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Week of Peaks and Valleys

January 20, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Fresno Falcons News Release


The Fresno Falcons are coming off a 2-1-1 week of hockey that ran the gamut of emotion at Selland Arena. The club started the week by extending a season-high win streak to six games after defeating the Anchorage Aces, 4-2, on Tuesday. The victory provided the added bonus of briefly moving the Falcons past the Bakersfield Condors in the standings into third place. Bakersfield would re-claim third place after a win of their own the next evening.

Fresno then completed a five-game home stand with three games this past weekend. On Friday, the first-place Idaho Steelheads laid a thumping on the Falcons, 5-0. Saturday's re-match began in similar fashion when Idaho built a 3-0 lead. But two goals by Scott Borders and a game-tying effort from Kris Porter with less than a minute to play knotted the game at three before the Steelheads prevailed in a shootout, 4-3. Fresno capped the up and down week with a 1-0 shutout of the Long Beach Ice Dogs last night on the strength of 17 saves from Terry Friesen and the game's only tally from Cory Murphy.

A 3-1-1 home stand gives the fourth-place Falcons a record of 19-13-5 and 43 points. They have separated themselves from the fifth-place Ice Dogs by building a 15-point edge, but still trail Bakersfield for third by four points after the Condors completed a perfect 4-0-0 week.

BACK TO THE GREAT WHITE NORTH

The Falcons make their second trip in two weeks to snowy Alaska for a three-game set beginning on Wednesday and continuing on Friday and Saturday against the Aces. All three games can be heard live on 103.1 FM, The Mountain Cat, starting at 7:50 p.m. PST each evening with the Mail Boxes, Etc. Pre-Game Show. Fresno has won four straight against the sixth place team in the league.

FRIESEN BREAKS SHUTOUT RECORD

Terry Friesen entered the Fresno record books all by himself with his 1-0 shutout of the Ice Dogs last night, his fifth as a Falcons netminder. Friesen previously shared the record of four career shutouts with former Falcon goaltender Jeff Ferguson. His 17-save performance marked the second time he has blanked Long Beach by a score of 1-0. He made 30 saves during the teams' first meeting of the year on Dec. 7 at Selland Arena. The former third-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks also owns the team record for most shutouts in a single season with three, which he achieved during his first year with the club in the 2000-01 season.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE

The Falcons will not have a chance to practice in Fresno this week. They fly to Anchorage tomorrow before returning on Sunday afternoon.

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