Peoria drops IceGators into second place, 4-3
February 28, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
Peoria, IL â Mike Nelson's controversial first goal with Peoria with 2:06 remaining went down as the game-winner, as the Rivermen clinched a Kelly Cup playoff berth by holding on for an exciting 4-3 win over the Louisiana IceGators at Carver Arena. Peoria, which stayed within one-point of first-place Toledo in the Northwest Division, increased its unbeaten in regulation streak to seven games (5-0-2). Peoria and Louisiana meet again Sunday at 3 p.m.
Rod Sarich, Martin Bartek and Milt Mastad all scored a third-period goal for Louisiana, which was whistled for a critical too many men on the ice penalty with less than a minute left. Kyle Kettles turned aside 26 shots for the and saw their 70-day first-place reign end, as Mississippi was a 8-3 home victor over Baton Rouge tonight. Louisiana, which faces ECHL points leader Toledo tomorrow at 6:30 p.m., is 2-4-1 in its last seven.
Louisiana's 73 points are one behind Mississippi, but the IceGators do have two games in hand. Louisiana was last in second place on December 20, but the IceGators beat the Sea Wolves 6-2 that night to move into first place.
Brendan Brooks, Randy Rowe and Glenn Crawford also scored and Alfie Michaud made 32 saves to improve to 15-2-3 and help Peoria improve to 9-2-1 versus first-place teams. The Rivermen also moved to an impressive 19-3-5 in one-goal games, including a 12-1-3 mark at home.
The game was a defensive battle through 40 minutes, but the teams exploded in the final stanza.
Rowe gave Peoria a 2-0 lead just 1:20 into the third. Crawford, the former Baton Rouge Kingfish, collected the puck behind the net and fed a wide open Rowe, who had an easy time putting the puck past Kettles before he could recover. The tally was Rowe's 21st of the season.
Michaud stopped Louisiana's first 28 offerings, but had no answer for the IceGators' next two shots as Louisiana tied it up. Only 1:12 after Rowe made it a two-goal advantage, Sarich's blast from the top of the left circle eluded Michaud for the rookie's fourth tally of 2002-03.
Just 1:13 after that, at the 3:45 mark, the IceGators evened the game on Bartek's second goal in three games with Louisiana. Bobby Brown (two assists) slid a pass up ice to Bartek, who slipped behind the defense and fired a wrister five-hole from between the circles.
Louisiana had to try and kill off a pair of power plays after that. Mastad went for holding at 6:32, while Louis Mass was whistled for interference with 6:49 remaining in regulation.
Halfway through Mass' penalty, Sarich made a nice play to break up Ryan Finnerty's partial breakaway. However, with just 11 seconds left on the power play, Crawford scored his first goal in three games with the Rivermen. Brooks sent a cross-ice pass to Crawford, whose one-timer from the left circle through traffic got by Kettles for Peoria's second man-advantage goal of the game.
The IceGators went on the power play with 4:16 left, and Michaud saved the game, stacking the pads on Nathan Rempel's attempt from the lower circle midway through the man advantage.
Nelson, obtained from Columbus prior to the trade deadline Wednesday, made it 4-2 with 2:06 left. The IceGators argued that Nelson used his skate to push the puck in the net, but the goal stood as the game-winner. Kettles made the initial save on Nelson, who proceeded to crash into the net in a crowd.
Mastad deflected a Brown attempt from the point with 1:32 left with Kettles pulled, getting the IceGators within one goal again. The tally was the veteran defenseman's first in three games with Louisiana.
With 50 seconds left and Kettles pulled again, Mastad hit the outside of the net with a shot. However, with 43 ticks left, the IceGators were whistled for having too many men on the ice, and Louisiana couldn't clear the puck out of its own zone until there were six seconds remaining. Then, Bartek appeared to break in clean on Michaud, but Louisiana was called for a two-line pass.
Louisiana went 0-for-4 on the power play, while Peoria finished 2-for-6.
There was little action in the opening 10 minutes of the game, until Louisiana's Derek Boogaard dropped the gloves with Brad Voth. The duo battled for more than a minute, with Boogaard finally knocking Voth to the ice with a pair of rights.
Peoria pressed Louisiana hard in the rest of the first period, outshooting the IceGators by a 16-9 margin in the opening 20 minutes.
Kettles faced his sternest test of the first stanza with 5:18 left, covering up the puck after a flurry of chances in front of the net. Seconds later, Kettles stopped Rowe from up close on the ensuing faceoff.
Louisiana dominated the second period, outshooting Peoria 17-5, but the Rivermen exited the stanza with a one-goal lead.
Early in the second, the IceGators pelted Michaud with four shots on the power play in the opening 1:15, but they couldn't solve the former Vancouver Canuck. Michaud then got a piece of Shawn McNeil's redirection attempt with six minutes expired in the second.
Peoria drew first blood exactly midway through the second, with 44 seconds left on a tripping penalty to Cal Benazic. Brooks carried the puck across the blueline and ripped a wrister from the top of the right circle over Kettles' blocker. Kettles had stopped Peoria's first 18 shots on the night.
Michaud stopped Bartek on a breakaway two minutes later, and seconds later Bartek had a shot deflected away by the netminder. Just five seconds after that, Mastad fired a shot from the top of the circle, but Michaud turned it aside as well.
The IceGators went on their third power play with 5:16 left in the second, but Michaud stopped J.P. Morin from the point, and Shawn Skiehar's rebound attempt went wide.
Gator Bites:
A crowd of 8,317 showed up to watch the game and wrestling star "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
Boogaard has at least one penalty in each of his last 11 road games, the longest such current streak in the ECHL, and one behind Trenton's Matt Zultek for the season-high in the league.
Bartek has five points (3g, 2a) in his first three games with Louisiana.
The IceGators fell to 13-8-11 in one-goal games.
Louisiana fell to 1-4-0 all-time in the regular season in Peoria, and hasn't won there since its inaugural 1995-96 season.
The teams entered the game as the top two ECHL squads in penalty minutes but combined for just 30 PIM's.
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