Mississippi Sea Wolves Official Hockey Web Site

LAFAYETTE, La. � The Mississippi Sea Wolves scored four power play goals to down Louisiana, 7-2, and leap past the IceGators into second place in the ECHL Central Division with 33 points.

�It was a nice win in a tough building,� said Sea Wolves coach Bob Woods. �We got some great performances from a number of players and everyone was on board.�

Just two seconds into the game, Mississippi�s Roger Maxwell squared off with Louisiana�s Jason Hamilton. The heavyweights traded punches to a draw.

Moments later, the fight spilled over in the penalty box. Both would be ejected from the game. Later in the first, IceGators� Dennis Shiryaev received a five-minute penalty and game misconduct for butt-ending Sea Wolves� Jeff Hutchins.

On the ensuing power play, Mississippi�s (14-8-5) Anthony Battaglia deposited his fourth of the season, beating Frederic Cloutier on the edge of the crease.

Louisiana (15-6-2) knotted the score at 12:51 of the middle stanza. Armands Berzins converted a centering pass from Alex Materukhin, tallying his first professional goal.

Sea Wolves� Dwayne Blais darted in on a breakaway and snapped a shot past Cloutier, for his third goal of the year.

In the final minute of the second period, Mississippi took control of the game. Jim Baxter scored twice within a 24 second span, including his second at 19:59.

Louisiana cut the margin in half on the power play in the third period. Ben Storey rifled a shot from the blueline, just four seconds into a man advantage at 2:04.

Matile would make 20 third period stops to give Mississippi an opportunity to maintain its lead. The Sea Wolves power play took over with three goals on the man advantage.

Jeff Hutchins scored a pair and Battaglia scored his second of the game in the final minute of regulation. On the Battaglia goal, Mississippi�s Louis Dumont picked up his second assist of the game and another milestone. The helper was Dumont�s 700th career ECHL point in his 589th game (270g, 430a).

Mississippi converted 4-of-9 opportunities with the power play, while Louisiana went 1-for-7. IceGators outshot the Sea Wolves, 40-33.

Additional Notes: Bryan Graham, ECHL Vice President of Hockey Operations was in attendance � Matt Shaw, Assistant General Manager and Assistant Coach for the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League took in the game � Jody Green, a native of Gulfport, Mississippi dressed as the Sea Wolves emergency backup goaltender for the third time this year � Greg Gardner remains on recall to Rochester of the AHL.

Mississippi makes its first trip to Beaumont, Texas at 7:05 p.m. on Friday to play against the Texas Wildcatters at the brand new Ford Arena. The broadcast can be heard beginning at 6:50 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on WXBD-AM 1490 and online at www.msseawolves.com.

The Sea Wolves next home game is at 7:35 p.m. on Saturday against the Columbus Cottonmouths. The promotion consists of $2 draft beers and $2 hotdogs from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Listen live on WTNI-AM 1640 and online at www.msseawolves.com starting with the Nextel Pregame Show at 7:20 p.m.

Individual game tickets can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all TicketMaster locations and by calling 228-594-3707.

Season seat packages, flex plans, fundraiser opportunities and discounted group tickets are available by calling 228-275-WOLF.

--- Box Score ---

DATE - 12/14/03 Mississippi (7) at Louisiana (2)

SCORE BY PERIODS
Mississippi 1 3 3--7
Louisiana 0 1 1--2

FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Battaglia 4 (power play) (Blais; Dumont) 4:00. Penalties: Maxwell, MIS (Fighting, Major), 0:02. Hamilton, LA (Fighting, Major), 0:02. Hamilton, LA (Game misc.), 0:47. Maxwell, MIS (Game misc.), 0:47. Shiryaev, LA served by Berzins (Butt ending, Major, Game misc.), 1:42. Cava, MIS (High sticking), 10:25. Johnson, LA (Slashing), 16:07.

SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Louisiana-Berzins 1 (Materukhin; Herbert) 12:51. 3, Mississippi-Blais 3 (Battaglia; Rochon) 14:20. 4, Mississippi-Baxter 7 (game winner) (Gauvreau) 19:35. 5, Mississippi- Baxter 8 (Gauvreau; Walby) 19:59. Penalties: Johnson, LA (Roughing), 1:59. Mizerek, LA (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 8:15. Blais, MIS (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 8:15. Gauvreau, MIS (Slashing), 8:40. Rochon, MIS (Slashing), 10:38. Herbert, LA (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 13:21. Gauvreau, MIS (Holding), 13:21. O'Rourke, MIS (Hooking), 16:29.

THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, Louisiana-Storey 8 (power play) (Mizerek; Corupe) 2:04. 7, Mississippi-Hutchins 12 (power play) (Baxter; Ellis-Toddington) 8:42. 8, Mississippi-Hutchins 13 (power play) (Gauvreau; Baxter) 16:46. 9, Mississippi-Battaglia 5 (power play) (Ellis-Toddington; Dumont) 19:11. Penalties: Kuznetsov, MIS (Roughing), 1:59. Storey, LA (Board check), 6:54. O'Rourke, MIS (Hooking), 9:30. Walby, MIS (Interference), 11:58. Storey, LA (Tripping, Ten minute misc.), 15:42. Herbert, LA (Slashing), 16:30. Sarich, LA (Board check), 17:02. Mitchell, LA (Cross checking), 19:01.

SHOTS ON GOAL
Mississippi 7 10 16--33
Louisiana 6 13 21--40

Power Play Conversions: Mississippi - 4-of-9, Louisiana - 1-of-7.

Goalies: Mississippi-Matile (40 shots, 38 saves; record: 6-1-2). Louisiana-Cloutier (33 shots, 26 saves; record: 8-2-2).

A: 2643. Referee: Koharski. Linesmen: Jones; Wing.