Laurent Meunier had the game-winning goal on the power play as the Everblades swept their weekend series against the Pensacola Ice Pilots with a 4-2 victory Sunday night at TECO Arena.
Trevor Allman got the scoring off for the Pilots by knocking in a rebound of a
Chris Minard shot. The Blades would answer back almost immediately though, when
Keith Anderson knocked in his own rebound.
Brian Goudie picked up the assist as he had the initial shot, Anderson tried to put the rebound past
Bryan Eklund, failed and but finally managed on the second attempt.
The two teams would skate pretty evenly until
Joe Blaznek converted a rebound from
Tom Buckley. Goudie again fired the initial shot that would take a couple of bounces before "X" would give up the goal.
(The
Scott Hewson penalty -- Don't ask. I just did not write down what it was for and I honestly don't remember!)
Gregor Baumgartner would tie the game up at the 6:31 mark of the second stanza. With Pilot
Marek Priechedsky off for a tripping call,
Laurent Muenier would fire a blast from the point during a round of "puck shuffle" during the Woody's Bar-B-Que power play. It would be Florida's only conversion of the night with the man advantage.
The highlight of the second was the Goudie/Hewson fight. It started out tentatively enough and both dance partners got off a few good rounds, but Goudie quickly took over the fight, winning with a take down.
“I’m not an enforcer, though,” Hewson said during a recent interview. “I can hold my own in a fight, but I’m no goon.”
It would prove to be a relatively quite third period.
Duane Harmer would pass the puck to Awada off a face-off in the Everblades end, and
George Awada quickly skated down ice for an empty net goal to top off the evening.
The Galaxy Lanes penalty kill kept the Pilot off the boards during their three attempts.
Max Middendorf called few penalties and pretty much let the boys play.
Joe Blaznek, he with the loud Mustang, picked up the Kepp's Mens Store third star of the game for his goal and an assist performance. Goudie with two assists and a big fight got the second star of the game.
Laurent Muenier with the game-winning goal took home the First-Star of the Game.
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Boxscore
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Score by Period:
Pensacola 1 1 0 -- 2
Florida 2 1 1 -- 4
First Period - Scoring: 1, Pensacola-Allman 6 (Minard, Van Hoof) 7:17,
2, Florida-Anderson 4 (Goudie, Blaznek) 7:55,
3, Florida-Blaznek 10 (Goudie, Buckley) 19:52.
Penalties: Dexter, PEN (High Sticking) 9:06;
Harmer, FLA (Hooking) 11:20;
Hewson, PEN ( ) 15:18
Second Period - Scoring: 4, Pensacola-Baumgartner 11 (Pankewicz) 6:31,
5, Florida-Meunier 7 (Power play) (Buckley, Harmer) 9:18.
Penalties: Bench, FLA (too many men) Served by Battaglia, 5:20;
Theuer, PEN (Hooking) 5:40;
Priechodsky, PEN (Tripping) 8:31;
Goudie, FLA (Fighting Major) 13:15;
Hewson, PEN (Fighting Major) 13:15.
Third Period - Scoring: 6, Florida-Awada 8 (Empty Net) (Harmer) 19:51
Penalties: Brown (Holding) 7:12.
Shots on Goal:
Pensacola 11 9 6 -- 26
Florida 9 10 8 -- 27
Power-Play Conversions: Pensacola - 0 OF 3,
Florida - 1 OF 4.
Goalies: Pensacola-Eklund (26 shots, 23 saves; record: 3-3-0 ).
Florida-Zepp (26 shots, 24 saves; record: 11-3-4).
A: 5,981.
Referee: Middendorf.
Linesmen: Jones; Devivo.
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Game Notes
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Gaetan Royer has been out of the Pensacola lineup for the weekend series. (So much for getting my card signed.)
Lee Ruff, Tom Nelson and Alex Zinevych remained out of the lineup for Florida. Marty Johnston joined them with the flu. (He did NOT get it from me. I got it via e-mail from Kerri who got it over the phone from Rob, and as I've had no electronical contact with Marty, he could not possibly have gotten it from me.)
Anthony Battaglia, who says his favorite athlete is Andre Aggasi, his favorite car is a Porsche and that he'd like to trade places with Craig Kilborn for a day, was the featured player of the night.
(Shieldsy says Battaglia's too small to play defense and I still say his skating is right to convert him to an offense defenseman.)
The Junior Everblades raffled off Shaun Fisher's jersey. (Sob!!! My poor Fish!) Ryan Stewart finally found his way to Florida and joined the Everblades on the ice.
A correction to Saturday night's game report: the Florida Everblades fan club was holding a two-day raffle for a set of four mugs with the Everblades logo on the front and players names on the back. According to Doug, these are the best things for keeping you drink hot or cold and they are backed up by a lifetime warranty, so if they should ever break, you can get them replaced.
I wrote this all down on the back of a green Taco Bell coupon - including the names of the players in question, who I think were Nelson, Harmer and I forget who else -- and now I can't find it.
I missed the first five minutes of the second period as I discovered Mike Shields goaltending in Blue Rink during the first intermission. Seems he was the back up goaltender for the Novice League and as one of their goalies did not show, he got to play. He recorded a 2-0 shut out, but given what I saw of the game, he couldn't have been too seriously tested.
I rather suspect he has his named down as back-up for every possible league he can qualify for. They probably won't let him play Squirts or Pee Wees anymore or he'd have his name down for those leagues too. It does seem like a great ploy to get extra ice time though.
He sweated on my hand during second intermission and I said "OH! I'm never going to wash this hand again." That resolution did not quite last a full minute.
In any case -- I don't THINK I missed anything of any consequence while I was gone, but the boxscore may be incomplete due to my absence.
I did actually get introduced to Jason Provino (our "other" EBUG) at the pro shop. Told him what Mark Miller said about him on the radio including the bit about him looking like he'd done something in his pants when Cam got knocked about. He looked frightened and said "When Cam got hurt?" I believe he yelled out the door after me as I was leaving that he did in fact pee in his pants when Cam went down and didn't get back up.
Pensacola netminder Bryan (Brian) Eklund is also known as "X" and has Wolverine of the X-Men painted on his mask.
The Everblades scored four goals, so we got more green Taco Bell coupons on our way out. This is likely why I can't find my notes. I traded them in for a free Taco...
There are also a couple of (nice) All-star game T-shirts available, but you'll have to venture down to the pro-shop to find them.
To the ECHL list: Sean, our sound tech, is taking all the "songs that shouldn't be played at hockey games" advise to heart. We've got two straight games without "Cotton-Eye Joe".
He will not, however, replace Rock 'n Roll Part II, as he says that's tradition.
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Media Links
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Blades polish off Pilots, 4-2
http://www.naplesnews.com/02/12/sports/d853376a.htm
Everblades sweep Pensacola
http://vh40039.vh4.infi.net/news/sports/021223blades.html
Everblades sweep 3 from Pilots
http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/news/122302/Sports/ST004.shtml
