RiverHawks Fall to Surge

Published on December 18, 2010 under SPHL (SPHL)
Augusta RiverHawks News Release


A stellar goaltending performance by Jon Olthuis wasn't enough to make up for the Augusta RiverHawks' lack of offense against a polished Mississippi Surge Saturday night at the James Brown Arena during their first meeting of the season. The RiverHawks made a valiant attempt to rally in the third period fell short and the RiverHawks fell 4-3.

The Surge started things off with a goal scored by Jason Cassells with Jeff Grant getting credit for the assist, taking advantage of a power play that ended two seconds prior to the goal. Their power play struck again minutes later when Cassells scored his second goal.. The smooth pass from Jack Wolgemuth to Cassells put the Surge up 2-0.

The RiverHawks answered back on a power play of their own with a goal by Ryan Olidis. Jason Price and Branden Kosolofsky picked up the assists on the goal.

A scoreless second period led to an action-packed third period filled with plenty of tension and fighting. Aaron McGill was ejected early for game misconduct after a collision left one of the Surge laid out on the ice for several minutes.

Late in the third period, the Surge took advantage of yet another power play, with forward Matt Zultek picking up his 17th goal of the season. Zultek and his linemates, Michael Richard and Rusty Masters, who together form one of the most potent trios in the SPHL were credited with the assists.

The newest RiverHawk, Kevin Fukala energized the RiverHawks and their fans as he was ejected for game misconduct after trying to scrap with every Surge player he could get his hands on.

With less than five minutes to go in the third period, RiverHawks forward Branden Kosolofsky scored his fifth goal of the season making a beautiful deke to create space for himself and fired a snapshot that brought the RiverHawks back to within one goal.

The Surge answered back with another goal by team-leading scorer Zultek on a delayed penalty with Jeff Grant getting his second assist of the night. With just under a minute to go in the final period of the game, the RiverHawks' special teams pulled out all of the stops on Surge goaltender, Kyle McNulty, as Matt Auffrey made it a 4-3 game off of a pass from Luke Lucyk.

The RiverHawks are back in action at the James Brown Arena Sunday, December 26th against the Pensacola Ice Flyers. The puck drops at 7:30pm. Tickets are available at the James Brown Arena Box Office, by calling 1-877-4AUGTIX, or by visiting www.georgialinatix.com. Information the team is available by visiting www.augustariverhawks.com or by calling 706-993-4267.

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