News release
19 January 2007
Dave Lemanowicz earned his first shutout of the season Friday against Quad City
Elmira, NY Starting goaltenders Dave Lemanowicz and Jason Tapp put on a spectacular display as the Quad City Mallards narrowly beat the Elmira Jackals 1-0 in a shootout Friday night at First Arena.
Quad City opened the game with an intense flurry of offense in the first nine minutes of play. But Jackals starting goaltender Dave Lemanowicz made some scintillating saves that kept the Mallards at bay. Quad City out-shot the Jackals 12-0 to open the game, but Elmira would turn the tides. The Jackals dominated the 2nd half of the opening period, out-shooting the Mallards 19-2 in the final 11 minutes of the first, but this time Jason Tapp equaled Lemanowicz excellent form.
Elmira opened up the offense in the second period, as they created quality scoring chances even strength, on the power play and short-handed, only to be denied by Tapp. Elmira had two short-handed breakaways turned aside by the Quad City goalie; along with a 2-0 break that Tapp kept out of the net will a sprawling kick save. On the other end of the ice Lemanowicz put on a clinic for the Mallards forwards, stopping everything sent his direction.
For the most part, the third period was slightly less energetic that its preceding periods. Quad City edged Elmira in shots 12-8 in the final frame, as it appeared the Jackals lost a little steam coming out of the 2nd intermission. Despite the late push for a game-winning goal, both net minders kept their clean sheets and earned shutouts to force a shootout.
In the shootout Elmira took the lead; after a scoreless first round Scott Wray beat Tapp for a 1-0 lead after two rounds. But the Mallards came back as Patrick Nadeau, Don Parsons and Chad Woollard scored in consecutive attempts, while Tapp rejected efforts by Yevgeny Lazarev and Frank Littlejohn, giving Quad City the extra point.
Jason Tapp recorded his first shutout of the season as he stopped all 43 Elmira shots in regulation and went 3-for-4 in the shootout, helping Quad City to a 17-16-4 record. Jackals goaltender Dave Lemanowicz was also credited with his first shutout of the season, blocking all 38 Quad City shots, but went just 2-for-5 in the shootout as the Jackals lost their first shootout of the season and fell to 18-20-1. Quad City was 0-for-8 on the power play, while the Jackals were 0-for-7 with the man-advantage.
The Jackals host the Mallards Saturday night for Game 2 of the three games series at First Arena. Face off is scheduled for 7:35 pm. Sunday the two teams will complete their weekend with a 4:05 pm afternoon game.