Sessa Hat-Trick Takes Out Trashers
Published on October 16, 2004 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Elmira Jackals News Release
Elmira, NY - The Elmira Jackals started their first winning streak Saturday night as they beat the Danbury Trashers 5-2 in their second game of the season.
If scoring 71 seconds into the game Friday night wasn't fast enough for Jackals fans, Jason Sessa decided to one-up himself. On Saturday the former Quad City Mallard buried a quick wrist shot past Danbury goaltender Scott Stirling just 61 seconds into the contest; Sessa's goal was assisted by Eddy Lowe and Derek Campbell. Elmira would put 17 shots on goal in the first period, but fail to add to their lead.
In period two, things started to open up. Elmira broke out with a 2-0 lead when Carl Drakensjo beat Stirling with a backhand in traffic at 9:06; assisted by Adam Nittel. At 15:49 on the power play Sessa got number two, this time from captain Trevor Burgess and Elmira was cruising with a three-goal lead. But Danbury, who won their franchise opener against Adirondack, would not go quietly. The Trashers scored their first goal of the night when John Morlang scored the team's first ever short-handed goal at 17:26 from Mike Bayrack and Jeff State.
Danbury made things interesting halfway through the third period, making the score 3-2 when Jim Duhart scored his first goal for the Trashers. But that was as close as they would come to the Jackals on this night. After being taken down on a breakaway by Mario Larocque, who actually threw his stick at the puck, Sessa was awarded a penalty shot at 14:18. Sessa increased his goal scoring account to four on the year, as he beat Stirling with some fancy puck handling to get his hat trick. Jamie Thompson scored the team's second power play goal of the night to cap the scoring at 16:26 with help from Alex Andreyev and Greg Koehler.
Penalties and fisticuffs highlighted the game; the two teams combined for 193 minutes in penalties. Gerry Hickey was ejected for head butting Chris Shaw during their first period scrap, Rumun Ndur got a game misconduct for abuse of the officials and Brad Wingfield received his walking papers late in the third period for deliberately removing his elbow pads prior to a fight with Charlie Elezi.
Jackals' goalie Greg Hewitt finished with 32 saves on 34 Danbury shots. Stirling was peppered for 40 shots; he blocked 35 of those for the loss. Elmira was 2-for-9 on the power play and had 14 penalties for 64 minutes, while Danbury was 0-for-4 with the man advantage and ended with 25 penalties for 129 minutes. The Jackals return to the ice Wednesday October 20th at 7:00 p.m. as they host the Adirondack Frostbite for the first time in the regular season.
International Hockey League 2 Stories from October 16, 2004
- Generals get one point in shootout loss - Flint Generals
- Outlaws victorious in overtime shootout, 3-2 - Kansas City Outlaws
- Sessa Hat-Trick Takes Out Trashers - Elmira Jackals
- Countdown to Face-Off - Kalamazoo Wings
- RiverDogs game notes - Richmond RiverDogs
- Generals lose home opener - Flint Generals
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