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Louisiana finishes tied for first, will open playoffs Wednesday

March 31, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Week in review: JCK 3, LA 1; LA 4, BR 1; ARK 2, LA 1 (SO); LA 4, JCK 2

The IceGators went 2-1-1 in the final week of the regular season, finishing tied with Mississippi for first place in the Southwest Division. Louisiana, which earned its record sixth straight division title, will be the second seed in the division playoffs due to having less wins overall than the Sea Wolves, despite going 8-3-1 against Mississippi this season.

Louisiana will open up the playoffs Wednesday at home versus Arkansas at 7:05 p.m.

Sunday, Martin Bartek and Bobby Brown each had a goal and an assist, as the Louisiana IceGators earned a share for the Southwest Division title with a 4-2 win over the Jackson Bandits at the Cajundome in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Saturday, former IceGator Matt Pagnutti, who didn't even participate in pre-game warm-ups due to injury and a bout with the flu, scored in the 11th round of the shootout and Scott Fankhouser made 39 saves, as Arkansas outlasted the Louisiana IceGators 2-1 at ALLTEL Arena. Pagnutti's heroics ruined a terrific performance by the IceGators, who got a goal from Andrew Proskurnicki with 1:42 remaining to force overtime.

Louisiana's Phil Osaer turned aside 24 shots, and had to overcome an Arkansas power play in the overtime. He allowed just a Buddy Smith power-play goal midway through the first period. The 11-round shootout was tied for the fourth longest in IceGators' history.

John DePourcq returned from a 22-game absence with a goal and an assist in a three-goal first period and Kyle Kettles made 17 of his 43 saves in the final stanza, as the Louisiana IceGators beat the Baton Rouge Kingfish, 4-1, at the Riverside Centroplex.

Bartek also returned from a lengthy absence with a goal, and Casey Kesselring and Proskurnicki also scored for Louisiana.

Wednesday, the IceGators' offense mustered just a power-play goal by Shawn McNeil in a 3-1 road loss to Jackson.

Coming attractions:

SW Division Semis

Wed, Game 1

LA vs. ARK, 7:05

Thu, Game 2

LA vs. ARK, 7:05

Sat, Game 3

LA @ ARK, 7:05

Sun, Game 4^

LA @ ARK, 6:05

Wed, 4/9, Game 5^

LA vs. ARK, 7:05

^ - If necessary

The IceGators and RiverBlades will meet for the first time ever in the post-season. As a matter of fact, this is just Arkansas' second trip to the playoffs in its four seasons. In 2000-01, the RiverBlades beat Baton Rouge 2-0 in the Wild Card round before losing 3-1 to future Kelly Cup champion South Carolina in the Southern Conference Quarterfinals. Louisiana and Arkansas have met 35 times in the regular season, with the IceGators holding a 19-10-6 mark. Louisiana is 11-4-2 at home versus the RiverBlades in team history and 8-6-4 at ALLTEL Arena. This season, the IceGators won just once in North Little Rock (1-3-2), all the way back on Opening Night, October 12. The IceGators are 5-5-3 in the last 13 overall meetings.

IceGators' playoff roster is set - The IceGators announced their playoff roster this morning. The roster consists of two goalies (Phil Osaer, Kyle Kettles), six defensemen (Kevin Mitchell, J.P. Morin, Louis Mass, Rod Sarich, Milt Mastad and Cal Benazic) and 12 forwards (Shawn McNeil, Bobby Brown, John DePourcq, Martin Bartek, Kenny Corupe, Nathan Rempel, Shawn Skiehar, Casey Kesselring, Andrew Proskurnicki, Semir Ben-Amor, Derek Boogaard and Bruce Richardson). Richardson is currently with AHL Hershey. Chris Taliercio and Nick Cammarata were placed on IR today.

IceGators get share of sixth straight title -Despite losing the tiebreaker with Mississippi, the IceGators did clinch a share of their sixth straight division title Sunday. Louisiana had 40 wins, four less than the Sea Wolves, and the first tiebreaker is wins, even though the IceGators went 8-3-1 this season against Mississippi. Only two other ECHL teams have won as many as three straight division titles – Roanoke from 1997-98 to 1999-2000 and Toledo from 1991-92 to 1993-94. Louisiana has seven division titles in eight seasons, and there are nine current ECHL teams without one.

McNeil finishes season with 298 points - Winger Shawn McNeil has 298 points in 274 games with the IceGators. He's trying to become just the fourth IceGator with 300 points [John Spoltore (533), Chris Valicevic (527) and Jay Murphy (366)].

Iron men - While Kyle Kettles got most of the publicity this year for being an "Iron Man," three IceGators skaters played all 72 games. Shawn McNeil, Rod Sarich and J.P. Morin each played in all 72 games, and it marks the first time that a trio of Louisiana players have seen action in every game in a season since 1995-96. In that, the IceGators' inaugural season, John Spoltore, Chris Valicevic and John Vary all played in 70 games. McNeil, who has played in 212 of the last 216 regular-season games, joins Spoltore and Valicevic as the only IceGators to ever appear in every game more than once in their careers.

Kettles' numbers even better when you consider this - Of the 23 goalies to play in 35 or more games this season, Kyle Kettles' 2.61 goals against average is the second best in the ECHL. Patrick Couture finished with a 2.42 gaa in 39 games with Columbia.

Game 1 notes - The IceGators have won 11 of 12 Game 1's in team history (five-game series only). Louisiana is 9-2 when winning game one, with one of the blemishes last season when Jackson turned it around after a 6-1 loss in Game 1 for a five-game victory in the Southwest Division Semifinals. The last time the IceGators dropped a Game 1 in a best-of-five series was in their first playoff game, against Jacksonville, on March 27, 1996. Louisiana went on to lose that series in five games.

McNeil leads playoff charge - Shawn McNeil is one of only three IceGators (minimum 30 games played) in team history to average more than a point per game in the playoffs. He has 43 points (18g, 25a) in 36 games. McNeil has three more ECHL playoff points than the entire Arkansas roster has. Former teammate Matt Pagnutti leads the way with 19 points (7g, 12a) in 47 playoff games.

Kettles was stingy down the stretch – Rookie netminder Kyle Kettles ran his shutout streak to 164:43 Friday in Baton Rouge before a power play goal by Erik Adams snapped it. Kettles' shutout streak was the second longest in team history, trailing only Frederic Cloutier's run of 167:08 last season. Kettles, who was coming off his second set of back-to-back shutouts, earlier this season had a shutout streak of 155:27. Kettles finished the season with a 21-12-7 mark and a 2.61 goals against average, tied for fifth in the ECHL. Kettles' .919 save percentage tied him for third.

McNeil finishes fourth in scoring race - Shawn McNeil finished the regular season with 91 points (40g, 51a), in fourth place and 12 behind league-leader Buddy Smith. McNeil's 40 goals also placed him fourth in the ECHL. Teammate Bobby Brown finished tied for 14th with a career-best 79 points (37g, 42a).

Player of the Week Nominees

Wing Martin Bartek -

Had four points (2g, 2a) in three games last week, leading IceGators to 2-0-1 mark...Scored goal in 4-1 win at BR Friday in his return from a 10-game absence...Saturday, assisted on Andrew Proskurnicki's game-tying goal with 1:48 left in regulation in 2-1 SOL at ARK...Had goal and assist in Sunday's 4-2 win over JCK, his fourth multi-point game in eight outings with Louisiana...Has 11 points (4g, 7a) in eight games with IceGators.

Goaltender Kyle Kettles -

Continued his hot streak, running winning streak to season- and career-best five games...Made 43 saves in 4-1 win at BR Friday, moving him to 7-1-1 versus Kingfish this season...Shutout streak was snapped at 164:43 Friday, the second-longest run in team history...Made 23 saves and took shutout into final seven minutes in 4-2 win over JCK Sunday...Went 5-0-0 with a 0.80 goals against average down the stretch.

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