Running In First

Published on March 14, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies News Release


BULLIES REWIND: The Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies went 2-1-1 in one of their busiest weeks of the season earning victories at Johnstown and Reading, while falling in overtime to Wheeling and losing in regulation at Dayton. By taking five of eight points, the Bullies pull into a first place tie with the Wheeling Nailers in the North Division with 74 points. With 12 games remaining in the regular season, Atlantic City holds a one point lead over third place Reading, a two point lead over fourth place Toledo, a three point lead over fifth place Trenton, and a seven point edge over sixth place Peoria. Only four teams in the North Division will qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Wednesday, Evgeny Lazarev scored 2:09 into overtime to lead the Wheeling Nailers to a 3-2 overtime victory over the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies before 1541 at Historic Boardwalk Hall. Wheeling (34-19-4) opened the scoring at 11:07 of the first period with a power play goal. Steve Crampton slapped Ray DiLauro's rebound past the out-stretched pad of Bullies goaltender Trevor Koenig to give the Nailers a 1-0 lead. The Bullies (31-18-8) would quickly counter with the equalizer as Vince Macri fired Paul Caponigri's centering feed off the left pad of Wheeling goaltender Andy Chiodo and into the net at 16:09 of the first to tie the game at 1-1. Atlantic City would take their first lead of the night early in the second period. Peter Bournazakis spun around at the right point and lifted a slap shot over the shoulder of Chiodo at 3:16 to give the Bullies a 2-1 advantage. However, Wheeling tied the game at 1:24 of the third period with their second power play goal of the evening. DiLauro's point shot from the center blue line beat a screened Koenig to knot the score at 2-2 to force overtime. Wheeling out-shot the Bullies 29-25. Koenig stopped 26 shots in falling to 19-10-4 on the season. Atlantic City went 0-2 on the power play.

Friday, Jason Notermann and Peter Bournazakis each tallied a goal and an assist to lead the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies to a 3-1 victory over the Johnstown Chiefs before 1831 at the Cambria County War Memorial. After a scoreless first period, Ian Walterson opened the scoring for Atlantic City (32-18-8) at 5:17 of the second. Walterson in the slot received the centering feed from Jason Notermann behind the Chiefs net and ripped a slap shot past the outstretched pad of Johnstown goaltender David Cann to give the Bullies a 1-0 lead. Notermann increased the lead to 2-0 at 17:00 of the period on the power play when he beat Cann to the short side with a shot off the pass from Kelsey Muench. Atlantic City made it 3-0 early in the third period. Peter Bournazakis collected J-F Plourde's rebound in front of the net and stuffed the puck past Cann at 6:13. Johnstown (19-25-13) would score 2:08 seconds later to cut the deficit to two goals. Jeff Sullivan put a backhand shot past Bullies goaltender Trevor Koenig off Shawn Mather's rebound at 8:21 to cut the lead to 3-1, but that was as close as the Chiefs would get. Atlantic City out-shot Johnstown 25-21. Koenig stopped 20 shots to improve to 20-10-4 on the season. The Bullies went 1-5 on the power play.

Saturday, Goaltender Trevor Koenig stopped 30 shots and came within 5 seconds of his first shutout in more than a year to lead the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies to a 3-1 victory over the Reading Royals before 6684 at the Sovereign Center. Derek Edwardson opened the scoring for the Bullies (33-18-8) at 13:13 of the first period, re-directing Ian Walterson's shot from the right point past Reading goaltender Cody Rudkowsky to give Atlantic City a 1-0 lead. Atlantic City extended their lead to 3-0 with a pair of second period goals 2:34 seconds apart. Colin Shields fed a streaking Dave Reid in the slot and Reid snapped a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Rudkowsky at 8:57 to give the Bullies a 2-0 advantage. Dustan Heintz increased the lead to 3-0 when his shot from the high slot knuckled off a Royals defenseman and off Rudkowsky's shoulder and into the net at 11:31. Reading's (34-18-5) Preston Mizzi ended Koenig's shutout bid when he collected Mike Sandbeck's rebound at the left-wing circle and snapped a shot into the back of the net at 19:55 of the third period. Reading out-shot the Bullies 31-25. Koenig improves to 21-10-4 on the season and 11-4-2 in a Bullies uniform. The Bullies went 0-3 on the power play but killed off all five of Reading's power play attempts.

Sunday, Former Bullies center Brett Nowak tallied the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal with a minute left in regulation to lead the Dayton Bombers to a 4-3 victory over the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies before 3516 at the EJ Nutter Center. The loss snaps the Bullies five-game road winning streak. Atlantic City (33-19-8) struck for a pair of goals 2:21 seconds apart in the first period to build an early 2-0 lead. Peter Bournazakis from behind the net fed a streaking Brian Fahey at the right-wing circle, and Fahey lifted a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Dayton goaltender Michael Ayers at 11:32 for a 1-0 lead. J-F Plourde netted the Bullies second goal when he took a nifty feed in the slot from Jason Notermann and lifted a backhand shot over Ayers at 13:53 to give his club a 2-0 advantage. Dayton (20-35-4) would strike back with a pair of their own 4:28 seconds apart in the second period against Bullies back-up goaltender Dave Marlin, on in relief for an injured Trevor Koenig. Jeff Szwez ripped a shot off the left post and into the net at 13:01 on the power play to cut the Bullies lead to 2-1. Szwez netted the equalizer at 17:28, taking the drop pass from Brett Nowak at the left-wing circle and firing a wrist shot past an out-stretched Marlin to tie the game at 2-2. Ian Walterson regained the lead for Atlantic City 3:21 seconds into the third period. Stepping out of the penalty box, Walterson took a lead pass from Colin Shields and fired a shot through the pads of Ayers to give the Bullies a 3-2 advantage. But Dayton would counter 27 seconds later as Matt Herneisen slipped the puck past the sliding Marlin at 3:48 to tie the game at 3-3 and set up Nowak's heroics. Dayton out-shot the Bullies 31-24. Marlin stopped 21 shots in suffering the loss. The Bullies went 0-1 on the power play.

BULLIES "TOP DAWG" AWARD: Each Monday from now until the end of the season, Public Relations and Broadcasting Manager Dan Weiss will select the Bullies "Top Dawg" for the week. This week's winner is forward Peter Bournazakis who finished the week with two goals and two assists. Bournazakis, signed by the Bullies on March 2 out of the Southern Professional Hockey League, has four goals and six points in his first seven games with Atlantic City. Honorable mention goes out to Jason Notermann who returned from injury to tally a goal and three assists in three games over the weekend.

MONTH-LONG ROAD WARRIORS: The Bullies set a season-high with five consecutive wins on the road from February 18 to March 13. Prior to yesterday's 4-3 loss at Dayton, the Bullies had not lost a game away from Historic Boardwalk Hall in more than a month, dating back to their 5-0 defeat at Toledo on February 9. With a road record of 17-11-3, Atlantic City is tied for the fourth most road wins in the ECHL behind Pensacola (20), Long Beach (18) and Alaska (18). The Bullies set a 13-year club record last season with 23 road victories.

NEW BEGINNINGS: Forward Jean-Francois Plourde, acquired on Thursday from Greenville in exchange for defenseman Tom Reimann, has a goal and two assists and is a +3 in his first three games with the Bullies. The Gaspe, PQ native has 12 goals and 26 points through 49 games. Plourde is a former ECHL All-Star after potting 20 goals and finishing with 39 points last season with Columbus.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS ARE LASTING IMPRESSIONS: Yesterday's defeat at Dayton marked just the fourth time the Bullies have lost in regulation when scoring the opening goal. Atlantic City is 25-4-3 when scoring first, and their 25 wins when potting the game's first goal are sixth most in the ECHL. Reading leads the pack with 28 wins when scoring first.

HECTIC SCHEDULE HALF COMPLETE: The Bullies are halfway through their most grueling portion of the season, playing eight games in 11 nights. So far, the Bullies are 2-1-1 with four more games remaining this week.

KELLY CUP PLAYOFF TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY: Ticket packages for the 2005 Kelly Cup Playoffs will go on sale Friday, March 18 at 9AM. For more information or to find out how you can reserve the same great seat for up to 14 playoff games at Historic Boardwalk Hall, call your Bullies Customer Service Representative at (609) 348-PUCK.

POWER PLAY FOR UNITED WAY: For a second consecutive season, the Bullies have teamed up with United Way to support the Power Play For United Way. For every power play goal the Bullies score in 2004-05, area businesses including Baumgardner Construction, RLS CopiScan, AtlantiCare, Tropicana Casino Resort & Hotel and Glenn Insurance will donate $10 to the United Way of Atlantic County. This season the Bullies have tallied 40 power play goals, good for $2000 towards Power Play For United Way.

WATCH THE BULLIES LIVE IN '04-05: The Bullies have teamed up with B2 Networks to bring you live action of Boardwalk Bullies hockey in 2004-05. Bullies fans will be able to click the Watch the Game Live icon at the Bullies website to view and listen to the game. These broadcasts are available to fans for a charge of $6 per game. All 36 Bullies home broadcasts will be available in addition to over 20 road games in Trenton, Reading, Johnstown, and Wheeling. A cable or DSL Internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 are required to view the games.

UP NEXT: The Bullies continue their march to a fourth straight Kelly Cup Playoff berth with four games in five nights this week. Atlantic City concludes their season-long nine-day, five game road trip at 7PM Tuesday at Dayton and at 7PM Thursday at Wheeling. Thinking summer? The Bullies return to Historic Boardwalk Hall on Friday and Saturday for "Beach Weekend." Atlantic City will host the Peoria Rivermen at 7:05PM Friday and the Reading Royals at 7:05PM Saturday. The Bullies will wear special beach-themed jerseys sponsored by the Atlantic City Booster Club for both games. Those jerseys will be auctioned off in a silent auction beginning on Friday and going through till the start of the third period Saturday with the proceeds benefiting various charities. Every Saturday home game is "Family Night". Purchase four tickets, four hot dogs, and four sodas for just $44! Catch Tuesday and Thursday's game on ESPN Radio 1450AM and all four games live on the SurferNetwork at www.boardwalkbullies.com beginning with "Bullies Countdown" twenty minutes prior to face-off. For more information or to order tickets, call (609) 348-7825.

BULLIES SCHEDULE WEEK OF MARCH 14

Monday, March 14: Off Day

Tuesday, March 15: Morning Skate 11:15AM; Bullies @ Dayton (Hobart Arena) 7PM

Wednesday, March 16: Practice TBA; Depart for Wheeling, WV 12PM

Thursday, March 17: Morning Skate 11:15AM; Bullies @ Wheeling 7PM

Friday, March 18: Morning Skate 10AM; Bullies vs. Peoria 7:05PM

Saturday, March 19: Morning Skate 10AM; Bullies vs. Reading 7:05PM

Sunday, March 20: Off Day

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