BILOXI, Miss. � On the final day of the 2003-04 ECHL regular season, the Mississippi Sea Wolves used three power play goals in the second period to hold off the Louisiana IceGators 4-3 in front of 5,120 fans at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Mississippi earns two points and finishes in second place in the Central Division with a team record 45 wins and 97 points, finishing one point behind Louisiana for first place.
With the Gwinnett Gladiators defeating the Florence Pride 4-1 earlier in the night, the Sea Wolves will open the 2004 Kelly Cup Playoffs at 7:05 p.m. on Wednesday against Gwinnett in the best-of-five series starting at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Broadcast of the game begins at 7:20 p.m. on ESPN Radio WXBD-AM 1490 with the Nextel Pregame Show and online at msseawolves.com.
�It was a great regular season,� Mississippi coach Bob Woods said. �The guys battled through adversity and now it�s a new season. We have to start fresh and do the things that got us this far. It�s going to be an outstanding playoff series against Gwinnett and the postseason fun begins Wednesday at home.�
Mississippi (45-20-7) clicked for its fastest goal of the season to start a game, just 56 seconds into action. Anthony Battaglia took a centering feed from Louis Dumont, and snapped a shot over the left shoulder of Derek Gustafson, who was named to the All-ECHL Second Team earlier in the week. Battaglia�s goal was his 23rd of the season, which was also assisted by Travis Lisabeth.
Louisiana (48-22-2) outshot the Sea Wolves 21-6 in the first period, but goaltender Sean Matile made several solid saves to keep Mississippi on top. In the second, the Sea Wolves power play went into overdrive. Lisabeth swept home his 19th goal of the year at 3:07 on a 5-on-3 man advantage, with helpers going to Brent Gauvreau and Kerry Ellis-Toddington.
Just 31 seconds later, Mississippi�s Andrew Proskurnicki scored on the power-play, beating Gustafson for his seventh marker of the campaign and second tally in as many games. Jim Baxter and Dumont garnered assists.
The Sea Wolves recorded their third power-play goal of the second at 11:01. Ellis-Toddington hammered his ninth goal of season on a slapshot from the slot, assisted by Gauvreau and Proskurnicki.
Louisiana pulled Gustafson after surrendering four goals on 14 shots in favor of Frederic Cloutier.
IceGators� Dennis Shiryaev responded by talling his 11th of the year on the 30th shot against Matile, putting the puck off the back of the goaltender. Jamie Johnson and Maxime Fortunus picked up assists.
In the third, Louisiana inched closer at 2:07. Semir Ben-Amor notched his 16th of the year assisted by Kenny Corupe and Bruce Richardson.
Then with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, Paul Ballantyne converted on a centering pass from Corupe to cut the margin to one. Rod Sarich registered an assist.
Louisiana pulled its goaltender, but couldn�t get the equalizer as Matile, who was playing in his 50th career Mississippi game, made a season-high 46 saves to preserve the victory.
Mississippi converted on 3-of-4 power play chances, while Louisiana, ranked first in the ECHL with the man advantage, went 0-for-7. IceGators outshot the Sea Wolves 49-23.
Additional Notes: Madison Williams, grand daughter of the Sea Wolves assistant equipment manager Bob Williams, put on a figure skating performance prior to the game � Mississippi captain Steffon Walby did not suit up � Following the game Sea Wolves defenseman Patrick Rochon was awarded a plaque for appearing in his 500th career Mississippi game, becoming the first player in team history to reach the milestone � The Sea Wolves wore special Southern Miss jerseys and auctioned them off postgame to benefit the Southern Miss Alumni Scholarship Fund.
The Sea Wolves and Gladiators best-of-five Central Division Semifinals series schedule is as follows:
Game 1 - Wednesday, April 7 at Mississippi - 7:05 p.m. CT
Game 2 - Friday, April 9 at Mississippi - 7:35 p.m. CT
Game 3 - Saturday, April 10 at Gwinnett - 7:35 p.m. ET
* Game 4 - Monday, April 12 at Gwinnett - 7:35 p.m. ET
* Game 5 - Wednesday, April 14 at Mississippi - 7:05 p.m. CT
* - If Necessary
Tickets for the Kelly Cup Playoffs can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling (228) 594-3707 and online at ticketmaster.com. A ticket package for the Kelly Cup Playoffs is on sale for just $135, which includes a $25 down payment for 2004-05 season tickets by calling (228) 275-WOLF.
--- Box Score ---
DATE - 04/03/04 Louisiana (3) at Mississippi (4)
SCORE BY PERIODS
Louisiana 0 1 2--3
Mississippi 1 3 0--4
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Battaglia 23 (Dumont; Lisabeth) 0:56. Penalties: Storey, LA (Interference), 6:55. Tremblay, MIS (High sticking), 11:28. Matile, MIS served by Lisabeth (Roughing), 18:49.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Mississippi-Lisabeth 19 (power play) (Ellis-Toddington; Gauvreau) 3:07. 3, Mississippi-Proskurnicki 4 (power play) (Dumont; Baxter) 3:38. 4, Mississippi-Ellis-Toddington 9 (game winner) (power play) (Gauvreau; Proskurnicki) 11:01. 5, Louisiana-Shiryaev 11 (Johnson; Fortunus) 14:53. Penalties: BENCH, MIS served by Lisabeth (Too many men), 0:57. Sarich, LA (High sticking), 1:51. Storey, LA (Unsportsmanlike Cond), 1:51. Miller, MIS (Interference), 4:05. Cava, MIS (Cross checking), 5:56. Tremblay, MIS (Cross checking), 9:01. Storey, LA (Roughing), 10:40. Rochon, MIS (Holding stick), 16:26. Evangelista, MIS (Kneeing), 17:03.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 6, Louisiana-Ben-Amor 16 (Richardson; Corupe) 2:07. 7, Louisiana-Ballantyne 1 (Corupe; Sarich) 17:14. Penalties: Cava, MIS (Tripping), 5:24.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Louisiana 21 15 13--49
Mississippi 6 12 5--23
Power Play Conversions: Louisiana - 0-of-7, Mississippi - 3-of-4.
Goalies: Louisiana-Gustafson (14 shots, 10 saves; record: 28-14-0); Cloutier (9 shots, 9 saves). Mississippi-Matile (49 shots, 46 saves; record: 15-5-4).
A: 5120. Referee: Thul. Linesmen: Ross; Wright.
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