Sundogs Top Rayz 5-4 in Overtime, Regain First Place

February 6, 2008 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Arizona Sundogs News Release


PRESCOTT VALLEY, Ariz. - The Arizona Sundogs took on the Corpus Christi Rayz Wednesday night at Tim's Toyota Center in Prescott Valley. The two teams exchanged leads throughout the game but Alex Leavitt proved to be the hero with an overtime goal to give the Sundogs a 5-4 win and first place in the Southwest Division.

The Sundogs dominated play for a majority of the first 20 minutes of play Wednesday night, outshooting Corpus Christi by a 23-4 mark. The Rayz however opened a 1-0 lead on their first shot of the night at the 12:36 mark. While on the penalty kill, Justin Quenneville and Chris Shaffer skated in 2-on-1 and Quenneville found the back of the net past rookie netminder Scott Talbot for his 13th of the season. Arizona answered back 1:09 later with a powerplay goal from Rob Lehtinen for his fifth of the season from David Schlemko and Dan Laperriere to tie the game at one apiece.

The Sundogs took their first lead of the game just 19 seconds into the middle period as Laperriere collected his club's second powerplay goal of the game for his second point of the night. Forward Alex Leavitt and defenseman Chris Bartolone assisted on the man advantage tally. Corpus Christi pulled even just past the midway point of the period as Adam Hogg took a pass from Kevin Watters and notched his seventh of the year. With less than two minutes to play in the period, the Rayz regained a one-goal lead on a Joe Blaznek powerplay tally over the left shoulder of Talbot on passes from Quenneville and Nicklas Lindberg. Through two periods of play, the Sundogs held a 32-13 advantage in shots.

Arizona replaced starting netminder Scott Talbot with Rob McVicar to begin the third period. Karl Sellan found the back of the net on passes from Leavitt and Olivier Latendresse at 6:50 of the third to pull even for the second time in the contest. Lehtinen followed just over four minutes later with his second goal of the game from Barry Horman and Dusty Collins to give his club a 4-3 lead. Jason Lepine gathered the Rayz second powerplay goal of the night to tie the game at four goals apiece with 1:18 to play in regulation. Geno Parrish and Watters teamed up to collect assists on the Lepine goal to force an overtime session.

In overtime, Alex Leavitt took passes from Chris Bartolone and Jon Landry and skated through the Rayz defense and slipped a backhand shot through Tapp to give the Sundogs a 5-4 win.

Scott Talbot started in net for Arizona and stopped 13 of 16 shots before being replaced by Rob McVicar. In 21:33 of play, McVicar blocked three of four shots earning the win. Jason Tapp appeared in net for the Rayz and blocked 54 of 59 shots in the loss. It was the second time this season that Arizona has put 59 shots on Tapp. Both teams converted twice on the powerplay with Arizona finishing 2-for-10 with the man advantage while Corpus Christi finished 2-for-7 on the powerplay. The Sundogs dominated shots Wednesday night, holding a 59-20 advantage in the game.

With the win, Arizona reclaims first place in the Southwest Division. The team now travels to Colorado for weekend matchups with the Rocky Mountain Rage and Colorado Eagles. Friday's game against the Rage can be heard live on 96.7 FM The Wolf, the Official Broadcast Home of the Arizona Sundogs.



Central Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2008


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