BILOXI, MS – A year ago, the Mississippi Surge depended on its special teams play and prolific power play scorer Matt Zultek to get to the SPHL President’s Cup finals.
Tuesday night, Zultek didn’t need the man advantage to score two goals, including the game-winner with two minutes left in regulation to give the Surge a 3-2 win over the Augusta RiverHawks in game one of the 2011 SPHL finals. Mississippi leads the best-of-five series one game to none with game two set for Wednesday night in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.
Zultek’s winner came at the end of a shift where he and linemates Michael Richard and Rusty Masters were putting the heat on Augusta’s defense and goalie Jon Olthuis.
Mississippi%27s Matt Zultek scored two goals%2C including the game winner%2C in game one (PHN photo by Stephanie Simpers)
Coming off of series-clinching wins on Sunday night, no one was quite sure what either team would have in the tank just one day separated from a three games in three days stretch. Mississippi at least had the luxury of being at home since defeating the Knoxville Ice Bears while Augusta had just three hours of celebrating its win over Columbus before boarding the bus for Biloxi at 1 a.m. Monday.
The Surge charged out of the locker room to start the game looking to intimidate the RiverHawks with speed and a hail of shots. Augusta’s defense found itself under siege almost immediately as Olthuis had to stop a drive by Rob Campbell quickly followed by one by Adam Bartholomy and the rebound attempt from Ryan McCarthy in a space of four seconds. Seven of the game’s first eight shots came from Mississippi sticks.
When the RiverHawks got rolling, they did so quickly. Five minutes in, Jason Dolgy made Surge net minder Bill Zaniboni move to knock down his shot but the goalie couldn’t control the rebound. Augusta’s Ed Snetsinger got to the puck and sent it back on the net but Zaniboni got there to make the second save.
Midway through the opening period, Surge defenseman Jack Wolgemuth was nabbed for tripping, giving Augusta the first power play of the game. It took just ten seconds for the RiverHawks to make Mississippi pay. Off the face-off, the puck went back to Snetsinger who sent it along to teammate Matt Auffrey who surveyed the ice and slipped a pass to Travis Dunstall who beat Zaniboni for his sixth goal of the post-season and a 1-0 Augusta lead.
Remembering how Knoxville had surprised them in game one of the previous series, Mississippi opened up the offense again but this time Augusta went toe-to-toe with them. The pace was fast and furious and provided a combined total of ten shots between the teams in a five minute period, seven of them belonging to the home team.
Mississippi finally got on the board with 4:27 left before the intermission. Nick Klaren controlled the puck at the point and slid it across to his partner Glenn Cacaro. Cacaro sent it down to Zultek who zipped it into the back of the net past Olthuis to tie the score. Three minutes later, Augusta’s Branden Kosolofsky went off for slashing, putting the high-powered Surge power play on the ice with just over a minute left in the stanza. They only got one shot on net during the man advantage but it was all they needed as Klaren set up Jason Beeman for his fourth playoff goal of the year with 17 seconds left to give Mississippi the lead.
After the fast pace of the first period, the teams settled into a defensive battle in the second. The Surge might have been a bit fresher because of not having to travel but the RiverHawks were able to establish their 1-3-1 trapping forecheck. Shots on net were at a premium and the goalies were on their game, especially Zaniboni who robbed Jim Gehring on an Augusta counter attack. The RiverHawks had two power plays in the stanza while the Surge had one but neither team capitalized, leaving the score at 2-1 in favor of Mississippi going to the third period.
The teams spent most of the first seven minutes of the final period trading shots. Augusta had yet another man advantage three minutes in but Mississippi didn’t allow a single shot on Zaniboni during the power play. Olthuis continued to play well in the RiverHawks’ net, allowing his teammates to go after the tying score.
Augusta was able to even things up at the 7:22 mark. Seconds after Zaniboni turned back another shot by Gehring, Neil Graham got himself in position to take a pass and whistled a shot past Zaniboni for his third goal of the playoffs.
With the tension rising as each second ticked off the clock, Mississippi’s offense came to life again. Beginning at the 10:44 mark, the Surge kicked the tempo up several notches, forcing the RiverHawks to play more defense than offense. A penalty to Augusta’s Curtis Megginson allowed Mississippi to ratchet up the heat on Olthuis. All of the pressure paid off when Zultek netted the eventual winner, capping a stretch of nine consecutive shots without an answer from the visitors.
Augusta still had some time left to try to send the game into overtime. With 1:04 remaining, Mississippi’s Masters was sent off for tripping, allowing RiverHawks coach Brad Ralph to pull Olthuis in favor of an extra attacker. The two-man advantage went for naught as the Surge allowed just one shot in the final minute to seal the victory.
Game Notes: Attendance for the rare Tuesday night game at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was 1,077…Zaniboni stopped 24 of the 26 shots he faced for his fourth win of this playoff season. Down the other end, Olthuis was much busier, stopping 36 of the 39 shots he faced…Tuesday’s game was the first time in the post-season in which Mississippi failed to post at least 45 shots in a game…The 3-2 final score was ironic for the Mississippi team and its fans. The Surge were swept by Huntsville in last year’s finals by identical 3-2 scores in all three games…The special teams battle that some expected to happen didn’t as Mississippi went 1-for-3 on the power play while Augusta was 1-for-5 with the man advantage.
Contact the author at don.money@prohockeynews.com
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