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McNeil nets three, Brown two as IceGators rally past Mississippi

January 24, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Lafayette, LA – Shawn McNeil capped his fourth career hat trick with the game-winning goal with 3:15 left in regulation and also became the fourth leading goal scorer in Louisiana history, as the IceGators rallied for a 5-4 victory over the Mississippi Sea Wolves in a first-place showdown at the Cajundome. Louisiana moved to 58 points, two better than both Mississippi and Arkansas. The RiverBlades beat Baton Rouge 7-3 tonight.

Bobby Brown began his reign with the "C" in fine fashion, scoring two goals after IceGators captain Bruce Richardson was loaned to AHL Hershey earlier in the day. John DePourcq, Nathan Rempel and Daniel Goneau each contributed two assists, while Kyle Kettles made 23 saves for Louisiana.

The crowd of 5,283 was the largest to see an IceGators game at the Cajundome this season. The IceGators are in Pensacola tomorrow for a 7:05 p.m. game, before returning to the Cajundome to face the Ice Pilots Sunday at 2:05 p.m.

Mike Scott, Travis Lisabeth, Steffon Walby and Cody Bowtell each scored for Mississippi, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Sean Matile made 30 saves for the Sea Wolves.

The game was tied 3-3 after two periods, and Bowtell wasted little time in the third putting Mississippi on top, unleashing a furious one-timer from the edge of the left circle past Kettles' glove on a pass from Lisabeth. The goal – which came at the 1:38 mark –was Bowtell's 20th of the season.

Rempel had a good 2-on-1 chance on the power play just more than four minutes into the third, but Matile swallowed up his shot.

The IceGators had another good chance as the power play expired, with a loose puck in front of the net.

However, just seconds later McNeil evened the score with his second of the night. Rempel won a battle behind the net and slipped a pass to McNeil at the bottom of the left circle. McNeil backed out near the top of the circle and fired a shot that tipped off Matile's left skate and into the back of the net. The tally was McNeil's second off a goalie's skate in the last two games, after banging a game-tying goal off Arkansas' Jason Saal late in the contest on Sunday.

With 3:15 left, McNeil completed the hat trick with his team-best fourth game-winner of the season. McNeil started the play with a shot wide, and the puck bounced to the other side of the net. Rempel fanned on the shot, and McNeil set up and fired a wrister through a crowd. With Matile on the ice, the puck hit the top of the net for his 26th goal of the season.

Only Jay Murphy (192), John Spoltore (142) and Chris Valicevic (132) have more goals in an IceGators uniform than McNeil, who finished the night with 120 – two better than Don Parsons.

McNeil, who has 13 points (6g, 7a) in a seven-game point streak, has scored Louisiana's first goal 13 times. An astounding nine of his goals have tied the game, as two did tonight, while 11 of his goals have given his team the lead. That means 21 of his 26 goals have either tied the game or put the IceGators ahead.

Mississippi pulled Matile with 1:17 left but couldn't score the equalizer. Brown even had a chance to complete the hat trick with a possible empty-netter, but the puck rolled just wide.

Neither team apparently read any game notes that said the teams each were ranked in the top 10 in the league in defense, as they combined for three goals in a 2:22 span early in the first.

Scott scored the game's first goal unassisted at the 2:16 mark, picking Louis Mass' pocket in the defensive zone and going low glove side on Kettles on Mississippi's first shot of the game. It was Scott's 12th tally of the season.

It took the IceGators just 15 seconds to respond, when McNeil took a pass off the boards from Rod Sarich and went five hole on Matile. McNeil moved into fourth place all-time on the IceGators' goal list with the tally, his 118th.

Louisiana went ahead with its second goal on three shots at the 4:38 mark. Goneau got the puck to Dennis Shiryaev at center ice, and Shiryeav broke in 2-on-1 with Brown on Matile. Shiryaev slid the puck to Brown on the right wing, and the center – in his first game wearing the "C," went glove glove side on Matile for his 18th goal of the season.

With 10:52 left, Bowtell nearly got the Sea Wolves even on the power play, clanging one off the post from the low circle.

The much anticipated heavyweight matchup between Louisiana's Jeff Worlton and Mississippi's Stu Pietersma came to fruition at the 12:43 mark, when the two locked up for more than a minute following a faceoff at neutral ice. It was the pair's fourth fight this season – and Pietersma's eighth major against the IceGators this season.

Sean Peach had a 2-on-1 attempt stoned by Kettles with 3:45 left in the first, just the Sea Wolves' third shot of the stanza.

Mississippi dominated player early in the second, but Kettles was there – for awhile. He made an unbelievable kick save on Jeff Hutchins at the 5:25 mark, but Lisabeth got the Sea Wolves even at 7:44. Sergei Kuznetsov faked a wraparound on the right side of the net and instead slid the puck to Lisabeth streaking between the circles, and Lisabeth tapped the puck past Kettles before he could respond.

Mississippi nearly took a one-goal lead less than a minute later, but Kettles stopped Scott from close range.

Walby's team-record sixth shorthanded goal of the season, at the 15:16 mark of the second, put Mississippi back on top. Dave Paradise picked up a loose puck at his own blueline and sent a pass up ice. Walby was entangled with Rempel at center ice, with the IceGator losing his stick. Walby broke in alone on Kettles, and despite Rempel's attempt, Walby went five-hole on Kettles for his 22nd goal of the season.

The IceGators evened the mark on the same power play with 3:56 left in the period. Kenny Corupe walked from behind the net into the left circle and dropped a pass to Brown, who went in on Matile and poked the puck under the netminder for his second of the night and 19th of the season.

McNeil had a chance to put the IceGators up and complete the hat trick the first time with 11:50 left, but his shot from the left circle went under Matile, who got just enough of the puck to send it wide.

Kettles made a monumental save with 8:45 left, stopping Darryl Campbell on a 3-on-1. Campbell took the puck straight at Kettles, who made the save with his pad. A minute later, Kettles dove out of his crease to grab a shot with his glove.

Louisiana finished 1-for-4 on the power play, while Mississippi is 0-for-4 through two periods.

Gator Bites:

Brown has a pair of two-goal games in his last three contests.

Richardson picked up a goal in Hershey's 6-6 tie in Binghamton tonight, his fourth goal in five AHL games this season.

In the second IceGators' "Adopt a Pet Night" in as many weeks, the team was able to adopt out six cats saved from a local shelter – including an orange tabby named "Freddy." Last Friday, the IceGators adopted out two cats.

Matile's teams had scored just nine goals in support of him in his previous six games against Louisiana. He fell to 1-6-0 all-time against Louisiana.

Walby had been tied with John Kosobud's 1997-98 franchise record of five shorthanded goals. He broke out of a second-place tie with Greenville's Matt Demarski in the ECHL this season. Walby trails only Peoria's Tyler Rennette, who has seven.

The IceGators improved to 4-1-3 when tied after two periods, including a 3-0-0 mark at home.

Mississippi is off until Friday, when it plays the second of a seven-game road trip in Dayton.

Eight of the 10 games this season between the two teams have seen the winner claiming at least a share of first place.

McNeil's other hat tricks came December 10, 1999 against New Orleans, December 9, 2000 against Birmingham and January 18, 2002 against Baton Rouge. Both the Birmingham and Baton Rouge games at home.

McNeil joined Richardson and Tony Tuzzolino as IceGators with hat tricks this season. Richardson had a four-goal game November 23 against Columbus.

Only Murphy (nine), Parsons (seven) and Rob Valicevic (five) have more than four hat tricks in team history. McNeil and Spoltore each have four.

Rempel's career-best point streak is up to seven games (3g, 6a).

Cal Benazic has a four-game assist streak, tying his professional career-high.

The IceGators are 7-2-1 this season against Mississippi, guaranteeing themselves a post-season tiebreaker over the Sea Wolves.

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