IceGators Dominate Havoc For Second Straight Win

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.--The Louisiana IceGators have struggled all season to put together a solid, consistent effort throughout an entire game.

Friday night, those struggles were nowhere to be found.

The IceGators manhandled the Huntsville Havoc, scoring three second period goals en route to a 6-1 victory.  Jake Hauswirth scored twice for the IceGators, while goalie Brad Barone recorded one of his finest performances of the year, stopping 37 of 38 shots.

“This is a great road victory for us,” IceGators head coach Drew Omicioli said.  “We took control from the opening face-off and never let up.  We dominated all three periods.  They guys stuck to the system, and it paid off tremendously.  This team is built to compete against any style of play, and we demonstrated that tonight.”

And pay off it did.

The IceGators jumped out to a 1-0 seven minutes into the first period when Luke Sandler scored off assists from Dylan Hood and Brad Bourke.

The second period may have been the IceGators’ best period of the season.  Louisiana jumped out to a 4-0, scoring those three goals on 12 shots.  Hauswirth scored his first goal at the 6:12 mark off a Nicholas Kuquali assist.  Ten minuets later, Dylan Hood scored off feeds from Ben Kramer and Jeremy Boyer.  Twelve seconds after that goal, John Daniels padded the Louisiana lead with a goal off assists from Bourke and Alex Hudson.

Hauswirth’s second goal came on a power play 4:44 into the third period.  His goal, off assists from Boyer and Mike Kavanaugh, made the score 5-0.

Huntsville finally scored when Stuart Stefan put the puck past Barone with 7:57 left in the game.

Geordie Wudrick tacked on an insurance goal with 2:25 left in the contest off assists from Daniels and Travis Armstrong.

“We had great games from every individual, and we need to feed off this win,” Omicioli said.

He also singled out two players in his praise.

“Tyler Barr was a rock for us again and kept the game in check once (Huntsville) stayed to play on the edge at the end of the game,” Omicioli said.  “Barone had another great game, and he’s continuing to get better every day.”

Omicioli says he expects a similar performance from his team in Saturday’s rematch, which starts at 7:30 p.m. at PharmacyFirst Ice.

“(Saturday night) is a huge game for our team and our organization,” Omicioli said.  “We are looking to walk away with four points.”