November 29, 2002
Kingfish beat 'Blades 6-4
Baton Rouge Kingfish Press Release
The Kingfish won their second game in their last three as they used five third
period goals and 29 saves from Brian Leitza to down the RiverBlades, 6-4.
Jason Bermingham opened the scoring at the 4:48 mark of the first period. A bad
bounce off the back dasher caught Brian Leitza out of position and by surprise
leaving the net open for Bermingham. Matt Pagnutti and Eric Long picked up the
assists on the power play goal.
Buddy Smith slipped past the Kingfish defense and slipped the puck past Leitza
at the 9:22 mark of the period giving the RiverBlades a 2-0 lead. Smith took the
puck right off the draw for the unassisted goal.
Jason Norrie cut the Arkansas lead to one as he buried a loose puck from the
slot past Jimi St. John at the 12:59 mark of the first period of play. Jesse
Ferguson and Joe Guenther added assists as they pushed the puck out of a
scramble in from of the net.
Arkansas regained the two goal lead at the midway mark of the second period as
Buddy Smith slid past the Kingfish defense and slid the puck past Leitza.
Pagnutti and Hartleib added the assists on the goal.
Arkansas took a 4-1 lead just 26 seconds into the third period as Ernie Hartleib
beat Leitza on a tic-tac-toe play. He took a pass from Bermingham off a feed
from Eric Long.
The Kingfish got things going on the penalty kill as Bryan Richardson slipped
the puck past St. John at the 2:31 mark of the third period. Cheredaryk added an
assist on the shorthanded goal.
The Kingfish cut the lead to one five minutes later as Cheredaryk’s blast from
the high slot beat St. John over the shoulder. Richardson won the draw back to
Cheredaryk to set up the goal.
Joe Guenther tied the contest at four as he tallied his first of the game from
his belly as he was able to glove the puck to himself and bat it past St. John
at the 10:18 mark of the third period of play. Jesse Ferguson picked up an
assist on the goal.
About two minutes later, the Kingfish took a 5-4 lead as Garnet Jacobson pushed
a loose puck past St. John on his backhand. Glen Crawford and Peach added the
assists on the goal.
The Kingfish took advantage of a power play opportunity late in the period as
Guenther took a centering pass from Richardson at the 17:13 mark for his second
of the night. The Kingfish finished 1-6 on the power play.
The Kingfish battle the RiverBlades Saturday night at the Centroplex in the
second of a home-and-home set with Arkansas this weekend. 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.
Kingfish Score 5 in Third, Defeat RiverBlades
RiverBlades Press Release
Friday Nov 29, 2002
The Baton Rouge Kingfish scored 5 third-period goals to defeat the Arkansas
RiverBlades 6-4 Friday at Alltel Arena.
Joe Guenther scored two goals and an assist, while Bryan Richardson had a goal
and two assists and Jesse Ferguson had two helpers for Baton Rouge.
Buddy Smith scored two goals and an assist, and Eric Long contributed two
assists in the losing cause for the Blades.
Jason Bermingham opened up the scoring on the power-play at 4:48 of the first,
assisted by Matt Pagnutti and Eric Long. The puck was shot into the zone, where
goaltender Brian Leitza waited to play it. Instead, the puck caromed out in
front of the goal right to Bermingham, who got the easy empty-netter.
Around five minutes later, Buddy Smith deked around two Kingfish defenders, then
directed the puck past Leitza for a 2-0 lead.
However, a little over three minutes later at 12:59, Jason Norrie backhanded a
puck up-high past Jimi St. John to cut the RiverBlades' lead in half at 2-1.
Assists went to Joe Guenther and Jesse Ferguson.
Buddy Smith scored the only goal of the second period at 10:45, using another
fancy deke on goaltender Leitza and sneaking it past him. Ernie Hartlieb and
Matt Pagnutti assisted on the play.
Then, in the third, Arkansas seemed to take control early on Ernie Hartlieb's
eighth goal of the year just 26 seconds in to make it 4-1.
But Baton Rouge came storming back, as Bryan Richardson scored at 2:31, followed
by Steve Cheredaryk at 7:02, and Joe Guenther at 10:18 to tie it.
Then, just a little over a minute later, Garnet Jacobson scored his first goal
of the season to give the Kingfish a 5-4 lead.
Arkansas had some chances, but could not find the goal the rest of the way.
Joe Guenther would add a power-play goal late to set the final at 6-4.
Baton Rouge outshot Arkansas 39-33 in the game. The RiverBlades were 2-for-4 on
the power-play, and the Kingfish were 1-for-6.
Arkansas travels to Baton Rouge tomorrow to once again play the Kingfish before
venturing to Jackson Sunday.
The next home game is December 12th against the Jackson Bandits. Game time is
7:05 p.m.
ECHL FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
BATON ROUGE 1 0 5 6
ARKANSAS 2 1 1 4 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: ARK - (PP) JASON BERMINGHAM 9 (MATTHEW PAGNUTTI, ERIC LONG)
4:48
ARK - BUDDY SMITH 12 (UNASSISTED) 9:22
BAT - JASON NORRIE 7 (JOE GUENTHER, JESSE FERGUSON) 12:59
2ND PRD: ARK - BUDDY SMITH 13 (ERNIE HARTLIEB, MATTHEW PAGNUTTI)
10:45
3RD PRD: ARK - (PP) ERNIE HARTLIEB 8 (ERIC LONG, BUDDY SMITH) 0:26
BAT - (SH) BRYAN RICHARDSON 7 (STEVE CHEREDARYK) 2:31
BAT - STEVE CHEREDARYK 5 (BRYAN RICHARDSON) 7:02
BAT - JOE GUENTHER 1 (JESSE FERGUSON) 10:18
BAT - SEAN PEACH 3 (GLENN CRAWFORD) 11:39
BAT - JOE GUENTHER 2 (BRYAN RICHARDSON) 17:13
POWER-PLAY CONVERSIONS: BAT - 1 OF 6, ARK - 2 OF 4.
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
BAT 11 14 14 39
ARK 12 6 15 33
GOALIES: BAT - BRIAN LEITZA
ARK - JIMI ST. JOHN
OFFICIALS: REF - TRAVIS SMITH
LIN - JAMES PANASIUK, JASON FINLEY
ATT: 3,090
Game Story
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (Ticker) -- Joe Guether notched
two goals and an assist to help the Baton Rouge Kingfish
overcome a three-goal deficit and defeat the Arkansas
RiverBlades, 6-4. Guether, playing in only his second game with
Baton Rouge, scored midway through the third to tie the score at
4-4 and buried a power-play goal with 2:47 remaining to cap a
streak of five unanswered goals in a 14:38 span of the final
period. Bryan Richardson scored shorthanded 2:31 into the third
to start the rally and assisted on a tally by Steve Cheredaryk
just 4:31 later to cut his club's deficit to 4-3. Garnet
Jacobson notched the game-winner just 1:21 after Guether tied
the game for the Kingfish, who have won only five games this
season. Brian Leitza stopped 29 shots, including 14 of 15 in the
final stanza, to earn his first win of the season. Jason
Bermingham scored a power-play goal 4:48 into the game, Buddy
Smith scored in both the first and second periods and Ernie
Hartlieb lit the lamp just 24 seconds into the third to give
Arkansas a 4-1 lead. Jimi St. John surrendered five goals on 14
third-period shots to take the loss for the RiverBlades, who
will get a chance for revenge against Baton Rouge in a rematch
tomorrow night.