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Sea Wolves Continue to Surge

December 16, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Winning three games in three different cities in three days, Mississippi has moved into a tie for first place with Louisiana in the Southwest Division with 38 points. The Sea Wolves (18-9-2) and IceGators (16-7-6) are tied with Atlantic City (16-6-6) for the East Coast Hockey League points lead.

Mississippi won 4-1 win at Pensacola on Thursday, 3-2 at Louisiana on Friday and 4-1 at Baton Rouge on Saturday, giving the Sea Wolves a four-game winning streak.

Mississippi travels to Arkansas on Wednesday before returning home for three consecutive home games, hosting Louisiana on Friday, Jackson on Saturday and Arkansas on Sunday. The Sea Wolves are 0-1 against Arkansas, losing 4-3 at home on November 1. Mississippi has won the last two meetings with Louisiana, but is 3-5-0 in the season series including a 2-3-0 record at home. The Sea Wolves are 4-1-1 against Jackson, including a 2-0-0 record at home.

Mississippi defenseman Jim Baxter scored eight points (1g-7a) in the three games last week, and he leads East Coast Hockey League defensemen with 33 points in 29 games. Baxter is tied for the ECHL lead among defensemen with eight goals while ranking second with a team-leading 25 assists. Dave Paradise had two goals on Sunday giving him seven points (4g-3a) during the four-game streak. Paradise is tied for fourth in the ECHL with a team-leading 18 goals while his team-leading 38 points tie him for sixth in the ECHL in scoring.

Acquired in a trade with Trenton, rookie Kent Davyduke scored two power-play goals and had two assists in the three games, giving him six points (3g-3a) in four games with the Sea Wolves. In his first game for Mississippi on December 8, Davyduke scored five seconds into overtime, giving the Sea Wolves a 4-3 win over Louisiana. Davyduke's goal was the fastest overtime goal in ECHL history, and tied the ECHL record for fastest goal from the start of a period set by Carolina's Brian Hannon on December 1, 1988 and tied by Hampton Roads Rick Kowalsky on December 22, 1995. Davyduke is tied for fourth among ECHL rookies with five power-play goals and ranks fifth in rookie scoring with 26 points (10g-16a) in 24 games.

Steffon Walby came off the injured reserve and scored a power-play goal on Friday and added an assist on Saturday. Walby, who leads the ECHL with five game-winning goals, is tied for second on the Sea Wolves with 11 goals while ranking third on the team with 19 assists and 30 points in 19 games.

Starting back-to-back games for the first time all season on Friday and Saturday, goaltender Sean Matile went 2-0 with 54 saves and a 1.50 goals against average. Matile is 4-0 with 97 saves and a 1.14 goals against average in his last four starts, and 5-2-0 with a 1.39 goals against average in eight games. Greg Gardner is 2-0 with 59 saves and a 1.99 goals against average in his last two starts and 13-7-2 in 23 games. Gardner ranks second in the ECHL with 13 wins, 1340 minutes and 699 saves while his 2.60 goals against average ranks ninth.

2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game Announcement Schedule

Tuesday
Coaches, Equipment Managers, Athletic Trainers

Wednesday
Northern Conference Starting Lineup and Roster

Thursday
Southern Conference Starting Lineup and Roster

Hosted by the Florida Everblades and sponsored by Compuware, the 2003 East Coast Hockey League All-Star Game will be played at 7:30 p.m. on January 21 at TECO Arena in Estero, Florida. The 2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Skills Competition will be held at 6 p.m. on January 20 at TECO Arena.

Medak Sets Grrrowl Record With Five Assists

Greenville rookie Judd Medak assisted on all five goals in Saturday's 5-4 overtime win against Florida, setting a Grrrowl record for most assists in a game. The five assists tie the East Coast Hockey League season high set by Reading's Jeff Giuliano on October 11 while Medak becomes the 10th ECHL player this season to score five points in a game. The 23-year-old Medak ranks fourth in scoring among East Coast Hockey League rookies with 27 points while tying for fifth with 11 goals and 16 assists. In his first professional season after four seasons at Minnesota-Duluth, Medak is tied with four teammates for the Greenville scoring lead while ranking second with two game-winning goals and third in goals and assists.

RiverBlades' Pagnutti Possesses Power-Play Prowess

Arkansas' Matt Pagnutti has scored eight goals and all eight have been power-play goals. His eight power-play goals lead East Coast Hockey League defensemen. He is tied for the goal-scoring lead and ranks eighth in scoring with 20 points among ECHL defensemen. Pagnutti's teammate Eric Long, who led ECHL defensemen with 12 power-play goals in 2001-02, ranks third among ECHL defensemen with 23 assists and is fourth with 27 points. The ECHL record for power-play goals by a defenseman is 16, set by Joe Cook of the Columbus Chill in 1993-94, and tied by Chris Valicevic of Louisiana in 1995-96.

InGlasCo ECHL Player Of The Week
Jim Baxter Mississippi Sea Wolves
GP:3 G: 1 A: 7 PTS: 8 +/-: +3

ECHL Goalie Of The Week
Jamie Hodson Greensboro Generals
GP: 2 W-L: 2-0 GAA: 1.63 PCT: .964


Feature Games Of The Week

Northern Conference

Roanoke at Trenton Friday, 7:00 ET
- Richmond is 1-1-1 against Trenton in 2002-03.
- Trenton is 10-2-2 at home in 2002-03.

Dayton at Cincinnati Saturday, 7:30 ET
- Dayton is 0-2-0 against Cincinnati in 2002-03
- Cincinnati leads the ECHL in scoring, averaging 4.00 goals per game.

Southern Conference

Jackson at Arkansas Friday, 7:00 CT
- Jackson won the last meeting 1-0 in a shootout on Friday.
- Arkansas is 6-2-3 at home in 2002-03.

Florida at Pensacola Friday, 7:05 CT
- Florida is 16-5-3 all-time in the regular season against the Ice Pilots.
- First meeting of 2002-03.

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ECHL Stories from December 16, 2002


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