BILOXI, Miss. � The Mississippi Sea Wolves broke two team records and extended another one by knocking off the Jackson Bandits in a come from behind 4-3 overtime victory at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
The Sea Wolves set team records by winning their 10th straight game at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and notching their 24th victory of the season at home.
Mississippi (40-21-4) also extended its unbeaten streak at home to a team record 16 games, going 14-0-2 since December 21 at the Wolves Den. The last regulation setback that the Sea Wolves endured at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was on December 20 against Louisiana.
The Sea Wolves picked up two more points and now have 84 to add to their first place lead in the Southwest Division to seven points over the idle second place Louisiana IceGators.
Jackson (30-23-8) opened the score at 4:45 on the power play. Jeff Bes fed John McNabb down low at the right circle. McNabb�s one-timer beat Sean Matile, for his 30th of the season.
Late in the first period, Bandits� Nick Theriault sent the puck towards the net from high slot through traffic. It bounced over the goal line at 19:40, making it 2-0 for Jackson.
Sea Wolves goaltender Matile was shaken up in the opening period after poke checking the puck away from Darryl Laplante. Matile finished the stanza, but Greg Gardner started in net to begin the second period.
In the second, the Bandits added to their lead with another goal on the man advantage. McNabb notched his second of the game at 10:48, making it 3-0 for Jackson.
Mississippi got on track with a power play of its own at 16:26 of the middle stanza. Veteran Dave Paradise hammered a slap shot from the slot on a 5-on-3 opportunity, beating Adam Hauser. The goal for Paradise was his 34th of the campaign.
Then 33 seconds later, with the Sea Wolves on another man advantage, Paradise rifled home his second of the game from the slot, cutting the Bandits lead to 3-2.
In the third, Mississippi rallied to tie the score 3-3. Captain Steffon Walby netted a David Cornacchia rebound shot at 4:43. It was Walby�s 38th of the year. Cornacchia was playing in his first regular season game of the year. He was activated from the injured reserve earlier in the day, after undergoing emergency surgery in October for compartment syndrome, which is a decrease of circulation and function in his lower legs.
In overtime, Paradise completed the hat trick sliding the puck past the goal line from in close at 1:20 of the extra session. It was Paradise�s fifth career Sea Wolves hat trick, which is tops for Mississippi.
Sea Wolves defenseman Jim Baxter finished with three assists on the game, tying the team assists record with Jeff Rohlicek, set in 1996-97.
The game wraps up the Bandits 20-game road trip with a record of 9-6-5.
Matile stopped five of seven shots. Gardner won his eighth straight game making 23 saves on 24 shots, raising his record to 28-14-4. Hauser turned away 27-of-31 shots, falling to 17-9-4 on the season.
Mississippi scored on 2-of-9 opportunities with the man advantage. Jackson also converted on 2-of-9 power play chances.
Boxers Tonya Harding and Tim Witherspoon were in attendance.
Mississippi travels to Pensacola tomorrow for a 7:05 p.m. contest at the Pensacola Civic Center. The start time for the Sea Wolves next home game has been changed to 7:05 p.m. on Sunday, March 23 against Arkansas at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Individual game tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office and by calling 228-594-3707.
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