Louisiana game notes vs. Baton Rouge

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


Kingfish at IceGators – The IceGators try to maintain their home dominance over Baton Rouge tonight when the two Southwest Division rivals collide at the Cajundome. Louisiana, which is 42-18-8 all-time against the Kingfish, has lost to Baton Rouge at home in regulation just once since December 26, 1997. That loss, and a shootout loss at home on January 10, 1998, dropped the IceGators to 1-5-1 at home against the Kingfish, but since then they are 21-1-5 at the Cajundome versus Baton Rouge. The only regulation loss in that span came on February 16, 2001, a 3-2 Kingfish win. Louisiana is 7-0-3 in the last 10 home meetings and 13-1-4 in the last 18. Louisiana is 4-0-1 in the last five meetings this season, after the teams split the first four games. The IceGators earned an impressive 3-0 shutout in the last meeting last Friday at the Centroplex. In the last game at the Cajundome on February 2, the Kingfish saw a two-goal lead disappear, but recovered in time for a 5-4 overtime win. The IceGators are 14-2-2 in the last 18 overall meetings with the Kingfish.

Sunday night – Gregor Baumgartner recorded the first opponent hat trick at the Cajundome in 2 ½ seasons, leading the Pensacola Ice Pilots to a 6-4 victory over the penalty-plagued Louisiana IceGators. Pensacola, a night after enjoying a 14-2 power play advantage, held a 16-4 edge with the man advantage in Sunday's game. Greg Pankewicz had two goals and Kerry Ellis-Toddington also scored for the Ice Pilots, who are 8-1-1 in their last 10 and avenged a 4-2 home loss to Louisiana Saturday night. Bobby Brown had a goal and two assists and Derek Gustafson made 35 saves for the IceGators, who had their unbeaten streak snapped at six games (4-0-2). Louisiana is winless in three straight home games (0-1-2) for just the sixth time in franchise history, not counting forfeits.

Scouting the Kingfish – Baton Rouge looks for just its second win in 13 games tonight when it invades the Cajundome. The Kingfish snapped an eight-game winless streak February 2 at the Cajundome, but have dropped the last three games since then. Last night, Baton Rouge yielded four power play goals and fell 5-4 at home to Mississippi to fall to 1-10-1 in its last 12. Since two straight wins December 18-20 at Cincinnati and Peoria, the Kingfish are 4-13-5. Bryan Richardson is the heart and soul of the Kingfish, and he leads the team with 52 points (24g, 28a) and eight power play goals. Trevor Demmans is one of the most consistent defensemen in the ECHL, but he logs likely more ice time than any blueliner as well. Demmans is second on the team with 39 points (7g, 32a). The Kingfish started a mini-run in December when Joe Guenther was picked up off waivers. Guenther, an All-Star, has 29 points (10g, 19a) in 32 games with Baton Rouge. Niklas Sundberg, who nearly became just the second goaltender ever to shut out the IceGators at the Cajundome but lost 3-2 in a shootout on New Year's Eve, is 4-6-2 with a 3.26 goals against average since being assigned by AHL Hartford. Fellow netminder Jeff Blair has deserved a better fate, having gone 5-17-5 with a 3.30 goals against average.

IceGators goalies impressive against Baton Rouge – Coming into tonight's game, IceGators netminders Kyle Kettles and Derek Gustafson are a combined 8-1-1 with a 1.67 goals against average and a .944 save percentage in their careers against the Kingfish. Kettles is 4-1-1 with a 2.31 goals against average and a .921 save percentage in this, his rookie season, versus the Kingfish, including a pair of shutouts in Baton Rouge. Kettles is just the second goalie in team history to shut out the same team twice in one season. Frederic Cloutier shut out New Orleans twice last season. No IceGators netminder, nor the team as a whole, has ever shut out the same team three times in one season. Gustafson, meanwhile, sports a 4-0-0 record with a 0.73 goals against average, a .976 save percentage and one shutout in his career against Baton Rouge, with all four games coming in the 2000-01 season when he was with Jackson. Gustafson earned his first pro shutout against the Kingfish on October 28, 2000, in his first pro start. (Gustafson relieved one game in AHL Cleveland, in which he earned the win, prior to that game). The IceGators duo has combined to stop 287 of 304 Kingfish shots, and has allowed just 17 goals in 608 minutes.

Louisiana winless in three straight at Cajundome – The IceGators are winless in their last three home games (0-1-2), including an overtime loss to Baton Rouge February 2, one shy of their franchise-record. Louisiana's four-game winless streak (0-2-2) from November 11-26, 2000, is the longest in team history. The IceGators have gone three home games without a win just five times now, not counting the four-game stretch. Louisiana had to forfeit six straight home games to start the 1996-97 season. The Kingfish have the longest current home winless streak in the ECHL, a six-gamer.

Brown has points in five straight, goals in three straight – Forward Bobby Brown has 12 points (7g, 5a) in a five-game point streak, which ties his season-high, previously accomplished three times. Brown also has at least one goal in three straight games, a season-high and just one off his career-best. Brown's only four-game goal streak came more than four seasons ago, with Dayton from November 15-22, 1998. Brown had six goals in that span.

Sarich has points, assists in five straight; one shy of team rookie record – IceGators rookie blueliner Rod Sarich, who had a pair of four-game assist streaks earlier this season, has a new career-high with a five-game assist and point streak. Sarich, who represented Louisiana in the ECHL All-Star Game last month, has a goal and six helpers in his most recent stretch, including his first career multi-point game – a three-point contest February 2 against Baton Rouge. Sarich's five-game assist streak is the best ever by a Louisiana rookie blueliner, and it's the longest by an IceGators rookie since Shawn McNeil's five-gamer from March 9-17, 2000. The longest assist streak every by an IceGators rookie is John Spoltore's six-game streak from February 28-March 8, 1996. Spoltore had nine assists in that span. The only other IceGators rookie to have an assist in four straight games is Rob Valicevic, also in the 1995-96 season. Sarich has at least one point in nine of his last 11 games and in 10 of his last 12. Sarich's 22 rookie assists are already the fourth best total in team history. McNeil is fourth on the list with 28, while Kevin Mitchell is third with 32 and Russ Hewson is second with 39. Spoltore's rookie record of 68 is well out of reach.

‘Gators magic number decreasing, could clinch by Sunday – With Mississippi's 5-4 win at Baton Rouge last night, Louisiana's magic number to clinch a playoff spot dropped to eight points – a combination of IceGators' points and points lost by Baton Rouge. The Kingfish could still accumulate 75 points. That means that, with an IceGators regulation win tonight, they could clinch a playoff spot with both a win tomorrow in Pensacola and Sunday at home versus Mississippi. The Kingfish are off after tonight until Tuesday when they host Arkansas.

First-place lead at four – Mississippi's 5-4 win in Baton Rouge last night cut Louisiana's first-place lead down to four points, the smallest since January 31. The IceGators have held at least a share of first place for 56 straight days, dating back to December 21. The IceGators have the second-longest first-place run in the ECHL among current division leaders. Atlantic City has been in at least a share of first since November 30.

Both teams are cardiac kids – Louisiana has played 28 one-goal games, tied with Pensacola and one behind Columbus and two behind Baton Rouge for the league lead, going 12-6-10 in such contests. The IceGators are 8-2-3 at home in one-goal games and 4-4-7 on the road. The Kingfish, meanwhile, are 9-12-9 in one-goal games, including a 4-5-7 mark on the road.

Brown notches fourth career hat trick – Bobby Brown had his fourth career hat trick February 8, and his six multi-goal games this season lead the team, one better than each Shawn McNeil and Nathan Rempel. Brown's last hat trick came October 20, 2000, with CHL Austin versus Bossier City, and his last ECHL three-goal game came on February 13, 1998, with Dayton against Louisville. Brown has four of his six multi-goal games in the last 10 contests, since January 17.

Brown collects 200th ECHL point – Bobby Brown's goal February 7 was the 200th point of his ECHL career. Brown now has 97 goals and 109 assists in 238 ECHL games while playing for four different teams.

Kettles sets franchise record for consecutive starts – Rookie Kyle Kettles started 12 straight games in net for Louisiana (January 4-February 7), establishing a new franchise-record, before Derek Gustafson played Saturday night in Pensacola. Kettles' 12-game streak was one game better than Marc Delorme's 11-game span from February 19-March 13, 1996. Kettles enjoyed success in the streak, going 7-3-2. The longest starting streak this season by an ECHL netminder is 13, set by two players, most recently Columbia's Josh Blackburn from November 22-December 20.

Kettles third-fastest with two, three shutouts – IceGators rookie netminder Kyle Kettles recorded two shutouts in his first 13 starts and three in his first 23 with the team, becoming the third fastest goalie in team history to reach each landmark. Frederic Cloutier had two in his first four starts in 2001-02, and a third in his fifth game, while Bujar Amidovski earned two shutouts in his first six starts in 1998-99. Amidovski, also a rookie that season, had his third shutout in his ninth game in 1998-99. Only Cloutier (seven) and Marc Magliarditi (four in 2001-02) have more shutouts in a season than Kettles has in 2002-03.

OT mark set to be broken - With 21 games left, the IceGators need to play in just one more overtime or shootout game to break their franchise record of 18. The IceGators are 5-6 in overtime games and 3-4 in games decided in a shootout. Louisiana is 5-4 after regulation at home but just 3-6 on the road. The IceGators also played 18 overtime/shootout games in 1999-2000. Louisiana isn't that far from the ECHL record. Toledo's 25 overtime games is the league record (1995-96), while three teams are tied for second with 21. The next most overtime games is 20, set by several teams, including Dayton in 1999-2000. This season, Louisiana leads each Pensacola and Columbus by three for the most overtime/shootout games.

Ten OT/shootout losses ties team record – The IceGators have 10 overtime/shootout losses this season, tying their franchise record set in the 1997-98 campaign. That season, Louisiana went 43-17-10. The team's six overtime/shootout losses on the road also tie a team record, set in 1999-2000.

McNeil shoots, he shoots again! – Shawn McNeil had six shots February 7, giving him 1,002 in his IceGators career. Through February 9, McNeil has 1,014 shots. He became become just the third player in team history to take 1,000 shots, joining Chris Valicevic (1,920) and Jay Murphy (1,438). McNeil accomplished the feat in his 251st game with the team, and he's just off that pair's pace. Valicevic took his 1,000th shot in his 240th game, while Murphy accomplished the feat in just 225 contests.

McNeil sets sights on Valicevic – Shawn McNeil played in his 250th game with the IceGators February 7. He has currently played in 253 games, two shy of Jason McQuat for sixth on the team's all-time list. McNeil could also pass Matthew Pagnutti (273) this season. January 24, McNeil became the IceGators' fourth leading goal scorer, passing Don Parsons. McNeil, who now has 124 goals, is just eight shy of Chris Valicevic for third place on the team's all-time list. Also, McNeil's 153 assists are seven behind John DePourcq for fourth on the IceGators' ledgers. McNeil has passed Ron Handy (132) and Louis Dumont (137) on the assist list this season, while he got by Dumont (102) and Parsons (117) on the goal list.

McNeil has four career shootout clinchers – Shawn McNeil's shootout game-winner December 31 against Baton Rouge was his fourth career shootout game-winner. McNeil is tied for second with Ron Handy, Jay Murphy and teammate John DePourcq in that category, trailing only Louis Dumont's six.

McNeil chooses his spots well – Shawn McNeil, who is tied for third in the ECHL with 30 goals, does his best work in the clutch. He has four of the IceGators' extra attacker goals this season. More remarkably, 24 of his 30 goals (80 percent) have either tied the game or given his team the lead. Fourteen of his goals have given Louisiana the lead, while 10 of his goals have tied the game. McNeil is tied with Nathan Rempel for first on the team with five game-winning goals. McNeil's 12 first-period goals are also a team best, while 15 of McNeil's goals have been his team's first goal.

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 98 goals, 12 more than Augusta's Andrew Williamson. Below are the players with the most ECHL goals since the 2000-01 season.

1. McNeil 98 Louisiana 6. Bousquet 74 NA

2. Williamson 86 Augusta 7. Dumont 73 Pensacola

3. Murphy 84 Greensboro 8. Seitz 72 South Carolina

4. Demarski 79 Greenville 9. Schneider 71 CHL – Laredo

5. Sirois 77 Pee Dee 10. Tiltgen 70 WCHL – San Diego

McNeil hits 30, again – Shawn McNeil has reached the 30-goal plateau for the third straight season. McNeil will likely be the only ECHL player to boast that honor for the 2000-01, 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons. Only Dean Tiltgen, Jay Murphy, Hugues Gervais and Dany Bousquet had 30 goals in each of the past two seasons. Of those four, only Murphy is currently in the ECHL, and he is currently on 30-day IR with Greensboro. McNeil has second most goals among players 25 or younger – IceGators winger Shawn McNeil has scored 124 goals before the age of 25, the second most among active ECHL players in that category. McNeil will turn 25 on March 17. Richmond's Lars Pettersen, who began play in the league when he was 19, has 129 goals (plus three in the AHL) and won't turn 25 until November 20 of next season. Augusta's Andrew Williamson, currently 27 years old, had the most goals by 25 of active ECHL players. Williamson had an eye-popping 151 tallies, including 52 in 2000-01.

McNeil has scored on 48 goalies – Shawn McNeil's 123 goals have come against 48 different ECHL goalies, including both Niklas Sundberg and Jeff Blair. McNeil has victimized Arkansas' Jason Saal the most, with 11 goals, while former New Orleans and current Pee Dee goaltender Ron Vogel has yielded nine goals to McNeil.

Getting better as the game progresses – The statistics don't lie, Kyle Kettles gets stronger as the game goes on. Kettles allows just .75 goals per third period he plays, better than the second period (0.91), which is better than the first (1.04). In 24 third-periods this season (Kettles had a third period in relief of Frederic Cloutier on November 15), Kettles has yielded only 17 goals.

Goneau closing in on 300 points – Daniel Goneau played in his 400th career game in North America January 31 and is closing in on his 300th overall point. Goneau now has 262 points (120g, 142a) in 405 North American games, while counting his European travels, Goneau has tallied 284 points (130g, 156a) in 433 contests.

Goneau establishes new career-high in points – Daniel Goneau notched a new career in points with his two assists January 24 against Mississippi. Goneau's 64 current points (21g, 43a) are 15 better than the 49 (23g, 26a) he had combined with AHL Hartford and the NHL's New York Rangers in 1997-98.

Goneau on another assist binge – IceGators winger Daniel Goneau has eight helpers during a five-game assist streak, tied for the second longest current streak in the ECHL, trailing only Richmond's Brad Church, who is in the midst of a six-game stretch. This is Goneau's second long assist streak of the season; he had an eight-game run, with 16 helpers, from November 19-December 6. Four players have had nine-game assist streaks to lead the ECHL this season.

What a second season in IceGators uniform – Nathan Rempel, who had 17 points (7g, 10a) in 60 games last season, is fifth on the team with 46 points (25g, 21a). His 29-point increase is the best by a second-year IceGator in team history. Shawn McNeil had an increase of 27 points, from 54 to 81 from 1999-00 to 2000-01. Rempel has 24 more points in 2002-03 than in his 102 career pro games combined coming into this season. Rempel's 25 goals trail only Bobby Brown (26) and McNeil (30) for the team lead. Rempel has 13 multi-point games after just two combined in the first two years of his career.

Rempel, Kvetan pass 100-game mark – Sunday, Branislav Kvetan became the 20th player in team history to skate in 100 games. January 17, Nathan Rempel joined the club. Teammate Dennis Shiryaev, placed on injured reserve February 1, has played in 99 games. Rempel has currently played in 110 games, while Kvetan joined Jack Williams, also with 100. Rob McCaig (17th with 114) and Gary Roach (16th with 116) are up next on the list for Rempel and Kvetan.

Hat trick notes – The IceGators already have five hat tricks this season (Bobby Brown, Shawn McNeil, Nathan Rempel, Bruce Richardson and Tony Tuzzolino). Last season, they had only four all season and in 2000-01, they finished with two. The five different players with hat tricks ties the team record, set in 1995-96 and in 1997-98. The five total hat tricks are the most for the IceGators since 1999-2000 (six). Louisiana's team record is 14, set in 1995-96.

Corupe has 106 points and counting – IceGators center Kenny Corupe picked up his 100th pro point January 17. In 172 games, Corupe now has 44 goals and 62 assists. Corupe showing up on the scoresheet has been ultra important to the IceGators this season. The team is 7-2-4 when Corupe has a goal, 10-0-2 when he picks up an assist and 15-2-6 when he has a point. Worlton, Skiehar approaching top 10 – Jeff Worlton has 21 major penalties with the IceGators, tied with Dan O'Rourke for 11th on the team's all-time list. Shawn Skiehar has 20 majors. Both players are nearing the top 10 on the team's ledgers. Ryan Pisiak and Mike Kucsulain are tied for ninth with 22 majors.

Iron men – Shawn McNeil, Rod Sarich and J.P. Morin have each played in all 51 of the IceGators' games this season, the only players to do so. If the trio end up playing in all 72 games, it would mark the first time since 1995-96 that three IceGators have played in every game (John Spoltore, Chris Valicevic, John Vary). McNeil has been an ECHL iron man before, playing in all 72 games in the 2000-01 season. Since the beginning of the 2000-01 campaign, McNeil has played in 191 of 195 games. He missed four contests last season – one due to a callup and three due to injury. The IceGators have had a player go through the full 70 or 72-game schedule just 12 times without missing a game. Spoltore and Valicevic are the only players who played all games in a season more than once.

Worlton racking up the PIM's – Rookie defenseman Jeff Worlton's 237 penalty minutes are the 14th most for an IceGator in a single season. Jason McQuat is up next on the list; he's 13th with 251, set in 1997-98. If he were to play in each of the IceGators' final 22 games, Worlton's current pace would give him 356 penalty minutes, fourth-best in team history. Rob McCaig has the team record of 512 in 1995-96, while Eric Cloutier's 1997-98 mark of 398 is second and McCaig's total of 383 in 1996-97 is third.

Morin looking for first goal with IceGators – Louisiana defenseman J.P. Morin's 15 assists are a new career-best, bettering the 14 he had in his rookie campaign of 2001-02, but the blueliner is still searching for his first goal in an IceGators uniform. Morin has gone 102 games since his one and only pro goal, November 20, 2001, with Port Huron vs. Quad City. That is the fourth longest streak in the ECHL. Arkansas' Philippe Lakos has gone the longest since his last goal –112 games. Lakos' last goal came with Toledo on February 4, 2001 against Jackson.

‘Gators have 68 points through 51 games – Louisiana's 68 points through 51 games are the third most in team history. Last season's Brabham Cup winning team had 85 points through 51 games, while the 1998-99 squad had 77. A victory tonight would give the IceGators 70 points, which would also be the third best in franchise history. Only 2001-02 (85) and 1998-99 (77) would have more points after 52 games. Louisiana's winning percentage is ..667, which would calculate into 96 points at the season's end. That total would be tied for the third most in team history, matching the 1997-98 team, which played just 70 games. The IceGators' franchise and league-record point total of 116 was set last season, while the team had 98 points in 1998-99.

The race for the Brabham is on, again – Louisiana enters tonight with the most points in the Southern Conference and the fourth most in the ECHL. Only Toledo (72), Peoria (71) and Atlantic City (70) have more. The IceGators are trying to become the first team in league history to repeat as Brabham Cup champions after last season's 116-point campaign. Just one Brabham Cup winner has ever won the ECHL's post-season title – South Carolina in 1998-99*. Strong at home – The IceGators, who are winless in three straight home games (0-2-1), are 18-4-4 at home this season for a winning percentage of .769. Through 26 games at home last season, Louisiana was 21-2-3, and the IceGators finished the season 30-2-4 at home. Louisiana is on pace for 55 home points, which would be the fifth most in franchise history. Through 25 home games, Louisiana's 40 points are the fourth most in team history, five points off last season's mark. A win tonight would give the IceGators 42 points in 27 home games, which would be the fourth most in team history and also five behind last season's squad.

Road update – The IceGators have won two straight road games, one shy of their season-high, to improve to 11-8-6 away from the Cajundome. The IceGators' 28 road points through 25 games are tied with the 1995-96 team for the third most in team history. The IceGators have won 56.0 percent of their road games, which would calculate to 40 road points, which would be tied with the 1995-96 and 1998-99 teams for the third most in franchise history. Last season, Louisiana had a franchise-record 52 road points.

Staying on the board – The IceGators have scored in 119 straight games, dating back to a 1-0 shootout loss to Jackson at the Cajundome on October 17, 2001. That's the second-longest streak in team history. 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 11 occasions, including a 5-1 loss in Pensacola on January 25. January 24, Shawn McNeil scored with 51.1 seconds left to get on the board and force overtime. December 31, Cal Benazic scored twice inside of a minute to get Louisiana on the board.

Tough to come back on – The IceGators are 21-1-3 this season when leading after two periods, with the lone loss coming January 17. In the three-year Dave Farrish era, Louisiana has dropped just five games in regulation when leading after 40 minutes. The IceGators are 92-5-4 when taking a lead into the third period under Farrish. In 2001-02, Louisiana dropped just one game in regulation when leading after two periods (45-1-1), a 5-4 home loss to Mississippi on December 29. In that game, Louisiana led 4-2 in the second period and 4-3 after two.

Comeback kids – Allowing the game's first goal isn't always the worst thing for the IceGators, especially at home. Louisiana is 14-8-4 this season when yielding the first goal, including an impressive 9-1-2 mark at home.

Troublesome when outshooting opponents – Louisiana is 19-7-3 when outshooting opponents, including a 12-1-2 mark at home. The IceGators' only home regulation loss when outshooting their opponent was a 5-2 loss against Arkansas on November 7, a game in which they held a 38-31 shot advantage.

Keep it under 30 – The IceGators sports a 9-0-2 mark when allowing 29 or fewer shots at the Cajundome.

No wonder overtime treats them well – The IceGators have outscored their opponents in most situations this season, especially 4-on-4. Louisiana holds a 17-8 advantage in 4-on-4 situations this season.

Rally ‘Gators – The IceGators are 8-7-1 when trailing after one period and 4-10-3 when trailing after two. Louisiana's win January 24 was its second this season when trailing by three goals. The IceGators rallied from a 3-0 deficit for a 5-4 overtime win over Arkansas on December 6.

Go ahead, blow your whistle – Killing penalties isn't always bad for Louisiana. The IceGators are 6-1-1 when allowing 10 or more power play attempts, and a 4-1-0 mark at home.

Back to back, to back – Louisiana is starting its 11th of 15 three-in-three attempts this season. The IceGators have picked up at least a point in the last game of such sets on eight of 10 occasions, going 5-2-3. Louisiana is 10-2-2 in the first of a three-in-three (or back-to-back situations) and 7-3-4 in the second. The IceGators have swept a pair of three-in-threes (October 18-20, November 28-30), while they have failed to win any of the three games on one occasion, an 0-2-1 stretch from November 1-3.

McNeil has special teams lead – Winger Shawn McNeil leads the IceGators with 33 special teams points (14g, 19a), including a team-best 29 (12g, 17a) on the power play. Bobby Brown (10g, 15a) is second with 25 special teams points, one ahead of the departed Kevin Mitchell (4g, 20a) and Bruce Richardson (8g, 14a).

McNeil tops with 14 special teams goals – Shawn McNeil has 14 special teams goals to lead the team, including a team-best 12 power-play tallies. Nathan Rempel is second with 12 special teams goals, including 10 power-play scores. McNeil and Rempel are also tied for the team lead with two shorthanded goals, along with Bobby Brown and Bruce Richardson.

Special teams update – The IceGators are currently ranked seventh in the ECHL with a 21.1 power play percentage, including 24.5 percent at home (fifth in league) and 17.9 percent on the road (12th). Louisiana, which is 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) with the man advantage in the past four games, has at least one power play goal in 13 of its last 14 contests. The IceGators have gone 18-for-73 (24.7 percent) in that span, which followed a three-game, 0-for-11 drought. On the penalty kill, Louisiana is ranked 12th with an 82.2 percentage. The team has never finished a season ranked lower than ninth on the penalty kill. At home, the IceGators are ranked only 21st (81.6 percent), but on the road they are in fourth (82.9 percent). The IceGators have had plenty of chances lately to kill penalties, and have stepped it up in the last five games, where they have killed 39-of-44 shorthanded chances (88.6 percent).

Quick hits

· Shawn McNeil has 19 points in a nine-game home point streak, the fifth longest current streak in the ECHL. Bruce Richardson has the longest home point streak this season by any player in the ECHL, a 20-game run that ended when he went to AHL Hershey. Richardson had a point in every IceGators home game this season prior to his recall.

· The IceGators are 22-2-5 when yielding one or less power play goals this season, including a 13-0-1 mark at home, but they are 7-10-5 overall when allowing two or more.

· Louisiana is 27-6-7 when scoring three or more goals, including a 21-3-3 mark when scoring four or more. When scoring two goals or less, the IceGators are 2-6-3.

· The Kingfish have allowed four or more goals in seven of their last eight games and have yielded at least three goals in 21 straight games dating back to December 21.

· Baton Rouge is just 4-for-54 (7.4 percent) on the power play in its last 12 games. On the penalty kill, the Kingfish have allowed at least one goal eight straight games, including more than one in five of those contests. After giving up five power play goals last night to Mississippi, Baton Rouge dropped from 17th to 22nd in the ECHL in penalty killing.

Kingfish vs. IceGators, career

Bryan Richardson 38gp, 13g, 21a, 34 pts

Trevor Demmans 16gp, 4g, 9a, 13 pts

Jason Norrie 11gp, 4g, 2a, 6 pts

Clark Jones 14gp, 4g, 2a, 6 pts

Jeff Blair 2-2-1, 3.81 gaa, .883 sv. pct.

Niklas Sundberg 1-1-1, 2.88 gaa, .924 sv. pct.

IceGators vs. Kingfish, career

Shawn McNeil 38gp, 19g, 22a, 41 pts

Bobby Brown 9gp, 4g, 7a, 11 pts

Nathan Rempel 17gp, 5g, 5a, 10 pts

Kyle Kettles 4-1-1, 2.31 gaa, .921 sv. pct., two shutouts

Derek Gustafson 4-0-0, 0.73 gaa, .976 sv. pct., one shutout



ECHL Stories from February 14, 2003


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