News release
24 March 2012
Toledo, Ohio - The Elmira Jackals (42-22-2-2) secured their 42nd win of the 2011-2012 campaign, breaking the franchise record for victories in an ECHL season, and clinched the Atlantic Division title on Saturday night. The Jackals defeated the Toledo Walleye (28-34-2-4), 7-1, at the Huntington Center and then used a loss by the Wheeling Nailers to the Cincinnati Cyclones later in the evening to wrap up their second division championship since joining the ECHL in 2007-2008.
A mad flurry in the first period involving four goals within 1:37 of each other saw the Jackals prevail with a 3-1 lead after the opening frame.
Corey Cowick took a feed from Jordan Pietrus, skated around a Walleye defenseman in the right circle, and accelerated to the net where he shot a puck past Alec Richards' stick to put Elmira up 1-0 at 12:27.
Just 16 seconds later, Corey Tamblyn skated into the zone, followed up a rebound from a blocked shot, and snapped a puck past Richards from the slot to increase Elmira's lead to 2-0.
Derek Brouchu finished off a give-and-go play with David Gilbert at 13:14, beating Timo Pielmeier glove side to put Toledo on the board, 2-1.
Rob Bellamy increased the Jackals' advantage back to two goals, as he snuck a puck between Richards pads on a backhand, forehand deke to make it 3-1 at 14:04.
Mike Radja started another three-goal period for the Jackals, taking a long feed from Dustin Gazley and driving the puck past Richards from the left circle to increase the lead to 4-1 at 6:48 of the second.
Benjamin Dieude-Fauvel lifted a puck past Richards' glove from the right circle at 17:03, padding the advantage to 5-1.
Matt Campanale's shot off a face-off 45 seconds after Dieude-Fauvel's goal banked off of Kyle Reeds and into the net, as the Jackals took a 6-1 lead into the final frame.
Cowick tipped in a Campanale shot from the slot with the Jackals on a power play in the third period, closing out the scoring, 7-1.
Pielmeier (16-10-1-2) made 34 saves for his third-straight victory. Richards (8-10-0-1) stopped 23 shots and was pulled after two periods. Dustin Carlson made four saves on five shots in the third.
The Jackals and the Nailers meet on Sunday at WesBanco Arena at 4:05 p.m. Elmira returns to First Arena for its final regular season home game on Friday, Mar. 30 at 7:35 p.m. against the Reading Royals. com.
Elmira's first division title since joining the ECHL came in 2009-2010, when the Jackals won the American Conference's East Division. The Jackals' previous record for victories in an ECHL season was 41, set in 2007-2008. Elmira is three points behind Gwinnett for the Eastern Conference lead with four games remaining and a contest in hand on the Gladiators. Gazley has assists in nine-straight games (3g-12a) and 17-straight road games (7g-21a).Cowick's power-play goal was Elmira's first on the man advantage since Mar. 10. Reeds had an assist and his first professional fight in the game, as the rookie achieved the Gordie Howe hat trick. The Jackals have won four-straight games and five-consecutive on the road. The six-goal win was Elmira's largest margin of victory of the season. Elmira went 3-0 against Toledo this season. The game was the Jackals' last against a non-divisional opponent in the regular season