Mouth of the South: Week 1; Games 1, 2

Grade: C-

Player of the Week: Beau Mclaughlin (2g, 1a)

The Louisiana IceGators started the first weekend of the 2010-2011 just as they did last season - out-shot, out-disciplined, and winless. The IceGators started the season on the road against both I-10 rivals, first at Mississippi then at Pensacola. With an apparent loaded roster, primarily offensively, Gator fans expected to see great passing, many shots, and plenty goals. Instead, fans saw sloppy play, penalties, and many saves from their rookie goalie. 

Friday night was the first game of the season against familiar foe, the Mississippi Surge. For the majority of the game the IceGators were out-played and out-disciplined. Mississippi received a gift from the Gators -nine powerplays compared to only two for Louisiana. The large amount of powerplays for the Surge led to 46 shots on goal. Even though the Gators only managed 27 shots on goal, they only lost 3-2, thanks largely to the play of Dennis Sicard and goalie Scott Darling. Sicard scored both of the goals for the Gators, both thanks to his great positioning in front of the net.

Saturday night, the IceGators made the two hour trip from Biloxi to Pensacola to try to break even for opening weekend. They came out of the locker room on fire, scoring 3 quick goals to take an early first period lead 3-0. Mclaughlin was credited with 2 goals and Fimiani with the other. From that point on they went back to their old ways, committing penalties and turning the puck over. Pensacola fought their way back and eventually tied the game at 3 and the IceGators put themselves in the bad position of killing a penalty in the last minute of regulation and started the overtime period 4 on 3. After killing the penalty, now 3 on 3 in overtime, the IceGators failed to cash in on a few chances in their offensive zone, eventually letting up an Ice Flyer goal to end the game.

The IceGators deserve the grade of a C- for opening weekend, mainly because it is the very beginning of the season and the problems are fixable. The rules of hockey are pretty simple- no tripping, no holding, no high sticking, no roughing after the play, and a team can only have 5 skaters and a goalie on the ice at one time. However for some reason, all of last season and now the start of this season, the IceGators have refused to follow them. Of course penalties are going to happen from time to time, but as soon as the IceGators can learn to not commit them on a regular basis, the sooner they will be successful. The talent is there, and at times this weekend it showed, but no matter how talented, that big of a difference in penalties will only hurt. With a little discipline and a little more on ice time for players to jell together, I think the IceGators will start to win games.

Three players stood out this weekend far above the rest of the team - Scott Darling, Dennis Sicard, and Beau Mclaughlin. Darling saw an astonishing 100+ shots on the weekend and saved all but 7. Sicard was a very close second for Frozen Chomp’s Player of the Week, scoring the first two goals of the season. He also played well in the second game, often looking like the fastest player on the ice, and did a great job of not losing his temper. Beau Mclaughlin also had a great weekend, recording an assist in the first game and two quick early goals in the second game. Mclaughlin has a very hard shot and great offensive awareness, often playing at the point on the power play, and will be very valuable this season. Beau Mclaughlin is Frozen Chomp’s Player of the Week.

The IceGators will take this week to practice hard and improve for the 2-0 Mississippi Surge next Friday night. Fans remember, hockey is a fast game of inches, most games can go either way, which is why the season is 56 games long. Nobody likes to be 0-2 but in those two losses the Gators did show signs of promise, and there is plenty of enough time to get the ship pointed in the right direction.