LAFAYETTE, La. – With the SPHL regular season down to its final two weeks, the Louisiana IceGators find themselves in a position that the New Orleans Saints football team regularly experienced until this year: needing a Hail Mary to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. Through the games of March 14th, the space between the Columbus Cottonmouths in sixth place and the IceGators in seventh is eleven points (49-38). Louisiana has seven games remaining on the schedule while Columbus has six with two head-to-head match-ups on the way included. If the IceGators are to make the SPHL playoffs – and only six of the seven teams qualify – they need to win every game while Columbus loses all of their remaining contests. It has been six years since playoff hockey was played on the bayou so needless to say, the fans are ready if the IceGators can pull off the miracle. Regardless of the outcome of the final regular season games, it would be safe to say that the coming off season should find players, staff and fans all chomping at the bit for October 2010 to arrive. Hopefully one of the main focuses in training camp will be more disciplined play. One of the most glaring statistics from this season has been the number of penalty minutes as Louisiana currently leads the league with 1,538 PIMs, 250 minutes more than the second most penalized team. It translates into 341 times short-handed, 43 times more than the next closest team. Dating back to February 23rd, Louisiana has posted a decent 4-3 record that included a three-game winning streak. In that time, the offense scored 27 goals while the defense allowed 28. Two of the four wins came on the road against Knoxville and league-leading Mississippi. On Saturday, March 6th, the Columbus Cottonmouths came calling at the Blackham Coliseum. The IceGators’ staff declared the game “Guaranteed Win Night” where if the team failed to win, every fan in attendance would receive a free ticket to the game the following afternoon against Mississippi. With a MMA match scheduled for the nearby CajunDome, the hope was that the guaranteed win promotion would bring some people in to minimize any possible losses. Although the crowd at the game appeared to be at least 1,200 or more, the attendance was reported to the league as 281. The teams traded first period goals as Columbus’ Sam Bowles and Louisiana’s Josh Bonar each lit the goal light. The Cottonmouths had the better of the play in the second as Levi Lind and Jesse Cole scored to offset a power play goal by the IceGators’ Mike Omicioli to take a 3-2 lead into the third. Louisiana tied the game early in the final period when Mike Ruberto found the back of the net. When Trevor Karasiewicz followed with a goal of his own, Louisiana had the lead. Columbus was not done and with 54 seconds left in regulation and the goalie pulled, Tim Green scored to tie the game at four, sending it to overtime. The extra hockey was over in the blink of an eye as Karasiewicz got loose after the opening draw, went in and scored the game winner just nine seconds in to send the fans home happy with the victory but without free tickets. The good feelings from Saturday night didn’t hold over to Sunday as the visiting Surge left the Blackham with a 3-0 shutout win. Over the past weekend, the IceGators had only one game but it was still a busy time in Lafayette. Last Friday, the Huntsville Havoc visited the Blackham just hours after Louisiana waived veteran Jason Hamilton. Hamilton, who was serving an eight-game suspension for an incident in a February 25th game against Knoxville, was replaced on the roster by Daryl Moore who was just back off the injured list. Louisiana jumped on Huntsville early, getting goals from Bonar and Moore in the first 3:18 of the opening period. The Havoc responded with second period goals from Travis Kauffeldt and Justin Rohr to even the score heading to the final stanza. Huntsville’s BJ Radovich scored two minutes into the third and it proved to be the winning goal as Huntsville held on for the 3-2 victory. The next day, the team held its Miss Louisiana IceGators pageant at the Crowne Plaza in Lafayette. Contestants participated in swimsuit and evening gown competitions with judges paring the ten semifinalists down to three finalists. The winner will be chosen by IceGator fans during the final home game of the season on March 20th. The new Miss Louisiana IceGators will become spokesperson for the team in billboard ads as well as television and radio advertising. With one home game remaining, the team hopes that fans will come out and pack the Blackham to thank the players, ownership and staff for bringing hockey back to Lafayette and look forward to year two. Geaux Gators. Contact the author at john.latham@prohockeynews.com
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