Sea Wolves Hook Kingfish, 4-1
March 25, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Mississippi Sea Wolves News Release
BILOXI, Miss. â The first place Mississippi Sea Wolves earned two points and set a team-record in the process by picking up their 90th point of the season, downing the Baton Rouge Kingfish 4-1.
Mississippi (43-23-4) also takes a three-point lead over second place Louisiana in the Southwest Division. The IceGators had the day off and have two games in hand.
In addition, the Sea Wolves wrapped up the battle for the Coca-Cola Cup against the Kingfish, winning 10-of-12 games in the season series. Coca-Cola representative Bruce Nation presented Mississippi with the inaugural Coca-Cola Cup at the end of the game.
The Sea Wolves extended their home winning streak to a team-record 12 straight games and unbeaten streak at home to a team-record 18 consecutive games (16-0-2). Mississippi's last regulation loss at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was on December 20.
Just three seconds into the game, Mississippi rookie forward Stu Pietersma, the East Coast Hockey League's leader in fighting majors, punched his way into the team record book by dropping the gloves with Kingfish forward Dan Sullivan. It was the 32nd fighting major of the season for Pietersma, surpassing Kevin Evans 31 majors in 1996-97.
At 15:57 of the first, Pietersma opened the score by jamming the puck past Jeff Blair in front of the Baton Rouge net. It was the fourth goal of the season for Pietersma.
In the second period, Mississippi converted on the power play. Rookie Mike Scott unleashed a one-timer from the right circle, making it 2-0 for the Sea Wolves. Scott's 26th goal of the campaign came at 2:02.
At 4:44 of the middle stanza, Pietersma punctuated his night. Chris Allen sent Pietersma in on a breakaway. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound Pietersma shot stick side on Blair and into the back of the net. The first two-goal game for Pietersma gave Mississippi a 3-0 cushion.
In the third period, Baton Rouge (20-41-9) snapped its ECHL record without scoring a goal at 320:09. Scott Hewson netted a power play goal at 11:26, solving Sea Wolves goaltender Greg Gardner on the 45th Kingfish shot on net.
Mississippi rounded out the scoring at 16:20. Rookie Jeff Hutchins took a lead pass from Steffon Walby and snapped a shot to tally his 10th goal of the year.
Gardner made 49 saves on 50 shots, raising his record to 31-16-4. Blair stopped 20-of-24, dropping to 5-24-5.
Mississippi went 1-for-2 with the man advantage. Baton Rouge converted on 1-of-8 opportunities on the power play.
The Sea Wolves next game is at Pensacola beginning at 7:05 p.m. on Friday at the Pensacola Civic Center.
Mississippi announced its first two home dates and times for the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Game 1 for the Sea Wolves will be on Wednesday, April 2 at 7:05 p.m. at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum against a yet to be determined opponent. Game 2 will played at the Wolves Den on Friday, April 4 at 7:35 p.m.
Individual game tickets are available at all TicketMaster locations, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office and by calling 228-594-3707.
ECHL Stories from March 25, 2003
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