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Mississippi Finds Shootout Success

February 23, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Mississippi Sea Wolves News Release


BILOXI, Miss. – The Mississippi Sea Wolves notched two shootout victories last week, going 2-1-0 over three home games.

Mississippi is in second place in the ECHL's Central Division with 70 points, four behind the Louisiana IceGators for first.

After 55 games, the Sea Wolves have an overall record of 32-17-6. Mississippi is 17-5-5 at home, 15-12-1 on the road, 2-1 in overtime and 4-5 in shootouts.

On Tuesday, Mississippi edged the San Diego Gulls 3-2 in the shootout at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves continued at home on Friday, falling 7-6 to the Texas Wildcatters. On Saturday, Mississippi bounced back by rallying past Texas 5-4 in the shootout.

This week, Mississippi visits Louisiana on Friday and Texas on Saturday.

GAMES AND BROADCASTS AT A GLANCE –

Friday, Feb. 27 at Louisiana IceGators – 7:05 p.m. CT – Cajundome, Lafayette, La.
* Broadcast begins at 6:50 p.m. on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 and online at msseawolves.com

Saturday, Feb. 28 at Texas Wildcatters – 7:05 p.m. CT – Ford Arena, Beaumont, Texas
* Broadcast gets underway at 6:50 p.m. on WTNI-AM 1640 and online at msseawolves.com

GAME PREVIEWS –

Friday, Feb. 27 at Louisiana IceGators – 7:05 p.m. CT – Cajundome, Lafayette, La. Mississippi is 3-4-3 against Louisiana this season and 3-2-0 at the Cajundome. The game marks the 11th of 14 head-to-head contests.

The IceGators have won the last two games, with Alex Materukhin scoring the game-winning goal in both contests for Louisiana. The IceGators skated away with a 3-1 victory at Mississippi on February 7. Louisiana downed the Sea Wolves at the Cajundome, 5-1 on January 30.

Jim Baxter leads Mississippi with 10 assists and 12 points against Louisiana. Steffon Walby is the Sea Wolves team leader with five goals in the head-to-head games for Mississippi.

Ben Storey is tops for Louisiana with seven assists and 10 points in the games against Mississippi. Bobby Brown has notched seven goals in 10 games, topping the IceGators in that category.

Mississippi is 29-28-7 all-time in the regular season against Louisiana and 13-16-3 all-time at the Cajundome.

Saturday, Feb. 28 at Texas Wildcatters – 7:05 p.m. CT – Ford Arena, Beaumont, Texas Mississippi leads the head-to-head games 8-2-0 and is 2-1-0 at Ford Arena. It's the 11th of 15 games in the battle for the Nextel Cup, which is on the line in the regular season series.

The last meeting between the teams was on Saturday and Mississippi edged Texas 5-4 in the shootout. Jim Baxter scored the deciding goal and had three assists. Sea Wolves defenseman Kerry Ellis-Toddington cashed in two goals and defenseman Jason Kean along with center Louis Dumont also notched markers. Steffon Walby also picked up three helpers in the win. Wildcatters' Ashlee Langdone scored twice, while Ryan Fultz and Martin Masa also netted goals. Greg Gardner made 27 saves, and turned away all five shots in the shootout to backstop the Sea Wolves to victory. Mark Scally stopped a career high 59 shots, only to suffer the setback.

Mississippi's Sergei Kuznetsov has eight goals and 17 points to lead the team against Texas. Jim Baxter and Steffon Walby have 11 assists each to tie for the team lead versus the Wildcatters.

Veterans Martin Masa (5g-4a) and Cory Morgan (3g-6a) have each registered nine points against the Sea Wolves this season. Rob Guinn is tops for Texas in the season series with seven assists versus Mississippi.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Center Louis Dumont tallied four goals and four assists and finished +1 over three games last week. The 5-foot-10 and 180-pound Dumont netted a pair of goals in the Sea Wolves 3-2 shootout victory over San Diego on Tuesday. The ECHL's career leader in points with 736 (283 g, 453 a) had a goal and three assists in the 7-6 loss against Texas on Friday. Dumont completed the week by scoring a shorthand goal and adding a helper in Saturday's 5-4 shootout win versus Texas. Overall this season, Dumont is Mississippi's team-leader with 27 goals and is tied for the team lead with 66 points in 55 games. He also has six power-play goals and +26 while accumulating 50 penalty minutes.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK – Greg Gardner posted a 2-1-0 record last week, capped off by stopping all eight shots over two shootouts wins. Gardner made three shootout saves against San Diego on Tuesday and denied Texas on all five attempts on Saturday. The 6-foot and 190-pound Gardner has an overall record of 20-12-3, with a 2.66 goals against average and .915 save percentage.

TRANSACTIONS FROM LAST WEEK –
2/17 Delete Jeff Hutchins, LW, Loaned to Rochester (AHL)
2/22 Delete, Chris Cava, D, Placed on 7-day injured reserve

STREAKING SEA WOLVES –
* Louis Dumont is riding a four-game point streak (4g-6a).
* Jim Baxter has collected six assists over his last two games.
* Steffon Walby has tallied four points (1g-3a) over his last two contests.
* Jason Kean has three points (1g-2a) over his last two games.
* Brent Gauvreau, who is on loan to the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL), had points in six straight ECHL games (5g-4a) before moving up on January 25.
* Jeff Hutchins, who is on loan to the Rochester Americans (AHL), picked up points in four consecutive games (3g-2a) prior to being promoted on February 18.

SEA WOLVES APPROACHING MILESTONES –

* Coach Bob Woods is scheduled to coach in his 200th career game on Friday at Louisiana (199 gms, 117-67-15, .626 WPCT)
* Dwayne Blais is expected to play in his 200th career pro game on Friday at Louisiana (199 gp, 31g, 49a, 80 pts, 242 PIM)
* Sergei Kuznetsov is one point from 150 in his Mississippi career (204 gp, 47g, 102a, 149 pts)
* Steffon Walby is one power-play goal from tying Mississippi all-time leader Dave Paradise at 41.
* Jim Baxter is two goals from tying career high (netted 16 last season)
* Andrei Lupandin is five games from 300 in his pro career (295 gp, 53g, 107a, 160 pts)

* Greg Gardner is six wins from tying Mississippi's all-time goaltending record (58, Chuck Thuss, 1998-2002).
* Louis Dumont is second all-time on the ECHL career assist list with 453, and he needs seven helpers to tie the ECHL career record (460, Chris Valicevic, 1993-2002)

TEAM LEADERS –
Goals – Louis Dumont, 27
Assists – Steffon Walby, 43
Points – Louis Dumont and Steffon Walby, 66
Plus/Minus – Brent Gauvreau, +30
Penalty Minutes – Roger Maxwell, 308
Power Play Goals – Jeff Hutchins, 11
Power Play Assists – Jim Baxter, 23
Power Play Points – Jim Baxter, 29
Shorthand Goals – Anthony Battaglia, 3
Game-Winning Goals – Brent Gauvreau, 7
Goaltender Wins – Greg Gardner, 20
Goals Against Average – Greg Gardner, 2.66
Save Percentage – Greg Gardner, .915

SPECIAL TEAMS (ECHL Rank) –
Power Play – 62-313, 19.8% (T8)
Penalty Killing – 258-317, 81.4% (T20)
Shorthand Goals For – 7 (T17)
Shorthand Goals Against – 4 (T4)

INJURED RESERVE –
* Defenseman Chris Cava was placed on the 7-day injured reserve on February 22.

CALL UPS –
* Center Brent Gauvreau was loaned to Bridgeport (AHL) on January 25.
* Right wing Travis Lisabeth remains on loan to Manchester (AHL) since February 12.
* Left wing Jeff Hutchins was loaned to Rochester (AHL) on February 18.

PRACTICES THIS WEEK –
Monday – No ice available
Tuesday – 12-1:00 p.m.
Wednesday – 10-11:30 a.m.
Thursday – No ice available
Friday – 11-11:30 a.m., morning skate, Cajundome, Lafayette, La.
Saturday – 11-11:30 a.m., morning skate, Ford Arena, Beaumont, Texas Sunday – No ice available
* All practices are open to the public at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, unless otherwise noted.
* Dates and times are subject to change.

IN THE COMMUNITY –

Tuesday, Feb. 24 – 5:30 p.m.
Sea Wolves will be riding a float for the Biloxi Mardi Gras Night Parade.

Groups, organizations and companies that are interested in having members of the Sea Wolves appear at an event, are invited to call (228) 388-6151.

Individual game tickets start at $9 for children and $11 for adults. Tickets are on sale at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all Ticketmaster locations and by telephone at (228) 594-3707.

Season tickets for the 2004-05 season are on sale! Flex packs, discounted group tickets and fundraiser opportunities are available for this season by calling (228) 275-WOLF.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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