News release
8 April 2005
Corey Foster controls the puck behind his net.
Elmira, NY The Elmira Jackals utterly dominated the 1st place Adirondack Frostbite for a 3-1 victory Friday night at the First Arena.
Elmira jumped out to their usual strong start in the first period on home ice. Jason Sessa caught goalie Derek Gustafson cheating off his near post and the winger snapped a wrist shot into the net at 7:46 assisted by Alex Mathieu and Bryan Cummings. The Jackals 1-0 lead came from one of Sessas quickest releases of the season. Corey Foster was whistled for cross-checking at 9:38, the only penalty of the first period, but Elmira would get the last laugh. Mathieu scored a shorthanded goal at 10:46 from Jeff Antonovich to make it 2-0 Jackals, a lead they would carry into the intermission.
Adirondack received another early power play just 46 seconds into the second period and the 2nd best power play unit in the UHL would not waste this opportunity. Justin Kelly put the Frostbite on the board at 1:55 with a tap-in at the near post from a cross-ice pass from Greg Koehler; Hugo Belanger also assisted on the goal. But this night belonged to Elmira who once again had an answer to the Frostbite offense. Eddy Lowe scored his 19th goal of the season at 4:17 on the power play from Sessa and Trevor Burgess to regain the Jackals two-goal lead, 3-1.
Elmira defended bravely in the third period as Adirondack out-shot the Jackals 12-5 in the final twenty minutes. But the Frostbite would not beat red hot rookie Kevin Kurk a second time. Kurk made some stellar save in the third, included a couple of game savers in the last two minutes when Adirondack pulled Gustafson for the extra attacker.
Kevin Kurk was the undisputed 1st star of the game as he made 34 saves on 35 Adirondack shots for his 8th win of the season. Frostbite goalie Derek Gustafson stopped 21-of-24 in the loss.
Elmira will hit the road Saturday April 9th for a 7:05 pm contest with the Frostbite at the Glens Falls Civic Center, Adirondacks final game of the regular season. The Jackals will close out the 2004-2005 regular season on Sunday April 10th as they host the Motor City Mechanics for a 5:00 pm face off at the First Arena.