BEAUMONT, Texas � Mississippi goaltender Phil Sauve made 42 saves in his Sea Wolves debut and Travis Lisabeth netted two goals in a 3-2 victory over the Texas Wildcatters at Ford Arena.
�Sauve played great,� Mississippi coach Bob Woods said. �He is a very composed goaltender that doesn�t panic. Our players fed off his confidence and we got key contributions offensively from Lisabeth and Anthony Battaglia.�
Mississippi (22-16-3, 47 points) got rolling in the final minute of the first period. Nicolas Corbeil snapped a shot on Phil Osaer, who made the stop, but Anthony Battaglia swept home the rebound with 27 seconds left in the stanza. Kerry Ellis-Toddington also had an assist.
Sauve, who played 17 games with the National Hockey League Colorado Avalanche in 2003-04 and last appeared in a professional game with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League on April 11, 2004, turned away all 14 shots in the first period.
Texas (9-26-8, 26 points) solved Sauve at 5:35 of the second. Ryan Fultz on a quick wraparound tallied on the Wildcatters 17th shot of the game for his 12th goal of the campaign. Kevin Cooper and Terry Marchant picked up helpers.
Lisabeth gave Mississippi a 2-1 lead unleashing a heavy slapshot from the left circle and tucking it into the top of the net for his 11th of the season. Assists went to Mike Martone and Battaglia.
The Wildcatters came back on even terms on the penalty kill. Moving in on a 3-on-1 break, Jeff Brown slid the puck to Cooper, who finished it off by registering a shorthand goal for his 12th marker of the season.
But on the same Mississippi power play, Lisabeth hammered a left point slapshot through traffic for his second of the night and eventual game-winner. Rookie defenseman Mike Jarmuth collected an assist to extend his point streak to a career-high eight games. Jay Legault also garnered a helper.
Mississippi converted on 1-of-5 power play chances, while Texas went 0-for-6. Wildcatters outshot the Sea Wolves 44-43.
Additional notes: Mississippi captain Louis Dumont moved into second place on the ECHL�s all-time games played list with 675, surpassing Rod Taylor, who is retired. Gwinnett�s Cam Brown is first overall with 686 � Brian McKenna, ECHL Commissioner, was in attendance taking in a Sea Wolves game for the second straight night and ECHL Vice President and Director of Officiating Bryan Graham was also on hand from the league office.
Mississippi gets back into action at 6:30 p.m. CT on Tuesday for a contest against the Florida Everblades at Germain Arena in Estero, Florida. Watch the game live on a pay-per-view basis online, courtesy of B2 Networks, at msseawolves.com. Listen to the action live on WGCM-AM 1240 or online at msseawolves.com, courtesy of Teamline. The pregame show begins at 6:15 p.m.
The Sea Wolves return home for a 7:35 p.m. game on Friday against the South Carolina Stingrays at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Promotion for the game consists of Military 2-for-1, sponsored by Keesler Federal Credit Union, which offers all military personnel, active or retired, two tickets for the price of one by showing military identification at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office.
Individual tickets for home games can be purchased at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum box office, all Ticketmaster locations, by calling (228) 385-2600 and online at ticketmaster.com.
Flex packs, discounted groups tickets, birthday packages and fundraiser opportunities are available by calling (228) 275-WOLF or online at msseawolves.com.
--- Box Score ---
SCORE BY PERIODS
Mississippi 1 1 1--3
Texas 0 1 1--2
FIRST PERIOD -- Scoring: 1, Mississippi-Battaglia 13 (Ellis-Toddington;
Corbeil) 19:33. Penalties: MacInnis, TEX (Tripping), 4:30.
Evangelista, MIS (Kneeing), 7:34. O'Leary, MIS (Tripping), 10:23.
Osaer, TEX served by Cooper (Tripping), 15:38. O'Leary, MIS (Roughing),
16:00.
SECOND PERIOD -- Scoring: 2, Texas-Fultz 12 (Cooper; Marchant) 5:35. 3,
Mississippi-Lisabeth 11 (Martone; Battaglia) 16:38. Penalties:
Campbell, MIS (Roughing), 7:20. Ianiero, TEX (Roughing), 7:20.
Drake, MIS (Slashing), 7:20. Martone, MIS (High sticking), 7:59.
Kostadine, TEX (Roughing), 12:25. Ianiero, TEX (Tripping), 14:26.
Lisabeth, MIS (Slashing), 14:26. MacInnis, TEX (Tripping), 17:26.
Corbeil, MIS (Fighting, Major), 17:34. Swanson, TEX (Fighting, Major),
17:34.
THIRD PERIOD -- Scoring: 4, Texas-Cooper 5 (short handed) (Brown)
8:12. 5, Mississippi-Lisabeth 12 (game winner) (power play) (Jarmuth;
Legault) 9:12. Penalties: Stork, TEX (Tripping), 7:26. Legault, MIS
(Hooking), 12:15. Corbeil, MIS (Ten minute misc.), 17:37.
SHOTS ON GOAL
Mississippi 19 13 11--43
Texas 14 18 12--44
Power Play Conversions: Mississippi - 1 of 5, Texas - 0 of 6.
Goalies: Mississippi-Sauve (44 shots, 42 saves; record: 1-0-0). Texas-
Osaer (43 shots, 40 saves; record: 6-18-3).
A: 1604. Referee: Bialota. Linesmen: Jones; Stanton.
