Star Power

Published on November 10, 2003 under ECHL (ECHL)
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies News Release


ATLANTIC CITY – WEEK RECORD: 1-2-0
SEASON RECORD: 8-3-0 1st NORTHERN

BULLIES REWIND: The Boardwalk Bullies rebounded from two tough defeats to in-state rival Trenton with a 5-0 shutout over former NHL All-Star goaltender Arturs Irbe and the Johnstown Chiefs on Sunday to lead the Northern Division by a single point heading into this week's action. The Bullies opened play on Thursday dropping a 2-1 decision to the Trenton Titans for just their second loss of the season and first at Boardwalk Hall. The Titans scored the first and lone goal of the opening period with an even strength tally by Mathieu Brunelle at 11:32. The Titans doubled their advantage when Joe Rybar found the back of the net at 12:07 of the 2nd period for a 2-0 lead. The Bullies fired back though less then three minutes later when John Sabo scored his first goal as a Boardwalk Bully at 15:05 of the 2nd. The Bullies were unable to muster up the equalizer as Titans goalie Andrew Allen stopped 31 of 32 shots for the game. Friday, the two clubs played the back-end of the home-and-home series at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, and for the second consecutive night the Titans came out victorious with a 4-1 win. Stefan Rivard opened the scoring for the Bullies when his one-timer from the slot beat Titans goalie Andrew Allen at 8:26 on the power play to give the Bullies a 1-0 lead. However, the Titans would come back to score three goals in the next 20 minutes. First, Bryce Cockburn tipped the puck past Bullies goaltender Jake Moreland at 2:21 off the feed from Mathieu Brunelle to tie the game at 1-1. The Titans would take the lead just 1:43 seconds later at 4:04 when Marty Johnston's drive from the bottom of the right-wing circle beat Moreland over the left shoulder for a 2-1 advantage. Trenton would extend their lead to two goals on the power play at 17:54 when Bergeron from almost the exact same spot where Johnston netted his goal, blasted a slap shot that trickled off Moreland's blocker and into the back of the net for a 3-1 lead at the end of two periods. Joe Rybar finished the scoring for Trenton at 16: 02 of the 3rd period deflecting a Mathieu Brunelle shot by Moreland. The Titans out-shot the Bullies 36-29. The Bullies went 1-6 on the power play. Sunday, the Bullies bounced back on home ice as Atlantic City used three 2nd period goals and a 25-save effort from goaltender Scott Stirling to shutout the Johnstown Chiefs 5-1. The Bullies got off to a roaring start as Jon Cullen rifled a slap shot from the right-wing boards past Chiefs goalie Arturs Irbe at 6:20 of the 1st period shorthanded for a 1-0 lead. In the 2nd period, the floodgates opened on Irbe as the Bullies tallied three goals in a span of 5:28 seconds. Luke Curtin netted the Bullies second shorthanded goal of the game when tipped Jon Cullen's rebound past the sprawling arms of Irbe at 8:01 of the period. The Bullies scored again less than three minutes later when Preston Mizzi tallied his third goal of the season at 10:24, stuffing Stefan Rivard's one-time feed past Irbe from the slot. John Sabo potted his second goal of the season at 13:29 to give the Bullies a 4-0 advantage heading into the 3rd period. While the game got rough in the final twenty minutes with the Chiefs receiving two 10-minute misconduct penalties, Johnstown was unable to put anything past Stirling. Rivard capped off the scoring for the Bullies at 14:47 deflecting Dave Reid's point shot past Irbe to make the final score 5-0. Stirling stopped all 25 Johnstown shots for his sixth win and first shutout of the season.

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 goaltender Scott Stirling who made 53 saves on 55 shots and shutout Johnstown 5-0 on Sunday. Honorable mention goes out to forward Stefan Rivard who tallied 2 goals and an assist. Previous winners below include:

10/20/03: Jim Henkel (4 goals, 2 assists)
10/27/03: Luke Curtin (1 goal, 2 assists)
11/3/03: Brian Fahey (0 goals, 5 assists)

NHL POTENTIAL? 12-year NHL veteran Arturs Irbe of Johnstown entered Sunday' s tilt with the Bullies as the ECHL's hottest goaltender, winning six in a row and surrendering just six goals in his first six starts. He also was leading the league in goals against average and ranked second in save percentage. The Bullies were hardly intimidated by such daunting statistics, rattling Irbe for 5 goals on 34 shots, including tallies by rookies Jon Cullen and John Sabo. Meanwhile, Bullies goalie Scott Stirling minus 558 NHL games, looked like a former NHL All-Star as he stopped all 25 Johnstown shots for his first shutout since Game 3 of the Kelly Cup Finals against Columbia. Stirling's last regular season shutout came last December 7, a 3-0 win at home over Roanoke. Striling now has 10 shutouts for his professional career.

THE RETURN OF RIVARD: Forward Stefan Rivard is currently the hottest Bully on the roster, tallying a goal in four out of the last five games. In his last 6 games, Rivard has 4 goals and 3 assists.

IT'S OUR SPECIALTY...The Bullies have killed off 44 of their opponents' last 49 power plays after Sunday's perfect 5-5 on the penalty kill, good for a 90% efficiency rate. The Bullies penalty kill operated at 17-18 in three games last week (94.4%), and for the season has climbed to 85.7% good for 10th in the ECHL.

...OR PERHAPS NOT: On the flip side however, the Bullies power play is going through a bit of a funk. The Bullies are just 2-27 (7.4%) over the last four games with the man advantage, despite averaging almost 7 power plays per game.

ATTENDANCE ON THE RISE: Through the first 6 home games of the 2003-04 season, the Bullies have reported a rise in attendance figures from a year ago. So far, 18,447 people have come through the gates at Boardwalk Hall compared to 13,935 through 6 games last season, a 32% increase.

POWER PLAY FOR UNITED WAY: Last Thursday the Bullies, in conjunction with United Way of Atlantic County, unveiled their newest community program, Power Play for United Way. For every power play goal the Bullies score this season, area businesses and organizations will donate $10 dollars to United Way of Atlantic County. The Bullies have tallied 12 goals so far in 2003-04, good for $720 dollars towards the Power Play for United Way.

BULLIES IN THE COMMUNITY: The Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies will be out and about in the community this week. Public Relations & Broadcasting Manager Dan Weiss will speak at local Rotary Clubs in Mays Landing on Tuesday, and in Moorestown and Somers Point on Wednesday. Also, the Bullies will join Community Relations Consultant Art Dorrington for the 6th Annual Art Dorrington Ice Hockey Foundation Installation and Awards Dinner Thursday night at the Trump Taj Mahal Casino Hotel.

STAY ONLINE WITH THE BULLIES: Follow the Bullies throughout the season by pointing your computer mouse to www.boardwalkbullies.com. You can read game updates, get to know your favorite Bullies, and find out where "Wooly" and the team will be appearing next. Click and score with www.boardwalkbullies.com!

UP NEXT: The defending ECHL Kelly Cup Champions enjoy a light week with just two games, both at Boardwalk Hall. The Bullies will host the Johnstown Chiefs at 7:05PM on Wednesday November 12, and host the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7:05PM on Friday November 14. Wednesday is the second "Wild Wednesday" of the season, sponsored by Coors Light and Molson Canadian. Catch all the action this week on the Surfer Network at www.boardwalkbullies.com beginning with the pre-game show 20 minutes prior to face-off with Dan Weiss.

BULLIES SCHEDULE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 10TH:

Monday, November 10: Off Day

Tuesday, November 11: Practice 10:30AM – 12PM

Wednesday, November 12: Morning Skate 10AM; Bullies vs. Johnstown 7:05PM

Thursday, November 13: Practice 10:30AM – 12PM

Friday, November 14: Morning Skate 10AM; Bullies vs. Las Vegas 7:05PM

Saturday, November 15: Off Day

Sunday, November 9: Practice TBA

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ECHL Stories from November 10, 2003


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