News release
3 January 2005
Jackals Ring In The New Year With 5 Point Week
2004-05 RECORD: 16-18-4, 36 points (12-10-1 home, 4-8-3 road), Tied-Third Place, Eastern Division
January 7 7:30 pm vs. Richmond Riverdogs (17-16-2, 36 pts) Tied-Third Place, Eastern Division
January 8 7:30 pm vs. Muskegon Fury (20-10-5, 45 pts) First Place, Central Division
January 9 5:05 pm @ Richmond Riverdogs (17-16-2, 36 pts) Tied-Third Place, Eastern Division
12/31/04 ADIRONDACK 3 Jackals 2 (2-1 IN SHOOTOUT)
Glens Falls, NY Playing in their last game of 2004, the Elmira Jackals battled back from a 2-0 second period hole to force a shootout point against the Adirondack Frostbite.
Adirondack struck first at 16:37 of the first period with a goal from defenseman Scott Drevitch, who was playing in his 1000th professional game.
The Frostbite made it 2-0 at 12:03 of the second period when Sylvain Cloutier lifted a shot up over Greg Hewitt on a rebound for a power play goal, assisted by Hugo Belanger and David Burgess.
The Frostbite looked to be on cruise control, but the third period was all Jackals. Elmira got on the board with a Darren Van Oene unassisted wrap-around goal at 4:36 to crack the armor of Derek Gustafson. Then Elmira leveled at 13:11 when Jamie Thompson scored on another wrap-around shot, assisted by Jeff Antonovich. Elmira out-shot Adirondack 15-6 in the final period.
In the shootout, only Antonovich for the Jackals and Cloutier for the Frostbite would find the net in the first six rounds. In the sudden-death seventh round, Justin Kelly beat Greg Hewitt to give Adirondack the win 3-2.
Goaltender Derek Gustafson stopped 24-of-26 for the win, while Greg Hewitt turned away 23-of-25 shots in the loss for Elmira.
Elmira, NY Playing in their first game of 2005, the Elmira Jackals put on a clinic against the Adirondack Frostbite, demolishing their East Division rivals 5-1 at the First Arena Saturday night.
Elmira dominated the opening period, out-shooting Adirondack 16-to-9, but the goals were hard to come by. Finally the next Mayor of Elmira Eddy Lowe would fittingly score the Jackals first goal of the New Year at 18:43, his 10th of the season, assisted by Jamie Thompson and Jason Sessa.
In the second period the Frostbite tied the game at 9:59 when David Burgess put home a power play goal, his 12th of the season. But Elmira answered just 14 seconds later. Jeff Antonovich put forth another vintage individual fore checking effort to beat Gustafson with a wrap-around goal, assisted by Corey Foster and George Pujacs for a 2-1 lead.
The Jackals went into the third period determined to close out the contest and they did so with a bang. First Sessa scored his UHL leading 12th power play goal of the season at 9:30 from Antonovich and Trevor Burgess to make it 3-1. Then Tom Clayton unleashed a blazing slap shot from the high slot at 14:12 for his third goal of the year, assists going to Simon Poirier and Dean Jackson. Sessa then capped the night with his second goal of the game, 23rd of the season, from Foster and Thompson at 16:45 for a 5-1 Elmira win.
Greg Hewitt earned his 13th win of the year while stopping 27-of-28 in goal for the Jackals; Derek Gustafson made 33 saves on 38 Elmira shots.
Elmira, NY The Elmira Jackals scored 4 straight goals in the second period, on their way to a 8-4 spanking of the Richmond Riverdogs Sunday afternoon at the First Arena.
January has started as a much more inviting month for the Jackals. Richmond opened the scoring on the power play, Francis Belanger getting the goal at 6:28. Still on a 5-minute penalty kill the Jackals tied the game at 10:04 with a Jeff Antonovich short-handed goal, assisted by Eddy Lowe and Carl Drakensjo. Richmond quickly regained the lead 10-seconds later, but Elmira would equalize at 15:29 with a power play goal of their own from Dean Jackson, Nathan Gillies and George Pujacs assisted on the strike.
In the second period, the Jackals offense took over as Elmira switched to hurricane mode. Jason Sessa scored two straight goals; first at 3:29 from Antonovich and Pujacs, then he scored his 25th goal of the season on the power play from Antonovich and Corey Foster at 5:30 for a 4-2 lead. Darren Van Oene kept the Dog Pound rocking with his 6th of the year at 6:28 from Drakensjo and Gillies. Jamie Thompson got on the board at 11:22 with a power play goal to make it 6-2 Jackals, Sessa assisted on the goal.
Richmond stopped the bleeding and struck back with two quick goals. First David Dartsch scored his first goal of the season at 13:54. Then defenseman Mike Dombkiewicz made it 6-4 with a goal assisted by Dartsch at 14:21. But Elmira was not done with their goal parade. Thompson made it 7-4 at 15:15 from Lowe and Sessa, and then completed his second period hat-trick with his 11th goal of the season, a short-handed goal at 19:34 that was assisted by goaltender Greg Hewitt.
The third period was relatively quiet, resulting in no goals but two good scraps as Simon Poirier dropped the gloves with David Dartsch at 3:17 and Derek Campbell mixed things up with Ryan Prentice at 17:13.
Rookie starter Kevin Kurk earned his third career win, stopping 10-of-14 in 34:21 before being pulled for Hewitt when the score was 6-4. Hewitt came on to shutdown the Riverdogs, going and perfect 10-for-10 and getting his second assist of the season in 25:39. Ryan McIntosh started the game for Richmond and got the loss, making 17 saves on 21 shots; Jeff Sanger relieved him for the final 34:30, stopping 9-of-13.
JACKALS PLAYER AND GOALTENDER OF THE MONTH: DECEMBER
Jeff Antonovich - C 14 GP, 3 goals, 9 assists, 12 pts, Even
Jeff Antonovich was a huge contributor for the Jackals in the month of December. Stepping up in the face of injuries to Jamie Thompson, Greg Koehler, Corey Foster and others, Antonovich put the team first by logging tons of ice time and finished even in a month where Elmira was out-scored 47-35. Perhaps even more impressive is the fact that he only had two games with a minus rating. He led the team in scoring with 12 points (3 goals, 9 assists) in 14 games played. The Coleraine, Minnesota native is 3rd on the Jackals in scoring with 32 points, and is one of only three players to play in all 38 games this season.
Greg Hewitt G 12 GP, 2-6-4, 2.92 GAA, 0.902 SV%, 321 saves
Greg Hewitt is once again the Jackals goaltender of the month. Hewitt leads the league with games played (34), minutes (1973), and saves (972). The London, Ontario native posted a 2.92 Goals Against Average for December, with a 0.902 save percentage, solid numbers made better in the scope of Elmiras dismal December record. Hewitt is poised in early January to be the first goalie in the UHL this season to pass the 2,000 minutes and 1,000 saves milestones.
JACKALS PLAYER AND GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK: (WEEK 12)
Jason Sessa - RW 3 GP, 4 goals, 3 assists, 7 pts, +3
RW Jason Sessa has picked up his game considerably in the past two weeks. Sessa had two goals and an assist Saturday night in a 5-1 win over Adirondack. Then he continued his rapid pace Sunday by scoring twice more and adding two assists against Richmond for a seven point weekend. The Long Island, NY native is currently leading the UHL in power play goals (13), is tied for first in goals (25) and is tied for seventh in points (42). Over the weekend Sessa passed teammate Greg Koehler for the Jackals team lead in goals scored and he trails Koehler by five points for the team lead in points.
Greg Hewitt G 3 GP, 1-0-1, 1.20 GAA, 0.952 SV%, 60 saves
Greg Hewitt finished the week with an unbeaten 1-0-1 record, a 1.20 goals against average and a 0.952 save percentage. Friday night Hewitt held the high-powered Adirondack offense to just two goals, earning a tough shootout point. Saturday, Hewitt got the better of the Frostbite, stopping 27-of-28 shots for a crucial 5-1 win, his 13th win of the year. Sunday, Hewitt came on in relief of starter Kevin Kurk and shutout the Richmond Riverdogs for the final 25:24 of the contest. For the season to date Hewitt leads the UHL in minutes played (1973) and saves (972).
ROLLING AGAIN Elmira finished the week by winning two straight, versus Adirondack Saturday and Richmond Sunday. They had not won two in a row since November 3rd-5th when they beat Richmond and Port Huron in back-to-back road games.
INJURED SUPERSTAR C Greg Koehler has lost his UHL points lead due to several injuries that have force him to miss the last two weeks of action. Koehler, who was passed by four players this week, sits 5th in the UHL with 47 points and is now 3rd in goals scored with 23.
THE LAMP LIGHTER RW Jason Sessa scored four goals this week, leap-frogging him two goals ahead of teammate Greg Koehler (23 goals) for the UHL lead, tied with Port Hurons David Beauregard. Sessa also leads the league with 13 power play goals in 34 games played.
THE RARE FLYING SOMBREROS LW Jamie Thompson finished the week with a hat-trick performance against Richmond Sunday. It was the first hat-trick by a Jackal since Jason Sessa scored three goals against Danbury on October 16th.
HOTEL DE PENALTIES The Elmira Jackals have a knack for drawing penalties on opponents. The Jackals lead the UHL in minutes by the opposition with 1242 minutes, which is 3 minutes more than the Danbury Trashers have earned as the top penalized team in the league.
Shooting Percentage: Jason Sessa (21.2%)
Jamie Thompson scored four goals and two assists, including a hat trick Sunday against Richmond to add to his point total in the Goals for Glove House Fundraiser. Through twenty-four games played Jamie has twenty-nine points coming on eleven goals and eighteen assists, putting him in 4th on the Jackals in scoring.