News release
26 December 2008
Elmira, NY- With their first appearance in front of their home crowd in six games, the Elmira Jackals gave Jackal Country plenty to cheer about shutting out the Johnstown Chiefs 2-0. Joe Grimaldis first period goal proved to be the game winner as David Shantz turned aside all 21 Johnstown shots enroute to the Jackals third straight win.
The first period was a low shooting, back and fourth period. The score remained 0-0 until the 17:28 mark when Joe Grimaldi netted his second goal of the season. Chris Korchinski dug the puck out of the corner and then passed it to Josh Aspenlind. Aspenlind then found the open Grimaldi who took the puck hard to the net where he beat Chiefs goaltender Ian Keserich.
The 1-0 score would hold all the way until the last 38 seconds of the second period. In his first game back after spending time on the 30 day injured reserve, Moises Gutierrez took the puck in behind the Johnstown net and fed a pass to Josh Aspenlind. Again Aspenlind would find the open man, this time it was Wes Cunningham. Cunningham walked out from behind the net and fired home his sixth goal of the season for a 2-0 Jackal lead.
The Third period would again be a back and fourth battle. The hitting had picked up through the second and third period. Both goaltenders needed to be sharp as both teams countered with prime opportunities. Elmira goaltender David Shantz held strong for a full 60 minutes of action picking up a 21 save shutout victory, his third win in a row.
With the win the Jackals improve to 15-12-0-3 while the Chiefs fall to 19-9-1-0.