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Louisiana game notes at Pensacola

November 14, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


IceGators at Ice Pilots – Louisiana looks for its fourth win in its last nine trips to "The Hangar" tonight when the IceGators hook up with Pensacola for the first of 14 meetings this season. The teams meet three more times this month, including a tilt Sunday at the Cajundome. The IceGators are 17-11-2 all-time in Pensacola, but are 3-4-1 in the last eight trips there. The last meeting at The Hangar was a win, however, as the IceGators skated away with a 4-1 victory on March 15. Pensacola handed Louisiana its worst loss of last season on November 15, a 6-1 decision at the Pensacola Civic Center. Despite recent troubles on the road versus the Ice Pilots, Louisiana has dominated the series. The IceGators are 39-17-2 versus Pensacola, including a 20-7-1 mark in the last 28 meetings. Louisiana dropped back-to-back decisions against the Ice Pilots last February 9-15, its first ever series of consecutive losses against Pensacola.

2003-04 IceGators/Ice Pilots matchups (First of 14 meetings)

TONIGHT: Louisiana at Pensacola
Sunday: Pensacola at Louisiana
November 28: Louisiana at Pensacola
November 29: Pensacola at Louisiana
December 6: Louisiana at Pensacola
December 26: Louisiana at Pensacola
January 11: Pensacola at Louisiana
January 18: Pensacola at Louisiana
January 31: Pensacola at Louisiana
February 6: Louisiana at Pensacola
February 14: Louisiana at Pensacola
February 28: Louisiana at Pensacola
March 20: Pensacola at Louisiana
April 1: Pensacola at Louisiana

Sunday night – Derek Gustafson made 25 saves for his 10th pro shutout and Jim Vickers and Martin Masa scored a goal apiece, leading the Louisiana IceGators to a 2-0 victory over the Columbus Cottonmouths at the Cajundome. Olivier Michaud turned aside 28 shots for Columbus, which saw its winless streak pushed to seven games (0-6-1). Gustafson turned away four shots in the first period, eight in the second and 13 more in the third. He recorded his second ECHL shutout and 10th overall pro blanking.

Scouting the IceGators – Louisiana hits the ice tonight in search of its fifth straight win. Goaltending has been key in the four-game win streak, as the IceGators are allowing just 1.25 goals per game during it. Derek Gustafson took his turn in net Sunday and turned aside 25 shots to shut out Columbus, a night after Frederic Cloutier made 28 saves in a 3-1 win over Texas. The victory Sunday was the first home game in three weeks for Louisiana, which went 3-2-0 on an extended road trip. Kenny Corupe is having a breakout season thus far, averaging more than a point per game, with nine points (2g, 7a) in eight games. Corupe carries a six-game point streak into tonight's game. Bobby Brown (3g, 3a) is tied for second on the team with six points with Kevin Mitchell (1g, 5a), although Mitchell has been recalled to AHL Houston, and Ben Storey (2g, 4a). It's been a balanced IceGators scoring attack early, with seven players having at least four points. Louisiana's leading rookie scorers are Jamie Johnson (4a) and Ben Kilgour (2g, 1a). Kilgour has his three points in only four games, after beginning the season with Idaho. The defense is led by Storey and Josh Mizerek (4a). The IceGators defense is helping the goalies, allowing just 26.5 shots per game (seventh in the ECHL). The hot goaltending has helped Louisiana's offense, which is averaging 2.38 goals per game, improve. Gustafson is 3-1-0 with a 1.92 goals against average, while Cloutier is 3-1-0 with a 2.00 goals against average. Each goalie has won two straight.

Scouting the Ice Pilots – Pensacola snapped out of a three-game winless funk (0-2-1) with a 5-3 home win over Texas last night. The victory avenged a 4-3 overtime loss in Beaumont on Sunday, a game that saw the Wildcatters pick up their first victory at Ford Arena. Last night, the Ice Pilots rallied from a goal down in the second period to cruise to the win behind a game-winning goal and an assist from Corey Neilson. It's a much different Ice Pilots team than fans are used to seeing, with mainstays Louis Dumont and Greg Pankewicz gone. Neilson, a former IceGator, has been Pensacola's hottest player so far, dishing the puck out an ECHL-best 14 times among his 17 points. Peter Bournazakis (4g, 8a) has 14 points in just nine games, and Greg Chambers has four goals and nine assists. Dwayne Hay, who played for four NHL teams, has given Pensacola veteran leadership early on, along with 11 points (6g, 5a). The Ice Pilots offense is averaging around four goals per game, which has helped compensate for struggling goaltending early. Brian Eklund, a Brown product under contract with the Tampa Bay Lightning, took over the starting role early on, going 6-3-0 with a 3.07 goals against average. Evgeny Konstantinov got his first start of the season in Texas on Sunday and stopped 30 shots while taking the shootout loss.

Should be some power play goals put up tonight – Pensacola and Louisiana enter tonight's game second and third, respectively, in the ECHL on the power play. The IceGators are 12-for-46 on the Louisiana Motors Pontiac Power Play so far this season. Louisiana has scored 12 of its 17 regulation goals this season on the power play, with another coming with the goalie pulled for a delayed penalty on Sunday. Over the last three games, the IceGators are 6-for-21, with six of their seven goals (not counting a shootout goal) coming with the man advantage. On the Acadiana Bottling Pepsi Penalty Kill, Louisiana is 30-of-35 (85.7 percent). That puts the IceGators 10th in the league. Pensacola is 17-for-58 on the power play (31.4 percent) and seventh on the penalty kill (47-for-54, 87.0 percent).

Scoreless streak climbing – Louisiana hasn't allowed a goal in 113 minutes, 57 seconds, dating back to Cory Morgan's goal 6:03 into the first period Saturday. Frederic Cloutier held the Wildcatters off the board for the remainder of that game, and then Derek Gustafson shut out Columbus on Sunday. The IceGators are less than 10 minutes away from both the third-longest scoreless streaks in team history. The fourth-longest streak was by Cloutier and Marc Magliarditi (123:45) from March 26-29, 2002. The third longest was Cloutier and Kyle Kettles (123:52) from January 2-14, 2003. Cloutier was actually involved in all four of the longest shutout streaks in team history. He and Magliarditi combined for the second-longest combined shutout streak in team history (142:15) from November 23-29, 2001, and the longest streak (143:40) from November 3-10, 2001. Cloutier holds the longest individual streak at 167:08, from October 26-November 15, 2001 – his rookie season.

Masa a point away from 500 in pro career – Louisiana left wing Martin Masa is just two points shy of 500 entering tonight's game. Masa, at 30 the eldest statesman in the IceGators locker room, has 498 points (212g, 286a) in 580 pro games beginning in 1994-95. Masa, who was a member of Greenville's 2002 Kelly Cup winning team, has more game-winning goals (32) than all of his teammates, except Bobby Brown, have goals in the ECHL. Masa has most victimized South Carolina, with four game-winners. Masa was held without a point in four straight games to begin the season, but scored a goal November 1 in Columbus.

Corupe has points in six straight, assists in five straight – IceGators centerman Kenny Corupe has at least a point in six straight games, including one assist in five consecutive contests. Corupe has seven points (2g, 5a) in the last six games, dating back to October 24 at Florida, and has a point in all but one of the IceGators' game this season. Corupe's point streak has tied his longest ECHL streak, set with Johnstown from March 9-24, 2001. His longest career point streak was with CHL Odessa from February 12-March 7, 2002. His five-game assist streak is already a new ECHL high, and it's tied with his career high, set with Odessa from February 12-23, 2002.

Storey riding four-game point streak – Louisiana defenseman Ben Storey has one point in four straight games, with two goals and two assists in that span. The four-game point streak is tied with his ECHL high, set twice, most recently from February 16-22 of last season with Lexington. With a point tonight, Storey will tie his career-high, five-game point streak from December 29, 1999-January 9, 2000, with AHL Hershey.

Neilson faces former team – Pensacola defenseman Corey Neilson faces the IceGators for the first time tonight after spending three seasons with the team from 1999-2002. Neilson, who had a career-best 52 points (12g, 40a) during Louisiana's record 116-point campaign in 2001-02, is second on the team's all-time points list among defenseman, trailing only Chris Valicevic (527). Neilson, who played most of last season with UHL Elmira, is on the way to perhaps his best season ever. Currently, Neilson has an eight-game assist streak, with 13 helpers in that span. Neilson also has assists in each of the team's first eight home games. Neilson's 11 power-play points are a league best.

‘Gators look to continue hot November – After ending the season's opening month with their only non-winning October in team history, the IceGators try to start November 5-0-0 tonight. The year's 11th month hasn't been as kind as the rest to Louisiana. The IceGators are 60-30-13 all-time in November, good for a .646 winning percentage – a good winning percentage but still tied for fifth out of six months. On the road, the IceGators are 27-19-5 in November (.578), good for the third-best record in team history. At home, Louisiana is 33-11-8 in November (.712), which is the fifth best in team history. Under Dave Farrish, Louisiana is 28-10-7 in November, including a stout 23-5-4 mark the last two seasons.

IceGators' scoring streak is franchise best – The IceGators have scored in 148 straight regular-season games, dating back to a 1-0 shootout loss to Mike Tamburro and Jackson at the Cajundome on October 17, 2001. That's the longest regular-season streak in team history by 13 contests. Louisiana went 135 games without being shut out from the franchise's first game, on October 13, 1995, to a 1-0 loss at Baton Rouge on March 22, 1997. In the team's current streak, they have been held to one goal on 19 occasions, including November 24 at TECO Arena against Florida. The IceGators have recorded an astounding 16 shutouts since they were last kept off the scoreboard. Mississippi and Greg Gardner did shut out Louisiana in the post-season in April.

Cloutier picks up win No. 50 – Frederic Cloutier, the league MVP in 2001-02, has rejoined the IceGators and will look to continue to climb the IceGators' charts. Cloutier's goals against average of 2.33 trails only Marc Magliarditi (2.26) and Bujar Amidovski (2.32) on the team's ledgers, and he is second all-time in the ECHL in that category, trailing only Curtis Sanford (2.17). Cloutier's save percentage of .926 is best in team history. Magliarditi is second (.924). Cloutier's eight shutouts are also a team-best (Kyle Kettles, 5). Cloutier has 51 wins in his first 78 pro contests, having picked up win No. 50 on November 1 in Columbus. Cloutier's all-time pro marks are 51-15-9 with a 2.34 goals against average and .924 save percentage. With the IceGators and in the ECHL, the St. Honore, Que., native is 47-12-7.

Farrish fifth among ECHL coaches with 144 wins – IceGators head coach and vice president of hockey operations Dave Farrish is 144-58-22 with the team. He is fifth among active ECHL coaches in victories in the league, behind Greenville's John Marks (341), Greensboro's Rick Adduono (205), Reading's Derek Clancey (148) and Gwinnett's Jeff Pyle (145). Farrish's 144 wins are just 26 shy of Doug Shedden's team record. Farrish's .692 winning percentage is third all-time in the ECHL, behind Don Jackson (.758) and Troy Ward (.722). Both of those coaches coached just one season, though.

Kalmikov loves the game-winner – Winger Konstantin Kalmikov has 22 goals as an IceGator, and seven of them have been game-winners (32 percent), including one in a 2-1 win over Mississippi on October 18. Kalmikov also scored the deciding shootout goal in a 3-2 win at Mississippi on November 7, but that doesn't count as a game-winning goal.

Shiryaev cracks the Top 10 – Louisiana's Dennis Shiryaev has been racking up the penalty minutes lately, and he has 61 PIM's in eight games this season. His 449-penalty minute total with the team is in 10th place on the team's all-time list. Next on the ledgers is Chris Valicevic (463).

They can hold a lead – In the three-year Dave Farrish era, Louisiana has dropped just five games in regulation when leading after 40 minutes. The IceGators are 108-5-4 when taking a lead into the third period under Farrish. As amazing as those numbers are, consider this: Louisiana is 49-1-2 on the road when leading after 40 minutes, with the only blemish being a 3-2 loss in Peoria on January 4, 2001 – Farrish's first season. In that game, Louisiana led 2-0 after one period and 2-1 after 40 minutes. The IceGators went on to lose the next two games of the road trip, in Peoria and Toledo, by a combined 12-6 margin. Louisiana has had to recover in a shootout to win two games this season that they led after two periods, both against Mississippi – October 17 and November 7.

And the youth shall lead them – The IceGators have 10 players on their roster born in 1980 or later. Armands Berzins, who won't turn 20 until December 27, is the ECHL's youngest player.

‘Gators have three straight road wins - Louisiana has won three straight on the road, something the team did just once last season - from December 20-29. The last time Louisiana won four straight on the road was during a five-game streak from December 28, 2001-January 26, 2002, during the team's record 116-point campaign.

Looking for fifth straight overall - The IceGators' four-game winning streak is one shy of their season-high from last season, set three times, the last from March 15-22. Louisiana's last six-game winning streak was from January 13-January 29, 2002, once again during the IceGators' record-setting season. That campaign included a league-record tying 14-game winning streak.

Quick hits

The IceGators have had nine different power play scorers among their 12 man-advantage goals. Amazingly, seven different Louisiana players have at least three power-play points.

Louisiana is 5-0-0 when scoring first and 1-2-0 when allowing the game's first goal. That lone victory came Saturday night, a 3-1 win in Texas.

The IceGators are 6-0-0 when yielding two or fewer goals, and 0-2-0 when allowing four or more. Louisiana hasn't yielded exactly three goals at all in the 2003-04 campaign.

Tonight is the first time that the IceGators will play a team with a winning record since October 25 at Florida. Louisiana played the Everblades twice, its only games this season against a team with a winning record at that time.

Ice Pilots goalie Evgeny Konstantinov played eight games, plus the playoffs, with Louisiana in the 2000-01 regular season. Konstantinov went 4-4-0 in the regular season with a 2.75 goals against average.

Pensacola has led after one period just once in 10 games. The IceGators have held a lead after 20 minutes twice in eight games.

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