RiverBlades get by IceGators in shootout

December 7, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release


Lafayette, LA – Jason Bermingham sent the game into overtime with 6:43 left with a power play goal, and Jason Deskins won it in a shootout, as the Arkansas RiverBlades snapped a four-game winless streak with a 4-3 win over the Louisiana IceGators at the Cajundome. Former IceGator Jason Saal made 26 saves and Buddy Smith and Ernie Hartlieb each added a goal and an assist for the RiverBlades, who moved into a second place tie with Mississippi – a 2-1 loser in Jackson tonight – in the Southwest Division, four points behind Louisiana.

Shawn McNeil scored the "Teddy Bear Toss" goal, Kevin Mitchell had a goal and an assist, and Bruce Richardson added two helpers for Louisiana, which is still unbeaten in regulation in nine straight games (7-0-2). Kenny Corupe also scored and Frederic Cloutier made 28 saves, falling to 11-3-4. The IceGators play at Mississippi on Sunday at 5:05 p.m.

Mitchell extended the IceGators advantage to 3-1 at the 4:07 mark of the third, taking a pass at the point from Richardson and shooting it through a screen and past Saal for his fourth goal of the season, his second in two nights and his only even strength score of the season.

Arkansas, which failed to hold leads of 3-0 and 4-2 in Friday's 5-4 overtime loss to the IceGators at the Cajundome, had some third-period magic of its own Saturday.

The RiverBlades chipped away at the lead, first scoring at the 8:24 mark to get within 3-2. Hartlieb stole an errant pass along the boards in the Louisiana zone, and split two defenders, getting the puck underneath Cloutier for his ninth goal of the season.

The RiverBlades knotted the score with a controversial goal at the 13:17 mark. Bermingham's shot got past Cloutier as the net was lifted off the ice, but the net never did come off its moorings. The goal stood, tying the score at 3-3.

Neither team could manage a goal in the final six-plus minutes, and the IceGators had to kill off a big 4-on-3 for the final 1:59 of the extra session. Cloutier came up big on several occasions in overtime.

Bermingham started the shootout with a miss, and Saal pokechecked away McNeil's attempt. Terry Marchant and Daniel Goneau each scored in the second round, and Arkansas went ahead for good with Deskins' top shelf goal to start off the third round. Next, Corupe couldn't get a clean shot off. In the fourth round, Cloutier made a nice blocker save on Smith, but Saal made a pad save on Bobby Brown's attempt. Eric Long put the puck past Cloutier in the fifth round, sealing the victory.

McNeil, who scored late in regulation last night to force overtime, then scored in the extra session, got his ECHL-best 18th goal to put Louisiana on the board at the 5:42 mark of the first period, setting off an explosion of Teddy Bears onto the ice. With Damon Whitten in the penalty box for tripping, Mitchell launched a clear shot from the center point. Saal made the initial save, but McNeil was there to corral the rebound, take it to the right side of the crease and poke the puck past Saal.

The goal was McNeil's 239th point as an IceGator, tying Louis Dumont for fourth place on the team's all-time list.

Cloutier faced a flurry of activity with eight minutes left in the stanza, and the IceGators on the penalty kill. Cloutier stoned Marchant twice from the low right circle to preserve the 1-0 lead.

J.P. Morin drives an unidentified RiverBlade into the boards.

Arkansas finally solved Cloutier on the power play at the 16:44 mark, with Smith taking a pass from Hartlieb along the boards and wristing a shot from the center point high over Cloutier.

Cloutier made a glove save on Long's power-play shot from the point 6 ½ minutes into the second period, as he got knocked into by a pair of RiverBlades.

Goneau tipped a McNeil pass on Saal at the 7:53 mark on a 4-on-4, but Saal was up to the task. The 4-on-4 occurred when Matt Pagnutti hooked a streaking Bruce Richardson, who was called for diving.

The IceGators reclaimed the lead at 2-1 with 9:27 left in the second. Branislav Kvetan, in the neutral zone, lofted a high pass ahead of Semir Ben-Amor. The Finnish wing caught the puck with his glove, and dropped it to the ground with two defenders draped all over him. Ben-Amor, falling backwards, slid a pass between two more defenders to Corupe between the circles. Corupe faked Saal to the ground going left, then put the puck into an open net for his eighth goal of the season.

Semir Ben-Amor works behind the net.

The IceGators finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play, while Arkansas had twice as many attempts – converting on two. After each team went 1-for-3 in the first period, the IceGators had just one more attempt with the man advantage.

Gator bites:

The IceGators got Brown back in the lineup prior to the game, as the forward was returned to the team from AHL Cincinnati. Louisiana released Shawn Mamane to make room on the roster for Brown.

Richardson extended his point streak to eight games, a new career-best. He has eight goals and 10 assists in the span, eclipsing a seven-game streak set earlier this seasonss.

McNeil has scored Louisiana's first goal in nine games this season, and 10 of his goals have given his team the lead. He has also scored the game's first goal in five contests.

McNeil has a seven-game point streak (7g, 5a).

Mitchell has 21 of his 28 points on the power play this season, including 17 assists.

Richardson skated in his 75th ECHL game.

Mitchell has assisted on nine of McNeil's 18 goals this season.

The IceGators are unbeaten in seven games (4-0-3) when Corupe scores a goal, and they are unbeaten in 12 (9-0-3) when he has a point.



ECHL Stories from December 7, 2002


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