The IceGators took the ice tonight in new green jerseys ready to get the season started. The Gators looked in control of the game in the opening minutes, possessing the puck for the majority of the time. Things turned sloppy in the second half of the first period, resulting in a Mississippi goal at the 17:12 mark on a turnover in front of the net. Although down, the Gators seemed to be the more physical of the two teams - Dennis Sicard and Josh Vanderbreggen each picked up a fighting major in the first period.
The second period showed a little more inconsitant play by the Gators and 5 minutes into the period Mississppi took the 2-0 lead. 5 minutes later, Luc Boisssonneault took off out of the penalty box and received the puck and put it past goalie Mike Brown to cut the deficit to 2-1.
The majority of the third period showed a lot of promise for the IceGators season. They came out of the locker room looking like a brand new team. Just 45 seconds into the game the IceGators got a goal by Zech Klann. A few minutes later Sicard continued his physical play and got another apponent to fight. The great play continued and the Gators took the lead in shot totals. Eventually Beau McLaughlin found the back of the net on a wrister in the slot to take the lead 3-2. Things turned around drastically from that point on, with Mississippi scoring 3 goals in the last 5 minutes, one an empty netter.
Overall the IceGators were inconsitent - showing times of domination and other times of sloppy play. Even though they were outscored in the 3rd period 3-2 they seemed to play their best period. They had a couple of lose pucks in front of the net that they couldn’t finish and eventually were forced to pull their goalie and let up an empty net goal. If the Gators can play the majority of their games anywhere close to the way they played the first 15 minutes of the third period they can have a successful season.
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