News release
31 December 2004
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.
The Jackals return home to square off with the Frostbite on New Years Day, January 1st, at 7:30 pm on the First Arena ice. Elmira hosts Richmond Sunday, January 2nd at 5:00 pm.