Rivermen Down IceGators in OT Again
January 30, 2015 - SPHL (SPHL)
Louisiana IceGators News Release
LAFAYETTE, La.--The Louisiana IceGators after Thursday night's loss to the Peoria Rivermen not to give the same lethargic performance in Friday's rematch.
They broke that vow.
Sluggish offense and mental errors doomed the IceGators from the onset of the match. Despite a late game comeback to force overtime, the IceGators dropped their second straight game to Peoria 4-3. Josh Harris scored the game winner.
The IceGators kick off a month-long road trip Saturday night when they travel to Georgia to play the Columbus Cottonmouths. Game time is set for 7:35 p.m. EST.
"Tonight, we played 20 minutes," said IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli. "We outplayed them in the third period. We were average in the first period and absolutely horrible in the second. We gave ourselves an opportunity to win in the third period.
"Going into the locker room (after the game), I asked the guys what brought us success in the third, and they all said it was playing the system. We didn't do that for the first 40 minutes of the game."
Garrett Vermeersch scored twice in the first nine minutes of the second period, including a 5-on-3 power play goal, to put Peoria ahead 2-0. Steve Morra tacked on another score with 6:03 left in the frame to give the Rivermen a 3-0 advantage.
The Cardiac Crocodilians then clawed their way back into the game.
Chris Wilson put the IceGators on the board with 1:26 left in the second period to make the score 3-1 going into the second intermission. Peppler cut the deficit to a goal at the 4:27 mark of the third period. Wilson tied the game when he tipped in a Phil Bushbacher shot with 2:19 left in regulation, eliciting thunderous cheers from the 4,208 fans in attendance.
The IceGators had several opportunities in the waning seconds of regulation and overtime to seal a victory, including two shots that went off the crossbar. Omicioli says those shots may have come a little too slowly.
"They were putting themselves in the right position, but when you do get those Grade-A opportunities, you have to shoot more quickly," Omicioli said. "We held on a little too long. You can't fault them for getting in the right position, but they have to get it off a little quicker."
Omicioli says his team needs to right the ship quickly to maintain its third place position in the SPHL standings.
"We're going to play a team that just beat Fayetteville 8-0, and they're nipping at our heels in the standings," Omicioli said of the Cottonmouths. "If we play the entire game like we played the third period tonight, then we'll win. If we do what we did tonight again tomorrow, we're going to lose."
SPHL Stories from January 30, 2015
- RiverKings Soar Past Ice Flyers 6-2 - Mississippi RiverKings
- Rivermen Down IceGators in OT Again - Louisiana IceGators
- Rivermen Battle Back for Another OT Triumph - Peoria Rivermen
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