News release
13 January 2007
Dan Veenema Crashes In A Flint Defenseman Saturday night (photo courtesy of Mike Gurnsey)
Elmira, NY The Elmira Jackals leapfrogged from 5th to 3rd place in the UHLs Eastern Conference standings with a 6-4 win over the Flint Generals Saturday night at First Arena.
The fireworks began early as Elmiras Curtis Tidball and Flints Chad Wilcox started the game in the penalty box after both were given 5-minute fighting majors for their actions during the pre-game warm-up. Immediately after serving their first penalty, Tidball and Wilcox threw down for round two at the 5:00 mark of the first period. Elmira used the momentum to throw a lot of shots on the Flint goal early on, but the Generals scored first, against the run of play, when Terry Marchant tallied his 10th goal of the season at 7:22. Frank Littlejohn tied the score at one when he redirected a Scott Drevitch shot from the point past goaltender Bryan Worosz for a power play goal at 9:35, assisted by Drevitch and Scott Wray. Captain Brent Cullaton gave Elmira their first lead of the game at 11:49, assisted by Drevitch and Tommy Kotsopoulos. After the goal, Tidball and Wilcox decided to go for a third round, with Tidball scoring a decisive victory, but both players earned automatic Game Misconducts for recording their third fighting major in one game. The Generals rallied to tied the game 2-2 when David Frawley knocked in a rebound at 13:19.
Jeff Zehr took the lead again for Flint as he scored his 13th goal of the season at 7:36 of the second period, but it would be the last time the Generals were ahead in the game. Defenseman Chris Mann kick-started a 3-goal flurry by the Jackals as he cranked in a one-timer from the top of the left face-off circle at 12:59, assisted by Littlejohn and David Morelli. Scott Wray scored his team-leading 17th goal of the season at 14:06, assisted by Erik Anderson and Yevgeny Lazarev, putting the Jackals in front for good. Anderson scored what would be the eventual game-winner at 18:12, when he roofed a power play goal over the glove hand of Worosz, assisted by Littlejohn and Drevitch for a 5-3 Jackals lead after two periods.
Flint made it interesting as they scored the first goal of each period, when Bobby Reynolds made it 5-4 at 4:04. But rookie forward David Morelli put the game on ice as he notched his 12th of the year at 8:50 from Littlejohn to regain the Jackals two-goal lead and a 6-4 victory.
Dave Lemanowicz earned his 5th win of the season by blocking 18-of-22 shots as the Jackals improved to 18-19-0 on the season. Bryan Worosz made 29 saves on 35 shots in the loss for Flint, who falls to 16-23-3. Elmira was 2-for-3 on the power play, while the Generals were 0-for-3.
Flint and Elmira will complete their 3-game weekend series on Sunday afternoon with a 4:05 pm at First Arena.