Roadrunners Devastate Ice Dogs 8-2

by Andrew Nordmeier
Published on November 27, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


The Baha Men was a one-hit wonder that gained their 15 minutes of fame with the song "Who Let the Dogs Out?" The Long Beach Ice Dogs were wondering who let the Phoenix Roadrunners out as Phoenix exploded for a franchise-high eight goals and pounded the Ice Dogs 8-2 Saturday night at the US Airways Center.

But all hell broke loose at the final horn.

That was when Long Beach forward Kip Brennan leapt out of the penalty box and made a beeline across the ice to the Phoenix bench and promptly got in a fight with three Roadrunners. Tempers continued to flare and Ice Dogs forward Eric Neilson pummeled a Roadrunner while the first fracas was going on. Both are likely to face disciplinary action from the league.

"It was old-time hockey and they're obviously a frustrated team right now. I think when the score gets out of hand they try to take their frustrations out on us," Phoenix Assistant Head Coach Brad Church said, "Our guys did a good job of standing up for each other and our guys answered the bell."

Olivier Latendresse started the scoring at 3:25 of the opening period when he beat Long Beach goaltender Mike Brown with a rocket that went through the five hole. He increased Phoenix's lead to 2-0 at 8:51 when his shot deflected off the skate of a Long Beach defenseman and into the net.

"I thought I had to prove myself here in Phoenix because I was sent down from San Antonio and I was really mad about it," Latendresse said, "I had to prove myself and it helped me to have two goals in the beginning of the game."

Cam Paddock's fourth goal of the year 2:12 into the second period gave Phoenix a 3-0 lead but T.J. Trevelyan's marker at 3:59 put the Ice Dogs on the board and made it a two-goal game again. Scott May's team-leading ninth goal of the season for Phoenix re-established the three-goal cushion at the 14:16 mark of the middle stanza.

The Roadrunners (9-7-0) have won six of their last eight games but the two losses were both to Long Beach (4-10-2). Phoenix finished 4 of 8 on the man advantage while the Ice Dogs went 1-of-6 with the power play.

Cody Rudkowsky played strong in goal for Phoenix and stopped 28 of 30 Long Beach shots. Brown took the loss and stopped 14 of 18 Phoenix shots before yielding to Adam Hanna to start the third period.

Scott May scored a pair of power-play goals in to push the gap to 5-1. May beat Brown at 14:16 of the second period and zipped it past Hanna at 3:12 of the third. Jake Ortmeyer scored his fifth goal of the season at 9:32 of the third period on a 55-foot wrister and Brett Smith went coast-to-coast and scored 21 seconds later to make it a 7-1 whitewash.

"That's what we were talking about in the dressing room, not let your foot off the pedal just keep going," May said, "We've been known throughout the year to play 20 minutes or 40 minutes and that's not enough, We have to play the full 60 and when we do we will be rewarded."

Phoenix got a late two-man advantage and Smith scored his second of the night at 13:45 to set the record for offense with the Roadrunners' eighth goal of the night. Trevelyan scored his second of the night with 1:34 left to close the scoring.

The game also featured three fights between the seventh and eighth goals as Long Beach vented some frustration. These two teams meet again December 30th in Phoenix but the Roadrunners have to focus on Utah next as the Grizzlies come in for a two-game set on Tuesday and Thursday of next week.

"Utah's struggling right now too and they're a team that's desperate and we have to be ready for their best," Church said, "We have to bring the same effort Tuesday like we did tonight."

Three Stars of the Night

3. May-PHX Two late PPGs

2. Latendresse-PHX Two goals in debut

1. Paddock-PHX Goal, assist, fight, all-around tough play

Notes: With the first-period power-play goals, Phoenix has scored on the man advantage in a club-record seventh straight game...Phoenix has scored power play goals in 14 of its 16 games this season...Justin Aikins of the Roadrunners has a team-high six points in five games against Long Beach (two goals, four assists) and every Phoenix skater has at least one point against Long Beach, including traded players...Ash Goldie of Long Beach saw his five-game goal scoring streak end in the loss...Long Beach is 0-4-2 on the road this season and is the only team without a win on the road...The Ice Dogs' Kip Brennan played in his first game of the season after having his immigration paperwork approved on Thursday...Attendance was 5,309.

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