March 25, 2003


Sea Wolves down Fish, 4-1
Baton Rouge Kingfish Press Release

Stu Pietersma tallied two goals for the Sea Wolves while Greg Gardner made 49 saves for Mississippi as the Sea Wolves dumped the Kingfish, 4-1

Stu Pietersma gave the Sea Wolves a 1-0 lead late in the first period as he was able to stuff a loose puck under Jeff Blair out of a pile up in front of the Kingfish net. Steffon Walby and Cody Bowtell added the assists on the goal at the 15:57 mark for the opening period.


Mike Scott extended the Sea Wolves lead to two early in the second period on the power play. Scott’s slap shot from the right point beat Blair over the shoulder just 2:02 into the period. Chris Allen and Travis Lisabeth picked up the helpers on the goal.

Two and a half minutes later Pietersma’s second goal of the night gave the Sea Wolves a 3-0 lead as he beat Blair on a breakaway. Patrick Rochon and Chris Allen added the assists on the goal at the 4:44 mark of the second.

Scott Hewson broke the Kingfish scoreless streak as he deflected a shot from the point past Greg Gardner at the 11:26 mark of the third period. Joe Guenther and Jim Vickers added the assists on the power play marker. The goal stopped the Kingfish’s scoreless streak at 320 minutes and 9 seconds.

Mississippi extended it’s lead to 4-1 late in the third as Jeff Hutchins took an outlet pass coming out of the box from Walby and fired a shot over the shoulder of Blair. Dave Cornacchia added an assist on the goal as well.

Despite outshooting the Sea Wolves, 50-24, the Kingfish went 1-8 on the power play while the Sea Wolves went 1-2 on the man advantage.

The Kingfish are back in action on Friday as they host the Louisiana IceGators at the Centroplex. Catch all the action on Baton Rouge’s Best R & B, 104.5 WZRB beginning with the Kingfish pregame show at 6:50 p.m.


Sea Wolves Hook Kingfish, 4-1
Mississippi Sea Wolves Press Release

BILOXI, Miss. – 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.


 

DATE - 03/25/03     Baton Rouge ( 1) AT Mississippi ( 4)

SCORE BY PERIODS
Baton Rouge                0  0  1--1  
Mississippi                1  2  1--4  


FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Pietersma 4 (Bowtell; Walby) 
15:57. Penalties: Pietersma, MIS (Fighting, Major), 0:03. Sullivan, 
BR (Fighting, Major), 0:03. Bennett, MIS (Cross checking), 6:04. 
Pietersma, MIS (Interference), 13:37. 

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Mississippi-Scott 26 (game winner) 
(power play) (Allen; Lisabeth) 2:02. 3, Mississippi-Pietersma 5 
(Allen; Rochon) 4:44. Penalties: Bell, BR (Slashing), 1:35. Scott, 
MIS (Charging), 5:53. Peach, MIS (Hooking), 6:20. Clark, MIS (Holding), 
17:26. 

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Baton Rouge-Hewson 2 (power play) (Vickers; 
Guenther) 11:26. 5, Mississippi-Hutchins 10 (Cornacchia; Walby) 
16:20. Penalties: Hutchins, MIS (Board check), 4:46. Jacobson, BR 
(Interference), 4:46. Hutchins, MIS (Fighting, Major), 4:46. 
Jacobson, BR (Fighting, Major, Game misc.), 4:46. Pietersma, MIS 
(Holding), 5:14. Burrows, BR (Tripping), 5:14. Hewson, BR (Holding), 
6:20. Bennett, MIS (Holding stick), 10:02. Hutchins, MIS (Kneeing), 
14:13. Pietersma, MIS (High sticking), 16:45. 

SHOTS ON GOAL
Baton Rouge               18 14 18--50 
Mississippi                4 13  7--24 

Power Play Conversions: Baton Rouge - 1 of 8, Mississippi - 1 of 2.
Goalies: Baton Rouge-Blair (24 shots, 20 saves; record: 5-24-5). 
Mississippi-Gardner (50 shots, 49 saves; record: 31-16-4). 
A: 4356.  Referee: Thul. Linesmen: Finley; Jones.