News release
3 November 2004
Richmond, VA The Elmira Jackals recorded their first road win of the season Wednesday morning as they defeated the Richmond Riverdogs 4-2 at the Richmond Coliseum.
In front of 3,159 fans, mostly Richmond-area middle school students, the Jackals seemed the better team at 10:30 am. Elmira was very opportunistic with their chances in the opening period, scoring twice on the power play to open a 2-0 lead after twenty minutes. UHL leading power play goal scorer and Sher-Wood Player of the Month for October Jason Sessa scored his 6th power play goal at 9:00, as he smartly maneuvered past the fallen Jeff Sanger and slotted the puck into the net; assists came from Trevor Burgess and George Pujacs. Later in the period defenseman Vaclav Zavoral snapped a wrist shot over the catching glove of Sanger from Jeff Antonovich and Burgess at 15:18 for a 2-0 lead.
The Riverdogs were given a late wake-up call in period number two when Ryan Prentice scored a shorthanded goal to spoil Greg Hewitts shutout bid and to bring Richmond back within one. The Jackals killed off 6 minutes of penalties in the first 8 minutes of the middle frame, including a minute and a half 5-on-3 to start the period, but conceded the goal to Prentice with a mere 33 seconds left on the clock.
Not to be outdone by Sessas first period scoring, Greg Koehler took it upon himself to take charge in the final period. Koehler corralled a rebound from a Burgess shot from the point and zipped the puck past Sanger for a 3-1 lead at 5:19, which would be the eventual game winner. The Riverdogs again made things interested when they made it 3-2 at 16:57 when Jonathan Gagnons wrap-around shot slipped through Hewitts pads. But Koehler would ice the game at 18:18 with his second goal of the game, a power play strike assisted by Burgess and Jamie Thompson. Although Koehler would deservingly be named the games #1 star, Burgess 4-assist game cannot go unnoticed.
Hewitt made 31 saves on 33 Richmond shots for his 6th victory of the year, while Sanger stopped just 18-of-22 in goal for the Riverdogs. Elmiras third game of this early season 4-game road trip takes place Friday night November 5th at 7 pm in Port Huron, as the Jackals meet the Beacons for the first time since beating them in the Eastern Conference Finals one year ago.