BILOXI, Miss. � Mississippi�s Chris Cava and Steve O�Rourke each scored a pair of goals to lead the Sea Wolves to their season-high seventh straight victory, halting the Columbus Cottonmouths win streak at five, by taking the contest, 6-2.
�It was nice to see Cava and O�Rourke get rewarded in the goal department,� said Mississippi Coach Bob Woods. �It just shows that the big gunners, don�t always have to lead us offensively for a win.�
Columbus (23-19-3) opened the score at the 4:32 mark of the first period. Cottonmouths veteran Rumun Ndur, alone at the side of the net, got the puck by goaltender Greg Gardner for his fourth of the season. John Morlang and ECHL All-Star Jean-Francois Plourde picked up the assists.
Less than one minute later, Sea Wolves� Roger Maxwell, playing in his 100th career game for Mississippi, seemed to spark the team by fighting Cottonmouths� Mitch Fritz to a draw.
Mississippi (26-11-6) started to bring its offense and got on track at 11:59. ECHL All-Star Steffon Walby sent a cross-ice pass to Louis Dumont, who one-timed his 21st goal of the year past Jason Tapp. Walby's assist extended his point streak to eight games. Austin Miller also collected a helper.
Nearly four minutes later the Sea Wolves would take their first lead of the game. Chris Cava unleashed a wrist shot from the right circle beating Tapp to the glove side for his first goal of the season. It was Cava�s first goal since November 8, 2002. The assists went to John Evangelista and Dwayne Blais.
John Morlang pulled the Cottonmouths even at 17:17. Morlang barged from the corner to in front of the net to stuff in the puck for his team-tying 15th tally of the year. Ndur registered his second point of the game notching an assist along with Dan Tessier, who extended his point streak to 10 games.
Mississippi grabbed the lead 57 seconds into the middle stanza. Defenseman Steve O�Rourke rifled a shot from the top of the right circle, scoring his second goal of the campaign. Sergei Kuznetsov picked up an assist along with Travis Lisabeth, who extended his point streak to a career-high 10-games. O�Rourke went back to work at 9:33, tallying his second of the game to give the Sea Wolves a 4-2 lead. Anthony Battaglia and Lisabeth registered the helpers.
On the next shift, Maxwell dropped the gloves and had the upperhand squaring off with Brad Voth at center ice.
Less than four minutes later, Mississippi made it a 5-2 game. Cava, playing in his 150th pro game, sent a turnaround shot from the right circle into the back of the net for his second of the game, season, and first two-goal game of his career. Lisabeth earned his third assist of the game and Kuznetsov picked up his second at 13:10.
At 2:02 of the third, Jeff Hutchins, fresh off the 7-day injured reserve, re-directed a shot from Walby into the cage for his team-tying 21st of the year. With the assist, Walby became Mississippi�s career leader in points with 237, surpassing Dave Paradise in 108 less games. Dumont also added an assist.
Sea Wolves� Sean Matile, appearing in his first game since January 10, took over in net to begin the third. He would turn away all 18 shots to shutdown the Cottonmouths.
Mississippi failed to convert on three power play opportunities and Columbus also went 0-for-3. Cottonmouths outshot the Sea Wolves, 43-24.
Mississippi�s heads on the road for its next three games including a 6:30 p.m. start time on Tuesday at the Columbus Civic Center. The game broadcast begins at 6:15 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 and online at msseawolves.com.
The Sea Wolves next home game is at 6:35 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3 against the Florence Pride at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Broadcast starts at 6:20 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 and online at msseawolves.com.
Flex packs, discounted group tickets and fundraiser opportunities are available by telephone at (228) 275-WOLF.
Individual game tickets can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all TicketMaster locations and by calling (228) 594-3707.
--- Box Score ---
DATE - 01/25/04 Columbus (2) at Mississippi (6)
SCORE BY PERIODS
Columbus 2 0 0--2
Mississippi 2 3 1--6
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Columbus-Ndur 4 (Morlang; Plourde) 4:32. 2, Mississippi-Dumont 21 (Walby; Miller) 11:59. 3, Mississippi-Cava 1 (Evangelista; Blais) 15:56. 4, Columbus-Morlang 15 (Ndur; Tessier) 17:17. Penalties: Maxwell, MIS (Fighting, Major), 5:27. Fritz, CBS (Fighting, Major), 5:27. Smith, CBS (Hooking), 7:38.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 5, Mississippi-O'Rourke 2 (game winner) (Kuznetsov; Lisabeth) 0:57. 6, Mississippi-O'Rourke 3 (Battaglia; Lisabeth) 9:33. 7, Mississippi-Cava 2 (Lisabeth; Kuznetsov) 13:10. Penalties: Blais, MIS (High sticking), 5:37. Maxwell, MIS (Fighting, Major), 9:34. Voth, CBS (Fighting, Major), 9:34. Morlang, CBS (Charging), 14:36. BENCH, MIS served by Maxwell (Too many men), 17:25.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 8, Mississippi-Hutchins 21 (Dumont; Walby) 2:02. Penalties: Fritz, CBS (Slashing, Roughing, Double minor), 3:43. Maxwell, MIS (Interference), 12:17.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Columbus 11 14 18--43
Mississippi 10 8 6--24
Power Play Conversions: Columbus - 0-of-3, Mississippi - 0-of-3.
Goalies: Columbus-Tapp (24 shots, 18 saves; record: 5-2-0). Mississippi-Gardner (25 shots, 23 saves; record: 15-8-3); Matile (18 shots, 18 saves).
A: 2538. Referee: Smith. Linesmen: Ross; Stanton.
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