Louisiana game notes at Mississippi, 11/19

November 19, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


IceGators at Sea Wolves – Mississippi tries to even the season series with Louisiana at two games apiece tonight when the teams meet in Biloxi. The IceGators earned a pair of two-goal wins in October, one at Mississippi Coast Coliseum, before the Sea Wolves won on home ice 4-3 on November 3. Steffon Walby and Dave Paradise each recorded a goal and an assist and Greg Gardner turned aside 36 shots in the victory, while Shawn McNeil had a goal and an assist for the IceGators. The Sea Wolves victory snapped a four-game IceGators winning streak in the series, which Louisiana sports a 22-16-7 record in. Those four victories came after an 0-4-1 stretch against Mississippi. The IceGators also saw their two-game winning streak in Biloxi halted. Louisiana is 2-3-0 in its last five trips to Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

Friday night – Greg Pankewicz had two goals in a five-goal second period and Trevor Allman also scored twice and added an assist, as the Ice Pilots routed the shortstaffed Louisiana IceGators 6-1 at the Pensacola Civic Center. Maxime Gingras turned aside 36 shots for Pensacola, while Kevin Cloutier and Josh Harrold had the Ice Pilots' other goals. Former IceGator Louis Dumont has added three assists for Pensacola, which entered the game tied for 24th in the ECHL in scoring, averaging just 2.36 goals per game. Nathan Rempel had his career-high tying seventh goal of the season for Louisiana, which was playing with 15 players – one below the ECHL limit – including eight forwards due to suspensions and call-ups. Frederic Cloutier made 24 saves for the IceGators before being replaced at the start of the third period by Kyle Kettles. The rookie stopped all five shots he faced in the relief effort. The score was tied at 1-1 after one, but a five-goal second period – tying the most goals ever given up by the IceGators in one period – put the Ice Pilots in control.

Scouting the Sea Wolves – Mississippi is 1-1-2 in its last four games to drop two points behind Southwest Division leading Arkansas, which has played two more games than the Sea Wolves. Mississippi is coming off a 3-2 shootout loss in Jackson on Sunday, a game that saw the Sea Wolves tie the game with 4:22 remaining. Austin Miller and Dave Paradise each scored for Mississippi, while Greg Gardner made 29 saves. Gardner got a rare rest Friday, as Sean Matile came off injured reserve to lead Mississippi to a 2-0 shutout of Jackson, but backstopped both Saturday's game (2-1 loss to Pensacola) and Sunday's contest. Matile's appearance on Friday marked his first of the season due to injury, and was the first time all season Gardner hadn't played in a game. Gardner is 8-4-2 with a 2.60 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in 14 games. Mike Buckley, who started against the IceGators on October 18, hurt his leg in that game and has been on injured reserve since. It's no surprise that Mississippi's recent dry spell has come without Steffon Walby in the lineup. Walby, out since November 3, had a point in all but one of the 11 games he has played, and the team has won just once with him out of the lineup. Walby still leads the team with 22 points (7g, 15a). Paradise, who became Mississippi's all-time leader in goals earlier this season, has stepped up admirably in Walby's absence, scoring three goals in four games. Paradise is second on the team in scoring with 20 points (10g, 10a). Jim Baxter is the league leader amongst defenseman in points with 19 (6g, 13a) and has a nine-game point streak. After the top four in scoring (Cody Bowtell has 14 points), the production decreases measurably, however, as no other player has more than five points.

IceGators usually rebound nicely – Friday's 6-1 loss in Pensacola was just the franchise's ninth loss by five or more in its history. The IceGators had once previously lost by five goals in the Dave Farrish regime – a 5-0 defeat by South Carolina in February 23, 2001. Louisiana, however, usually rebounds after a bad loss. The IceGators are 5-3 all-time after a loss by five or more goals, although they did follow up that 5-0 loss to the Stingrays with a 5-1 loss the next night in Greenville.

Rebounding, part 2 – IceGators goaltender Frederic Cloutier was pulled Friday for just the second time in his career. The last time he was pulled was in a 4-1 loss to Mississippi on January 11. Cloutier, who allowed five goals on eight shots through one-plus period in that game, went on to win his next 11 decisions, starting it off with a 25-save performance in a 5-1 win over Baton Rouge.

Magic number is four – The IceGators haven't won a game this season when they've scored less than four goals (0-5-2), but they are 8-0-0 when putting four or more goals on the board.

McNeil climbing the ranks – Shawn McNeil's hot pace has him passing former players on the team's all-time lists with every game. McNeil's 106 goals with the team are the fifth most in history, and he's just 11 goals behind Don Parsons for fourth. If McNeil keeps up his current streak, it may not take him long to get there.

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. McNeil has 80 goals, three more than former teammate Jay Murphy.

Letting opponent get the head start – The IceGators have allowed their opponent to score the game's first goal in 10 of their last 12 games and 11 overall. Last season, Louisiana failed to score first in just 20 games. The IceGators have a particularly hard time starting out on the road. They scored first on Friday for just the second time in nine road games.

Power play update – The IceGators scored at least one power play goal in each of their first 11 games this season, but have gone three of the last four without a tally with the man advantage. Louisiana hasn't scored a power play goal in the last two games, the first time the team's done that since December 1-7 of last season. The IceGators had a hard time clicking on the power play in the first third of last season, even going from October 14-November 10 – a span of seven games – without a power-play goal. Louisiana still ended up ranking fifth in the league in power play last season at 20.0 percent. Currently, the IceGators are scoring on 21.2 percent of their power plays, ranking them 12th. Reading leads the ECHL with an astounding 26.0 percent.

Richardson on seven-game point streak – Bruce Richardson's point streak is up to seven games, a new career-best. The streak, which started with a four-helper game on October 27 against Jackson, includes 11 points (3g, 8a). Richardson has a point in all but two games this season. Richardson's hot streak wasn't just limited to the ECHL. The center spent four games in AHL Milwaukee last week, scoring a goal in each of the final three games.

Quick hits

Mississippi is averaging 1.67 goals per game in its last three contests.

Shawn McNeil has points in 20 of the IceGators' last 22 games, dating to last season.

Shawn McNeil has scored Louisiana's first goal in seven of 15 games. Six of his 12 goals have given the IceGators a lead.

Bobby Brown needs three penalty minutes for 500 in his pro career. Brown also needs just four points for 350 in his pro career.

Shawn McNeil (7g, 6a) and Kevin Mitchell (1g, 12a) lead the IceGators with 13 special teams points apiece.

Kevin Mitchell is one assist shy of 50 in his pro career.

The IceGators and Sea Wolves are second and fourth, respectively, in the ECHL in penalty minutes, combining for an average of 76.2 PIM's per game.



ECHL Stories from November 19, 2002


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