Tyson Gajda earns the Jackals Goaltender of the Month nomination for April. He posted a 2-4-0 record with a 3.26GAA and a 0.910 save percentage in 6 games. Gajda dazzled in both of his victories, a 33-of-34 saves effort against Roanoke, allowing just one goal. Then in the final game of the season he stopped 35-of-36 shots in regulation and went a perfect 4-for-4 in the shootout for a 2-1 win over Adirondack. Gajda leads the UHL in shootout percentage, going 8-for-9 (88.9%).
JACKAL BITES:
* A MINOR UHL LEAD - D Chris Mann ended up with the UHL lead in minor penalties, despite missing the last few weeks of the season with a broken jaw. Mann finished the year with 79 minors, two more than Kalamazoo's Tyler Willis. He also was 4th in the UHL in penalty minutes with 313; Mann was in 2nd place at the time of his season-ending injury.
* ROOKIE LED THE WAY - F Chris Chaput took over the team's points lead in December and never looked back. He finished with 66 points (26 goals, 40 assists) to lead the Jackals in scoring this season.
* NO SOUP FOR YOU! - G Tyson Gajda only appeared in two shootouts during his 14 game stint with the Jackals during the final two months of the season. But he made the most of then, stopping 8-of-9 attempts in those two shootouts.
* ANOTHER POSITIVE - RW Anthony Blumer finished on top of the Jackals team plus/minus rating. Blumer was +2 in his 12 games with the Jackals, an even more impressive feat considering Elmira had a -69 goal differential and the players were a combined -339 as a team this season.
* GOALS, GOALS, GOALS! - LW Jarrett Konkle finished with a Jackals single season record 37 goals, passing Glenn Stewart's 36 goals in 2002-03 and leading the team along the way. Konkle was also tied for two more Jackals records, single season marks for power play goals (16) with Jason Sessa 2004-05 and short-handed goals (4) with Aaron Phillips 2002-03.
* PERSONAL ACHIEVEMENT - D Trevor Burgess scored his 100th career professional goal on Friday April 14th against Adirondack. Burgess also recorded just his 2nd major penalty of the season when he dropped the gloves with Ryan Prentice. Burgess fell just short of the 1,000 PIMs mark for his career, he currently has 993 minutes.
International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 19, 2006
- The Mark of the Quad Cities and Quad City Mallards Schedule Press Conference - Quad City Mallards
- Jackals Finish Season With Shootout Win In Adirondack - Elmira Jackals
- Attention All Flint and Port Huron Fans - Motor City Mechanics
- Frostbite Add Wathier in Waiver Draft - Adirondack Frostbite
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
