Mouth of the South: Week 3; Games 4,5

Grade: C-
Player of the Week: Shawn McNeil (2g)

The IceGators proved to be bipolar this weekend, playing the best game of the season on Friday night and then turning around and playing the worst game of the season on Saturday night. The Gators traveled to Pensacola on Friday night looking to become .500 for the first time since being in the ECHL, and they played a very solid game. The Gators jumped out to the 2-0 lead with goals by McLaughlin and Fimiani, but knew they did not have a safe lead because the first time these teams met, the Ice Flyers came back to win after being down 3-0. After the Ice Flyers closed the gap to 2-1, Karasiewicz found McNeil on a well designed play which ended up being the game winning goal. The Ice Flyers fired off many shots in the last period but only managed to end the game 3-2.

The Gators then made the short trip to Biloxi to move up in the standings but left their effort on the bus. The Gators looked lackadaisical from the opening faceoff and allowed a goal just 33 seconds into the game. McNeil answered back with a quick goal to knot the game at 1-1 but the Gators continued their sloppy play. After another Surge goal, physical play picked up. After an injury to CJ Tozzo, Nick Klaren of Mississippi received a Deliberate Injury Match Penalty and Don Melnyk and Dennis Sicard took matters into their own hands. Watch altercation. The Gators failed to take advantage of the 5 minute power play and eventually started creating penalties on their own. The next 3 goals for the Surge were on the powerplay. The game seemed to be coming to an end 5-3 but the Surge managed to score 2 goals in the last minute of play to win a whopping 7-3. Not only were the Gators outscored, they were out hustled.

The IceGators get a C- for this week. After winning a great game Friday night it looked like they were headed to a great weekly grade. However, Saturday night's beating dropped their grade tremendously. Overall, splitting a pair of games is not bad, but the Gators are better than a 4 goal loss.

Frozen Chomp's Player of the Week this week is Shawn McNeil. Captain McNeil has returned to the Gators this season, looking to build them into a powerhouse like they were years ago when he played with the Gators in the ECHL. McNeil scored the game winning goal Friday night on the power play. He also scored 2 minutes into the game on Saturday night but the Gators were unable to build on the momentum.

Other News: Zech Klann was placed on the season ending IR and was replaced in the lineup by 6'4 defenseman Clay Lewis. Also Jason Harding was released for Nick Vandenbeld, who scored his first career goal Saturday night.

The Gators will wrap up their 6 game early season roadtrip Friday night against Pensacola. Hopefully the Gators can pull out a win and come home to the Dome Saturday night 3-3 in front of a huge crowd for John Spoltore.