Louisiana game notes at Baton Rouge, 12/11

December 11, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


IceGators at Kingfish – Louisiana looks for its 11th win in its last 13 tries against Baton Rouge tonight when the teams collide at the Riverside Centroplex. The intrastate rivals have met just three times this season, with Louisiana holding a 2-1-0 edge, although they will meet a total of 12 times before the season's end. The IceGators have won both meetings on home ice this season, while the Kingfish emerged victorious in Louisiana's only trip east. In the last meeting, at the Cajundome on November 22, Semir Ben-Amor registered the game-winning goal and an assist, while Branislav Kvetan added a tally and a helper. Frederic Cloutier stopped 30-of-32 shots sent his way as Louisiana repelled eight of Baton Rouge's nine power-play opportunities. Ben-Amor's game-winner came early in the third period. The IceGators are 10-1-1 in the last 12 meetings overall, taking seven straight games last season. They have fared well lately at the Centroplex as well, going 5-1-0 in the last six meetings, with the lone blemish a 3-1 loss on October 26. Overall, Louisiana is 39-17-7 against the Kingfish, including a 19-11-2 record in Baton Rouge.

Sunday night – Newcomer Kent Davyduke scored just five seconds into overtime - tying a 14 year old ECHL record for the fastest goal in a period - as the Mississippi Sea Wolves rallied by the Louisiana IceGators, 4-3, at Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Dave Paradise had a pair of goals, including the tying score early in the third period for the Sea Wolves, who improved to 2-5-0 against the IceGators this season. Bruce Richardson scored 13 seconds into the game, and Bobby Brown and Daniel Goneau also scored for Louisiana, which picked up a point to extend its unbeaten streak to 10 games (7-0-3) and still leads second-place Mississippi by three points in the Southwest Division. Rookie Kyle Kettles was outstanding in goal, turning aside a career-best 37 shots. Greg Gardner made 25 saves for Mississippi, and Darryl Campbell also scored. Mississippi's Cody Bowtell won the overtime faceoff, pushing the puck into the IceGators zone. Davyduke, acquired Thursday from Trenton for cash, ripped a shot from the top of the left circle for the game-winner.

Scouting the Kingfish – Baton Rouge is 3-1-1 in its last five and 4-2-1 in its last seven on the heels of a franchise-record 11-game winless streak. The Kingfish have been playing much better of late, but mostly later in the game. In three straight wins prior to the recent 0-1-1 streak, Baton Rouge had to overcome multiple-goal deficits. Sunday against Columbus, the Kingfish let a lead slip away. Baton Rouge led 4-2 after two, but a pair of Cottonmouth goals in the third period forced overtime, and Columbus won it in a shootout. Trevor Demmans had three points (1g, 2a), and Samuel Paquet and Bryan Richardson each added a goal and an assist. Brian Leitza made 29 stops in goal. Richardson leads the balanced Kingfish with 20 points (11g, 9a). Clark Jones (7g, 11a) and Demmans (3g, 15a) each have 18 points, while Baton Rouge has seven other players with double-digits in points. One of the keys to Baton Rouge's recent play has been the addition of left wing Joe Guenther, who was claimed off waivers from Toledo. The 21-year-old out of the West Seneca, N.Y., has seven points (3g, 4a) in just six games with the team, with all seven coming in the three big come-from-behind wins. Jeff Blair was the No. 1 goalie early before Leitza returned from England. Blair, who was awesome in goal with 37 saves in a 3-1 win over the IceGators at the Centroplex on October 19, is 3-8-3 with a respectable 2.96 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. Leitza has been solid since returning from Cardiff, going 2-1-1 with a 3.37 goals against average and a .890 save percentage.

Another overtime game tonight would match team record - The IceGators have played three straight overtime/shootout games for just the sixth time in franchise history, and for the first time since a franchise-record, four-game streak from January 10-17, 2001. Louisiana is 15-5-5 this season, and its five overtime/shootout losses have already eclipsed last season's total. The IceGators are 1-3 in overtime this season, and 1-2 in shootouts.

An impressive streak - Louisiana's 10-game unbeaten in regulation streak (7-0-3) is tied for the fourth longest in team history. The team was 10-0-0 from January 31-February 19, 1997. The IceGators were unbeaten in regulation in more than 10 games twice last season, including a 14-0-0 streak from November 23-December 21.

McNeil could pass Dumont tonight... - Shawn McNeil has 239 points as an IceGator, tying him with Louis Dumont for fourth place on the team's all-time list. McNeil has already passed Don Parsons and teammate John DePourcq on this list this season. It will take McNeil a little while longer to go any higher than fourth; Jay Murphy is third at 366. McNeil's game-winner Friday was his 17th with the team, tying him with Chris Valicevic, John Spoltore and Don Parsons for third place on the team's all-time list. Dumont is up next with 22, while Murphy leads the category with 39.

And the percentages say he'll do it – Shawn McNeil was held without a point Sunday night, just the fourth time this season he didn't get a point. McNeil hasn't gone back-to-back games without a point all season.

He's the guy who puts the special into teams – IceGators defenseman Kevin Mitchell has 29 points (4g, 25a) this season, and 22 of those points (3g, 19a) have come special teams. Seven of Mitchell's 11 career goals have come on the power play.

Richardson in career-best form, and nearly tops in franchise history in points per game - Bruce Richardson's point streak is up to a career-best nine games, with nine goals and 11 assists in that span. Shawn McNeil has the longest IceGators point streak this season, an 11-game span to open the season. Richardson has 67 points (24g, 43a) in 45 games with Louisiana for an average of 1.49 points per game. That mark is tied for third on the team's all-time list behind Bob Berg (1.60 ppg) and John Spoltore (1.56 ppg). Richardson and Ron Handy each have averaged 1.49 ppg.

Helping out a friend - Shawn McNeil has 18 goals this season, and defenseman Kevin Mitchell has assisted on an astounding nine of the tallies. No other IceGator has assisted a teammate more this season.

Cloutier unbeaten in regulation in seven – Since getting pulled in a 6-1 loss at Pensacola on November 15, IceGators goaltender Frederic Cloutier has gotten his team a point in every game. Cloutier is 5-0-2 with a 2.78 goals against average since the loss, improving his record to 11-3-4.

Shiryaev tied with Maxwell - Dennis Shiryaev's fighting major Sunday was his 34th with the IceGators, tying him with Roger Maxwell for sixth on the team's all-time list. Shiryaev has played 18 fewer games. Eric Cloutier is up next on the list with 44 majors.

McNeil leads all ECHL goal scorers, since 2000-01 – Shawn McNeil has more goals than any other ECHL player since the beginning of the 2000-01 season, and he is increasing his lead every week. McNeil has 85 goals, seven more than former teammate Jay Murphy.

Outshot in three straight – The IceGators have been outshot in three straight games for just the fourth time in the three-year Dave Farrish regime. The last time Louisiana was outshot in three straight games was from January 27-February 3, 2001, a span of four games.

Leitza tries to improve record against IceGators – Baton Rouge goaltender Brian Leitza may be 3-10-0 lifetime against Louisiana, but few know he was the only netminder to beat the IceGators three times during their 2001-02 record-setting run. Leitza holds the most losses of any ECHL goaltender against Louisiana, with Scott Legrande and Ron Vogel next with eight apiece. Leitza's goals against average is a respectable 3.54 against the IceGators, though.

Quick hits

Tony Tuzzolino has a career-best six-game point streak (6g, 5a).

Shawn McNeil has scored Louisiana's first goal in nine games this season, and 10 of his goals have given his team the lead. He has also scored the game's first goal in five contests.

Nathan Rempel has 199 penalty minutes in the ECHL.

Dennis Shiryaev needs one goal for 20 in his pro career and one point for 50.

Tonight, Branislav Kvetan will play in his 75th game with the IceGators.

Frederic Cloutier needs one more win for 40 in his pro and IceGators career.

Last season, the IceGators failed to win just two games (45-1-1) when leading after two periods. This season, they are 12-0-3.

In the last 10 games, defenseman Kevin Mitchell is the IceGators' third leading scoreer, with 14 points (3g, 11a).

Shawn McNeil has already set a new career-high with nine power-play goals.

Kenny Corupe has tied a season-high with his four-game point streak (2g, 4a).

With a point tonight, Dennis Shiryaev will tie a career-high with a three-game point streak.

Bruce Richardson is tied for the team lead with 10 multiple-point games, but Sunday was his first on the road.

Sunday against Mississippi, the IceGators had their lowest shot total of the season (28), while allowing the most of 2002-03 (41).



ECHL Stories from December 11, 2002


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