Morelli Lifts Jackals To Win in 8th Round of Shootout
Published on January 20, 2007 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Elmira Jackals News Release
Elmira, NY - For the third time this season the Elmira Jackals and the Quad City Mallards skated to a shootout; Saturday night the Jackals won 4-3 at First Arena.
After both teams were held scoreless for 60 minutes on Friday, the Quad City Mallards got the bowl rolling midway through the first period. Don Parsons scored his 28th goal of the season at 9:41, assisted by Brett Pilkington for a 1-0 lead. For the second straight night Elmira struggled out of the gates, but unlike last night they couldn't not respond with a strong second half of the first period.
Early in the second period Justin Chwedoruk was sent free on a breakaway by teammate Nick Harloff and Chwedoruk cashed in for a short-handed goal at 6:19 to extend the Mallards lead to 2-0. But Elmira rallied for three consecutive goals in the middle frame for a dramatic turn of momentum. First Frank Littlejohn tipped in a Dale Lupul shot from the point for a power play goal at 11:59, assisted by Lupul and Cullaton. Littlejohn's goal was his 18th of the season, tying him with Scott Wray for the team lead in goals. Fresh off the injured reserve, defenseman Eric Lind collected a rebound from a Tommy Kotsopoulos shot and buried a wrister into the open goal at 13:01, assisted by Kotsopoulos and Morelli, tying the game at two. Jackals captain Brent Cullaton game Elmira their first lead of the weekend series when he was given space in front of the net and he calmly slotted his shot past goaltender Jason Tapp for a short-handed goal at 14:48, assisted by Derek Miller and the Jackals went up 3-2.
But Luke Stauffacher would end the Jackals scoring run at 4:44 of the third period when he netted a power play goal from Justin Chwedoruk, leveling the score 3-3. The Jackals out-shot the Mallards 11-7 in the final period, but with strong goaltending from both Dave Lemanowicz and Jason Tapp, this game headed for a shootout.
Jackals Head Coach Robbie Nichols chose a different strategy for this shootout. He replaced starting goaltender Dave Lemanowicz for goalie Kris Tebbs who was unbeaten in his 4 prior shootout appearances this season. Tebbs got off to a rocky start when Stauffacher scored in the first round, but Eric Anderson returned the favor to tie the score in the botton of the first. Tebbs blocked Sean Starke in round two and Scott Wray's backhand into the top of the net put Elmira ahead 2-1 after two rounds. But Quad City's next two shooters, Patrick Nadeau and Don Parsons, each found the net and after a Brent Cullaton miss; Dale Lupul had to rifle in a wrist shot to tie the shootout 3-3 after four rounds. Tebbs then found his rhythm as he stopped Chad Woollard and forced extra shootout rounds. He then blocked attempts from Pilkington, Travis Granbois and Justin Chwedoruk. Jason Tapp denied Tommy Kotsopoulos, Scott Drevitch and Frank Littlejohn, but he couldn't keep out David Morelli's shot in the bottom of the 8th round as the Jackals rookie forward sent the crowd of 3,883 fans home happy.
Although he only appeared in the shootout, Kris Tebbs was credited with his 12th win of the season, making 5-of-8 saves during the overtime shootout. Starter Dave Lemanowicz receives a No-Decision, but he is credited with stopping 30-of-33 shots as the Jackals improve to 19-20-1 on the year. Jason Tapp took the shootout-loss, blocking 29-of-32 shots in regulation and 4-of-8 shots in the shootout.
Elmira will host Quad City for the final time at First Arena this season on Sunday afternoon for a 4:05 pm face off in Elmira. The Jackals still have one more trip to Quad City on their schedule; they will face the Mallards for one game in Moline, Illinois on February 18th.
International Hockey League 2 Stories from January 20, 2007
- Balanced offense leads Rockford - Rockford IceHogs
- Morelli Lifts Jackals To Win in 8th Round of Shootout - Elmira Jackals
- Flags Drop to Wings, 4-1 - Port Huron Flags
- Countdown to Face-Off - Kalamazoo Wings
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