BILOXI, Miss. � Mississippi�s Steffon Walby and Louis Dumont each tallied a goal and an assist to propel the Sea Wolves to a 3-1 victory over the Florida Everblades before 4.569 fans at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Mississippi moves within four points of Louisiana for the top spot in the Central Division. The IceGators dropped a 5-3 decision at Columbia.
�It was a big win for us tonight especially to gain ground on Louisiana,� said Sea Wolves coach Bob Woods. �I thought (Sea Wolves goaltender) Gardner was terrific and we got some timely goals. We�ll have to have a carbon copy tomorrow if we want another home win against Florida.�
Mississippi (35-18-6) opened the score at the 15:54. Three seconds after Everblades� Chris Thompson stepped back on the ice for a roughing penalty, Sea Wolves� Dumont netted his team-leading 29th tally of the season. Walby and Steve O�Rourke picked up assists.
The Sea Wolves went up 2-0 just 24 seconds later. Anthony Battaglia deposited a rebound past Rob Zepp to notch his 17th goal of the season and first against his former team. Assists went to Sergei Kuznetsov and Andrei Lupandin.
In the second, Florida (30-22-10) solved Mississippi�s Gardner on the 15th shot of the game. John McNabb netted his 26th of the year and sixth in seven games since joining Florida. The goal at 1:07 of the middle stanza was assisted by Matt Pagnutti and Mark White.
Walby gave Mississippi insurance in the third period unleashing a wrist shot from the left circle over the glove hand of Zepp at 7:06. Dumont and Lisabeth garnered helpers.
Gardner made eight saves in the third period and 29 on the game to backstop the Sea Wolves to his fourth straight win.
Mississippi failed to convert on three power play opportunities, while Florida went 0-for-1 with the man advantage. Sea Wolves outshot the Everblades 34-30.
Additional Notes: Bryan Graham, ECHL Vice President of Hockey Operations was in attendance � Florida�s James Patterson made his debut with the Everblades registering two shots, two penalty minutes and �1 after playing earlier this season with Huntsville of the South East Hockey League ... Following the game, the Sea Wolves auctioned off special jerseys to benefit Youth For Christ.
The Sea Wolves and Everblades complete their two-game series with a 7:35 p.m. opening faceoff tomorrow at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Promotions consist of $2 drafts and $2 hot dogs from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Crescent Trucks �Jersey Bottle Buddies� giveaway to the first 1,500 fans, plus the Brain Injury Association of Mississippi will hand out 1,000 bicycle helmets. The game broadcast starts at 7:20 p.m. with the Nextel Pregame Show on WTNI-AM 1640 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, by calling (228) 594-3707 and online at ticketmaster.com.
--- Box Score ---
DATE - 03/05/04 Florida (1) at Mississippi (3)
SCORE BY PERIODS
Florida 0 1 0--1
Mississippi 2 0 1--3
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Dumont 29 (Walby; O'Rourke) 15:54. 2, Mississippi-Battaglia 17 (game winner) (Kuznetsov; Lupandin) 16:16. Penalties: Blais, MIS (Slashing), 7:26. Thompson, FLA (Roughing), 13:51.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 3, Florida-McNabb 6 (Pagnutti; White) 1:07. Penalties: Buckley, FLA (High sticking), 8:20. Patterson, FLA (Hooking), 11:15. Rochon, MIS (Roughing), 14:01. McNabb, FLA (Roughing), 14:01.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Mississippi-Walby 26 (Dumont; Lisabeth) 7:06. Penalties: Evangelista, MIS (Roughing), 17:06. Anderson, FLA (Roughing), 17:06.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Florida 14 8 8--30
Mississippi 9 14 11--34
Power Play Conversions: Florida - 0-of-1, Mississippi - 0-of-3.
Goalies: Florida-Zepp (34 shots, 31 saves; record: 14-12-7). Mississippi-Gardner (30 shots, 29 saves; record: 23-12-3).
A: 4569. Referee: Smith. Linesmen: Jones; Stanton.
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