BILOXI, Miss. � The Mississippi Sea Wolves knocked the Pensacola Ice Pilots out of the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs in three straight games with a 5-1 victory in Game 3.
Mississippi advances to the best-of-five Southwest Division Finals against the Louisiana IceGators beginning Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Louisiana defeated Arkansas in three consecutive games.
The Sea Wolves opened the score at 7:33. Seconds after a Pensacola penalty, Mississippi continued to press and Dave Paradise unleashed a slap shot from the left point past Maxime Gingras. The goal for Paradise was his second of the postseason.
Mississippi fed off the first goal and kept bringing offense. Mike Scott buried his second of the playoffs with a shot from the slot at 9:19.
Sea Wolves took advantage of a power play at 16:07. Paradise sent Cody Bowtell in on a breakaway. Bowtell deked Gingras to make it 3-0 for Mississippi.
Mississippi capitalized on another man advantage less than one minute later. Sergei Kuznetsov rifled a right circle shot under the cross bar to give the Sea Wolves a 4-0 lead after 20 minutes.
In the second, Sea Wolves goaltender Greg Gardner made some tremendous saves including stops off of Greg Pankewicz at the side. Gardner also denied Matt Poapst from pointblank range in the slot, turning away 34 shots over two periods.
Mississippi added to its lead in the middle stanza with another power play goal. Kuznetsov banged in a rebound in front, for his second of the game, making it 5-0 for the Sea Wolves.
In the third, Pensacola�s Kerry Ellis-Toddington spoiled Gardner�s shutout bid on the Ice Pilots 41st shot. It was Ellis-Toddington�s second goal of the playoffs.
The Sea Wolves outscored the Ice Pilots, 15-3 in the series. Pensacola has been eliminated by Mississippi in its last three postseason appearances.
Gardner allowed one goal on 47 shots, improving to 3-0 in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. Gingras turned away 26-of-31 shots, finishing at 1-3 during the postseason.
Mississippi went 3-for-8 on the power play. Pensacola failed to convert on nine opportunities with the man advantage.
Individual playoff tickets are available at all Ticketmaster locations, the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office and by calling 228-594-3707.
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