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Rosa's Hat Trick Trumps Aces 5-3, Texas Wins Preseason Opener

October 11, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Texas Wildcatters News Release


ANCHORAGE, AK (October 10, 2007) - Marco Rosa's last goal in a Wildcatters uniform came on February 13, six days before he was recalled to AHL Providence for what proved the remainder of the 2006-07 season. Wednesday night in Anchorage facing the Alaska Aces, Rosa picked up precisely where he left off, netting a hat trick to lead the Wildcatters to a 5-3 preseason victory.

Rosa received a nice feed from newcomer Dan Welch just 12 seconds into the Wildcatters' first preseason game of the year putting the 'Catters on top before many of the Alaska faithful had warmed their seats.

5,662 were in attendance Wednesday night to see the first meeting ever between the two teams. The Sullivan Arena ice was dyed pink and Alaska wore commemorative pink sweaters in support of breast cancer awareness and research.

Alaska evened the score several minutes later when Bo Cheeseman sidestepped Wildcatters defenseman Ryan Pottruff to beat Texas starter Anton Khudobin with a high wrist shot at the 8:52 mark, knotting the score 1-1 at the first intermission.

Alaska took a brief 2-1 lead at 1:27 of the second period when Matt Robinson scored, but Rosa struck again six minutes later on the power play to eliminate the deficit. Defenseman Jonathan Paiement would score at 13:13 to give Texas the lead for good. Dan Welch assisted on both goals and would end the night with four helpers.

Brandon Benedict, a highly-touted rookie center, capitalized on a misplayed puck by Alaska goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu early in the third to make the score 4-2.

Alaska brought the score within one on their only power play goal of the night when Ryan Miller one-timed a Josh Soares pass past Khudobin, but the next Alaska power play proved the clincher for Texas instead of the home team. Rosa finished off his hat trick on a shorthanded 2-on-1 with Welch, beating Beckford-Tseu for a third time and sending many of the Alaska faithful towards the exits with over three minutes remaining.

Both teams finished with 23 shots on goal and Texas special teams shined, killing nine of ten Aces power plays while going 2-for-6 on the man advantage.

"Obviously I am pleased with the effort tonight, especially from our special teams" said Head Coach Malcolm Cameron, "Alaska has a tough team and they will be hungry for a victory tomorrow. There are plenty of things we need to do better tomorrow night to get another win."

Cameron mentioned that several quality players were not on the roster Wednesday, including goaltender Peter Aubry, who Cameron said will start in tonight's game, slated for 10:15 Central Time.

"We wanted to give Peter another day of preparation, especially having returned to face his former team. He'll be ready to go tonight."

Alaska expects a sell-out crowd this evening and will be donating proceeds of this week's games to the Alaska chapter of the American Cancer Society and Breast Cancer Focus, Inc. The game can be heard live or watched via B2 Networks by logging on to www.alaskaaces.com.

The Texas Wildcatters are the proud ECHL affiliate of the Minnesota Wild of the NHL and the AHL's Houston Aeros. Celebrate the Catters' Fifth Anniversary Season! Single game and season tickets are on sale now, call (409) 915-5500. Don't miss the Home Opener, Saturday, Oct. 27 v. the Florida Everblades!

Opening Day for the ECHL's 20th Anniversary Season will be Oct. 18 when the Johnstown Chiefs host the Wheeling Nailers in a rematch of Game 7 from the first-ever ECHL Finals.

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ECHL Stories from October 11, 2007


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