December 22, 2002
Storm down Kingfish in Shootout, 3-2
Baton Rouge Kingfish Press Release
A late goal in third period by Bryan Richardson and 41 saves by Jeff Blair
wasn’t enough for the Kingfish as the fell to the Toledo Storm, 3-2 in a
shootout on Sunday afternoon.
Toledo opened the scoring at the 13:57 mark of the first period of play as
Brandon Fleenor slipped the puck past Jeff Blair for the early score. Fleenor
was wide open in front of Blair and took a pass from Mike Bayrack for the first
tally of the game. Jeff Johnstone also added an assist on the goal.
Toledo took a two-goal lead as Alexandre Jacques fired a slap shot from the
right faceoff circle over the shoulder of Blair at the 3:05 mark of the period.
Johnstone and took a pass from Bayrack and fed a wide-open Jacques for the goal.
Trevor Demmans cut the lead back to one, as he fired a slap shot from the high
slot past Tom Draper at the 9:04 mark of the second. Marquis Mathieu added an
assist as he won the draw cleanly back to the defenseman.
With a minute remaining, the Kingfish tied the game at two. Joe Guenther beat
Draper to a loose puck in the corner and centered to Bryan Richardson who fired
the puck into the empty net. Jason Norrie picked up an assist dumped the puck
into the corner.
The teams skated to a scoreless overtime session but it was Erik Anderson in
round three of the shootout to give Toledo the 3-2 shootout win.
The Kingfish continue their road trip in Arkansas following the Holiday Break on
December 27th with a 7:00 faceoff. Catch all the action on Baton Rouge’s Best R
& B, 104.5 WZRB beginning with the Kingfish pre game show at 6:45 p.m.
Storm Becomes First ECHL Team to 20 Points
Toledo Storm Press Release
(Toledo, Ohio) For the second game, the Toledo Storm (20-6-2=42) gave up late
game-tying goal. However, also for the second consecutive game, the Storm pulled
out the win to become the first team in the ECHL to bag 20 victories this
season. In this one, the Storm won their first shootout of the season at the
Sports Arena, 3-2 over the Baton Rouge Kingfish, to run the team’s home record
to 14-1-1 and extend the team’s win streak to 4.
Once again, Toledo picked up the game’s first goal when Mike Bayrack charged
into the offensive end on the right wing side and drew the Kingfish defense
toward him. That left defenseman, Brandon Fleenor, wipe open on the back door;
and Bayrack threaded a perfect pass to Fleenor, who drew the puck to his
backhand and slipped it underneath a sprawled out Jeff Blair-the Baton Rouge
goaltender-at 13:57 of the first period. This marked the sixteenth time this
season that Toledo has scored the game’s first goal, and the Storm is 15-0-1 in
those games.
Toledo took a two goal lead early in the third, when Jeff Johnstone fed a flat,
cross ice feed to Alexandre Jacques, who had joined the play on the fly and set
up in the right circle. Jacques didn’t waste the chance firing a high, hard snap
shot behind Blair 3:05 into the period. Baton Rouge got on the board, when
Marquis Mathieu won an offensive zone face-off to the top of the left circle,
where Trevor Demmans was waiting. Demmans blasted a low hard slap shot that
ricocheted off the interior portion of the right pipe and into the net to make
it 2-1 Toledo at the 9:04 mark of the second period.
From that point on the Storm was never able to shake the Kingfish, despite
having three consecutive five-on-three power plays in the second period and
firing a total of 43 shots on Blair, who was spectacular. Then, with just 1:04
remaining, Baton Rouge capitalized on a Storm miscue when Storm goaltender, Tom
Draper, went out of the net to play a puck and got trapped away from the goal
and out of position. Kingfish all-star (and former Toledo Storm player) Joe
Guenther dug the puck off the end wall and found Bryan Richardson all alone in
front of an empty Storm net. Richardson tapped it in to send it to overtime.
The Storm got the best of the extra session; but were unable to capitalize, as
(again) Blair made several game-saving stops. But in the shootout, it was Draper
who was perfect; and Erik Anderson shooting third for the Storm bagged the only
goal to pull out the dramatic win for Toledo.
The Storm’s next game is on the road against the red-hot Cincinnati Cyclones on
Thursday, December 26, at 7:00 p.m. As with all Storm games, that game will be
broadcast live on WCWA 1230 am in Toledo, Ohio.
DATE - 12/22/02 Baton Rouge ( 2) AT Toledo ( 3) SO SCORE BY PERIODS Baton Rouge 0 1 1 0--2 Toledo 1 1 0 1--3 FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Toledo-Fleenor 1 (Bayrack; Johnstone) 13:57. Penalties: Verbeek, TOL (Hooking), 0:34. Bootland, TOL (Fighting, Major), 6:23. Norrie, BR (Fighting, Major), 6:23. Waltze, TOL (Fighting, Major), 6:26. Kaiman, BR (Fighting, Major), 6:26. Waltze, TOL (Bench minor, Game misc.), 6:26. Tucker, BR (Hooking), 9:05. Richardson, BR (Hooking), 18:59. SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Toledo-Jacques 17 (Johnstone; Bayrack) 3:05. 3, Baton Rouge-Demmans 5 (Mathieu) 9:04. Penalties: Fleenor, TOL (Hooking), 4:06. Paquet, BR (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 4:06. Verbeek, TOL (Interference), 5:17. Hutchinson, TOL (Cross checking), 9:48. Kaiman, BR (Closing hand on puck), 12:33. Mathieu, BR (Delay of game), 13:54. Paquet, BR (Roughing), 15:09. Norrie, BR (Slashing), 16:32. THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Baton Rouge-Richardson 15 (Guenther; Norrie) 18:56. Penalties: Paquet, BR (Holding stick), 1:36. Tucker, BR (High sticking), 6:12. Johnstone, TOL (Slashing), 8:12. Fleenor, TOL (Tripping), 8:27. OVERTIME -- Scoring: None. Penalties: None. SHOTS ON GOAL Baton Rouge 4 10 6 1--21 Toledo 11 12 16 4--43 Power Play Conversions: Baton Rouge - 0 of 6, Toledo - 0 of 8. Goalies: Baton Rouge-Blair (43 shots, 41 saves; record: 5-11-4). Toledo-Draper (21 shots, 19 saves; record: 2-0-0). A: 3468. Referee: Pelletier. Linesmen: ; Prozaki. TOLEDO, Ohio (Ticker) -- Erik Anderson netted the deciding shootout goal to give the Toledo Storm a 3-2 triumph over the Baton Rouge Kingfish. Anderson beat goaltender Jeff Blair to help his team extend its winning streak to four games. Alexandre Jacques contributed his team-leading 17th goal and Tom Draper stopped 19 shots for Toledo. Blair turned away 40-plus shots for the third time in as many games, making 40 saves in taking the shootout loss. Bryan Richardson, who leads the team in goals with 15, and Trevor Demmans each scored for Baton Rouge, which has dropped five of its last seven.