Kingfish get 'spark' in 4-3 loss

November 10, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Baton Rouge Kingfish News Release


A power outage at the Riverside Centroplex sparked the Kingfish offensively but it was not enough as the Kingfish fell to the Arkansas RiverBlades, 4-3.

Things could not have gotten any weirder in a game that appeared normal at the start of the start of the contest. Arkansas tallied a power play goal at the 7:45 mark of the first period of play as Shawn Mamane beat Jeff Blair to give the RiverBlades a 1-0 lead. Mike Sandbeck and Tom Kaiman added the assists.

Late in the first period, things began to get weird. With temperatures in the upper 70's today around Baton Rouge, warm air mixed with the ice and fog rolled into the Centroplex. The referees decided to cut the first period short with 3:35 remaining in the period to try to eliminate some of the fog. The plan was to go to the intermission and then play the remaining first period, then switch ends and begin the second period. Everything went according to plan until 31 seconds remained in the intermission when the arena went black.

The Centroplex lost power as the teams made their way onto the ice to finish the first period and continue with the second period. The auxiliary power came on to keep everybody out of the pitch black, but there wasn't enough light to play a hockey game. The players lounged on the ice and it looked as if the game was going to be called.

After about an hour delay, the Kingfish received the word from the league office that the game should be cancelled and rescheduled for a later date. As soon as the announcement was made over the PA system that the game was cancelled, the power was restored in the arena. The teams were given a 10-minute warm-up and the ice resurfaced and the game resumed after a very long first intermission.

The Kingfish came out with a jump as Jason Norrie beat Jimi St. John at the 9:18 mark of the second period of play to tie the game at 1-1. Steve Cheredaryk and Forrest Gore added the assists.

Arkansas answered before the period expired as Buddy Smith punched one past Blair giving the RiverBlades the 2-1 lead. Kyle Kos and Ernie Hartlieb added the assists on the goal.

The fog continued to play a role in the game as the teams emptied their benches and a couple of times during the second and third periods and skated around the ice to cut down on some of the fog.

Arkansas seemed to take control of the contest early in the third period as they picked up two power play goals just 30 second apart three minutes into the final stanza. Buddy Smith beat Blair on the power play at the 3:13 mark of the period. Eric Long and Mike Pagnutti added the assists.

Dean Stork gave the RiverBlades a 4-1 lead as he took a pass from Matt Poapst and buried it behind Blair. Terry Marchant also picked up an assist on the power play goal.

The Kingfish were not finished, though. Forrest Gore broke the Kingfish's 0-fer power play slump as he fired a feed from Marquis Mathieu behind St. John to cut the Arkansas lead to 4-2. Glen Crawford also added an assist on the goal at the 8:42 mark.

Gore cut the lead to one on his second of the evening just five minutes later. He found the loose puck and punched it behind St. John as Crawford and Mathieu again added assists.

The Kingfish could not get any closer as Jeff Blair made 33 saves in the loss as he falls to 1-5-1 on the season.

The Kingfish broke their five game slump on the power play in a game that finished at 8:04 p.m. after getting under way four hours earlier at 4:05 p.m.

The Kingfish travel to Jackson to battle the Bandits on Saturday. The Ice Pilots come to the Fish Tank on Sunday for a 4:05 start. Catch Saturday's game only online at www.sportsjuice.com while you can also hear Sunday's on Baton Rouge's Best R & B, 104.5 WZRB.



ECHL Stories from November 10, 2002


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