Sports - Mississippi Surge

Sunday, Dec. 14, 2008

Sea Wolves drop game to Gwinnett

BILOXI -- The Mississippi Sea Wolves jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but were unable to hold on when the Gwinnett Gladiators scored three unanswered goals to come back and win the sixth game in nine days between the two teams by the score of 3-2 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Sunday.

Mathieu Melanson put the Sea Wolves on the scoreboard just 71 seconds into the contest when he drove to the net from the right half-wall and surprised Gladiators goaltender Josh Johnson with a shot that trickled through as Johnson was bowled over by the Sea Wolves’ forward. Jeremy Hall’s third goal of the season gave Mississippi a 2-0 lead when Hall beat Johnson over the glove with a wrist shot at 5:52 of the first period.

Gwinnett’s Dan Sullivan got the Gladiators on the board when he drove down the right wing and fired a shot past Sea Wolves goaltender Riku Helenius at 4:34 of the second period. Brandon Kaleniecki added a power-play goal to even the score at two-apiece at 13:24 of the second period.

Jeff Mason fired a wrist shot through a screen at the 17:00 mark of the third period to give the Gladiators a 3-2 lead.

Riku Helenius made 31 saves on 34 shots, taking the loss, and the Sea Wolves were 0-for-6 on the power play.

The Sea Wolves play again Wednesday night at 7:05 p.m. against the Florida Everblades.