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Jackals Prepare for Playoffs

April 2, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Elmira Jackals News Release


With the 2002-03 United Hockey League Regular Season behind them now, the Elmira Jackals can look forward to what has been called by some the most difficult and demanding stretch in all of sports: professional hockey playoffs.

Last season the Jackals were fortunate enough to cap a regular season Eastern Conference title with a post-season one as well, but fell four games to two in the Colonial Cup Finals. This season, the team has finished third in the East, and will start the second season on the road against the Adirondack IceHawks in the best of five Colonial Cup Quarterfinal Series. 3/28/03 JACKALS 2 – IceHawks 6

Elmira opened the weekend with the first half of a home and home series with the Adirondack IceHawks at the Coach USA Center. Unfortunately for the Jackals, Adirondack scored the first five goals of the game, three of which opened the game. Dominic Chiasson's unassisted goal at 10:46 started the ball rolling. For Chiasson, it was not only his league-leading 53rd goal of the year, but his third consecutive unassisted goal against the Jackals. Ben Blais and James Patterson threw logs on the fire as well in the first period for a 3-0 IceHawks lead after the first period. Patterson scored again in the second to extend the lead to 4-0 in the second period, his 18th goal of the season. Elmira trailed 4-0 after two periods of play.

The third period finally saw the Jackals get on the board, but not before the game was 5-0 courtesy of a J.C. Ruid power play marker just 42 seconds into the period. Mike Thompson scored from David Lessard and Rob Guinn at 6:39 with the man advantage, and then another power play goal from Lessard made it 5-2 at 10:55. Trevor Burgess and Randy Murphy picked up the assists.

Elmira pressed for another goal, coming close several times, but Martin Villeneuve was there for the IceHawks, stopping a total of 40 shots, while Bogdan Rudenko tucked home more insurance at 17:26 on the power play for a 6-2 final. Marco Emond stopped 25 shots in taking the loss.

3/29/03 Jackals 2 – ICEHAKWS 6

Saturday night was a slightly different version of the same story for the Jackals in Glens Falls. Brad Wngfield got the Jackals on the board first at 5:17 from Aaron Phillips and Randy Murphy. The power play goal marked a 1-0 Jackal lead, but again, Adirondack would score five goals in a row to establish an insurmountable lead. Kamil Kuriplach, Bogdan Rudenko, and Andreas Sjolund all scored in the first period to make it 3-1 after 20 minutes of play. Sjolund scored the only goal of the second period making it 4-1, and Rudenko netted his second of the night to open scoring in the third. Mike Hofstrand found the net courtesy of Wingfield and Ryan Esselmont at 11:18 to make it 5-2, but J.C. Ruid popped home the sixth IceHawk goal late in the third for another 6-2 final. This time it was Jason Wolfe stopping 41 shots for the win, while Emond once again absorbed the loss, stopping 32 shots for the Jackals. With the loss, Elmira was relegated to a third place finish in the Eastern Conference, meaning no home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

3/30/03 JACKALS 5 – Generals 4

The Jackals ended their regular season against the Flint Generals in a game that meant nothing in the standings. Flint knew beforehand they would miss the playoffs for just the second time in team history, while the Jackals were in for their third straight season. The action to follow featured little defense, lots of scoring, and the occasional spectacular save.

Once again, the two-goal rule was in place as the Jackals scored at 4:18 to open things up, with Aaron Phillips scoring from Randy Murphy for his 33rd goal of the season. Brad Wingfield intercepted an errant clearing pass in the slot at 12:07, beating a helpless Sean Weaver for a 2-0 advantage. Flint would even the game with a pair of goals from Jim Duhart 1:15 at the end of the period, his 48th and 49th of the season. The Jackals out shot the Generals 17-9 in the first period.

In the second period, Eddy Lowe scored from David Lessard and Trevor Burgess at 3:08 to give Elmira a 3-2 lead, but then Flint stormed back to take a 4-3 lead on goals by Bobby Reynolds and R.J. Gates. Before the end of the period, however, Lowe scored his second goal of the night and 18th of the year from Burgess and Tom Clayton, and Murphy followed up with his 26th of the season at 14:22 from Rob Guinn. The third period saw no further scoring despite Duhart's attempts to register his 50th goal of the year, and Elmira hung on for the 5-4 win to round out the regular season at 41-28-7. Flint finished out of the playoffs for only the second time in the team's ten-year history. Jeremy Symington stopped 23 shots for the win, while Weaver deflected 31 shots in the loss.

* * *

Elmira will now head into the playoffs against the Adirondack IceHawks this week, and without home ice advantage. Game One will be in Glens Falls on Tuesday at 7 pm, with Game Two coming Friday night at 7:30 pm. Game Three shifts back to Elmira on Saturday at 7 pm, and Game Four if needed will be Sunday, also at 7 pm. Tuesday's possible Game Five will go back to the Glens Falls Civic Center at 7 pm.

Tickets for all Jackals playoff home games may be purchased through the Coach USA Center Box Office, open 10 am to 6 pm Monday – Friday, and 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday. Seats may also be obtained through all TicketMaster locations, on line at www.TicketMaster.com, or charge by phone at (607) 722-3711.

PLAYER AND GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK NOMINATIONS:

POTW – Randy Murphy, C 3 GP, 1-3-4, -8, 4 shots, 1 GWG, 0 PIMS

GOTW – Jeremy Symington 1 GP, 60 mins., 1-0-0, 4.00 GAA, .852 save percentage

PLAYER AND GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH NOMINATIONS:

Randy Murphy, C 14 GP, 3-17-20, +1, 0 PIMs, 21 shots, 1 PP goal, 1 GWG

Murphy scored the game winning goal on 3/30 against Flint... had point scoring streaks of eight and five games, marking in all but one of 14 contests for the Jackals during the month of March.

Marco Emond 6-5-0, 3.80 GAA, .877 save percentage, 663:36 mins. played, 42 GA, 299 saves, 2 assists

Marco picked up two assists this month, one on 3/1/03 against Flint, and one on 3/6/03 versus Fort Wayne... reached the 30 win plateau on 3/14 in Kalamazoo with 31 saves in a 5-2 Jackal win... set a new high for wins by a Jackal goaltender in a season with 33 this year.

JACKAL BITES:


- Elmira finished the regular season with their second highest win total in franchise history this year, at 41 wins. Their 89 points this season ranks second in franchise history as well.
- The Jackals had several regular season records broken this year:
- Most Goals In A Season – Glenn Stewart (36)
- Most Points In A Season – Randy Murphy (93)
- Most Assists In A Season – Randy Murphy (67)
- Most PIMs In A Season – Brad Wingfield (576)
- Most Power Play Goals In A Season – Randy Murphy (13)
- Most Shorthanded Goals In A Season – Aaron Phillips (4)
- Most Game Winning Goals In A Season (tie) – Aaron Phillips (7)
- Most Appearances By A Goaltender – Marco Emond (56)
- Most Wins By A Goaltender, One Season – Marco Emond (33)
- Most Minutes Played – Marco Emond (3119:28)


- Brad Wingfield's 576 PIMs set a new UHL Record for the highest total in one season, while his 24 consecutive games with a penalty minute recorded is also a new league-wide mark.
- Glenn Stewart scored his 400th goal and appeared in his 600th game this season while with the Jackals.
- Jackals who saw time in the AHL this year included: Marco Emond, Jody Robinson, Jeremy Symington, Adam Borzecki, Brad Wingfield, and Justin Plamondon.

NEWS AND NOTES:

The Elmira Jackals Coach's Show will take a hiatus this week... normally aired live from Patrick's, 303 College Ave., the show will return the following week if there is no Game Five in the opening round of the Colonial Cup Playoffs! Coach Todd Brost, Tom Callahan, and WiNZ's Joe Munroe for an hour of fun and informative Jackal talk. Tune it in on your home for Jackals Hockey, WiNGZ 104.9!

Jeremy Symington has returned to Elmira after being on recall with Binghamton. In five appearances, he went 3-1-1 with a 2.32 GAA and .922 save percentage.

The Elmira Jackals will have at least one more chapter in the Monthly Dinner Series At Horigan's, with the date currently marked for Monday, April 7th, pending a deciding Game Five in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. Horigan's is located at 365 Davis St. in downtown Elmira, where Irish Hospitality Is Always On Tap!

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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.

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