News release
11 November 2006
The Jackals Crash The Bloomington Net Saturday Night (photo courtesy of Mike Gurnsey)
Bloomington, IL The Elmira Jackals scored first Saturday night, but lost their first road game of the season to the Bloomington PrairieThunder 4-3 at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Elmira wasted little time getting on the scoreboard as rookie defenseman Dale Lupul fired a wrist shot that deflected off the catching glove of goaltender Steffan Braunlich and into the net at 5:01, unassisted for a 1-0 lead. Bloomington came right back, tying the game on the power play, with a goal from Alex Goupil at 8:32 from Tyler Rennette and Jon Jankus. For the first time during the weekend series Bloomington took the lead over Elmira when Brad Thompson scored at 13:31, assisted by Jankus for a 2-1 edge. The home side extended their lead at 18:46, their second power play goal from Goupil, assisted by Jon Booras and Jeff Mushaluk for a 3-1 advantage. Throughout the first period Elmira created exceptional scoring chances, only to be denied by the phenomenal play of Braunlich in goal. Elmira out-shot the PrairieThunder 16-13 in the opening period.
In the second period the Jackals came out focused and quickly stopped the bleeding. Scott Wray blasted a shot past Braunlich at 4:17 of the 2nd period, assisted by Erik Anderson and Yevgeny Lazarev, cutting Bloomingtons lead to 3-2. Less than two minutes later J.F. Soucy completed a fancy give-and-go with Tommy Kotsopoulos, tying the game at three.
In the final period, Jeff Mushaluk put Bloomington back in front 4-3 with a goal at 2:37 and that would be all the home team needed. The Jackals bombarded the net, but were denied by some excellent goaltending by Braunlich.
Steffan Braunlich earned the win, making 35 saves on 38 shots in goal for Bloomington. Kris Tebbs took the loss, while stopping 35-of-39 shots in the game for Elmira. Bloomington finished 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Jackals were 0-for-3.
The Jackals will finish off the weekend in Flint as they face off with the Generals at 4:00 pm Sunday afternoon at Peranis Arena in Michigan.