Bartholomy’s OT winner grounds RiverHawks

BILOXI , MS  – During the playoffs, coaches will tell you that it isn’t always the stars who win games. With the opposition’s focus on the elite players, many times a role player is the one who makes the big play at just the right time. Adam Bartholomy is just that kind of role player and Wednesday night he became the star.
Bartholomy scored his fourth post-season goal 10:28 into the first overtime to give his Mississippi Surge a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Augusta RiverHawks in game two of the SPHL President’s Cup finals at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Surge now lead the best-of-five series two games to none and can wrap up their first championship Friday night on the road in Augusta.
Bartholomy’s game winner was the culmination of an overtime period dominated by the Surge. They out-shot the RiverHawks 9-3 in the extra session, which included a

power play opportunity on which the home team blitzed Augusta goalie Peter Skoggard with several shots. Defenseman Nick Klaren’s shot from the point was stopped but Bartholomy was in the right place at the right time, blasting home the rebound to end the game.
After watching Mississippi storm its net in the early moments of game one, Augusta knew it couldn’t allow a repeat at the start of game two. The RiverHawks decided to take the bull by the horns and started off with much more intensity than they did Tuesday night. Getting a power play just 24 seconds in helped the RiverHawks register the initial four shots of the game.
The usually shoot-at-will Surge offense was being held in check by Augusta’s defense and forechecking, giving Skoggard, who started in place of Jon Olthuis, a very easy first half of the opening stanza. In fact, Mississippi did not log its first shot on Skoggard until the nine minute mark.
Once the Surge got untracked, the flow of the contest went into overdrive as the teams took turns battering the other’s end. Mississippi’s Bill Zaniboni came up big in the Surge net when he stopped back-to-back shots from Neil Graham and Jim Gehring. Skoggard was just as good at the opposite end of the ice, making save after save including a quick sequence with shots from Greg Moore and Matt Zultek. Mississippi finished the period out-shooting Augusta 14-9 but the score was still deadlocked at 0-0.
The scoreless tie didn’t last long into the second. 47 seconds in, defenseman Jack Wolgemuth’s drive from the point was knocked down by Skoggard but the net minder wasn’t able to control the rebound. It came out to Rusty Masters who popped it home to put the Surge in front.
Mississippi controlled the first five minutes of the middle stanza but the tide turned quickly midway through the period. It started when the Surge’s Jeff Grant took a double minor for high sticking. On the back half of the power play, Matt Auffrey and Travis Dunstall combined to set up Branden Kosolofsky for a man advantage score that tied the game at the 9:55 mark.
Just eleven seconds later, winger Egor Mironov got himself loose and beat Zaniboni for an unassisted goal, giving the visiting RiverHawks the lead. The two quick scores were just one second off the league record for fastest two goals by the same team – a record that was set by Jacksonville exactly three years to the day (April 13, 2008).
The teams played to a standoff over the following five minutes until the Surge took yet another penalty. The RiverHawks took advantage of the power play chance when Auffrey put the puck past Zaniboni with 4:07 left in the period with the assists going to Ryan Olidis and Jason Price. Augusta was able to hold Mississippi in check for the rest of the stanza, taking a 3-1 lead into the break.
One thing that the Surge never seem to do is panic when behind and that attitude was on display in the third. Starting the period with a power play, Mississippi was able to cut the Augusta lead by one when Michael Richard fed teammate Jason Beeman who scored at the 1:24 mark.
Using the Beeman score as a rallying point, the Surge pinned the RiverHawks in their defensive zone for long stretches of time. As the shots began piling up, Skoggard upped the level of his game, making save after save. The pressure by Mississippi’s offense finally paid off at the 6:45 mark when Zultek, the hero of game one, took a feed from Richard and blasted a shot home.
Smelling blood in the water, the Surge continued to press the RiverHawks in search of the goal that would win the contest. A boarding penalty to Dunstall with 2:57 left in regulation gave Mississippi one final chance to keep the game from going to extra time. Skoggard somehow withstood the barrage to keep the score tied. Augusta mustered just three shots on Zaniboni in the final stanza while Mississippi fired 19 on Skoggard but when the buzzer sounded, the score was still knotted at three, setting the stage for Bartholomy.
Game Notes: After game one’s 39-shot effort, Mississippi was back at it in game two, lobbing 55 shots at Skoggard. Down the other end, Zaniboni faced 25 shots and stopped 22 to earn the win…Both teams had six power play opportunities in the contest with Augusta scoring two man advantage goals to one by Mississippi…Attendance for game two was announced at 1,291…The RiverHawks are hoping for a big turnout for game three at the James Brown Arena on Friday. To that end, Gus, the team’s mascot, headed for the roof of the JBA Wednesday morning, vowing not to come down until more than 3,411 tickets are sold…If a game four is needed, it will be played at the JBA Saturday night.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com