Sports - Mississippi Surge

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

Surge edge IceGators for first win in team history

LAFAYETTE, La. — The Mississippi Surge won the first game in their short history beating the Louisiana IceGators 3-2 at Blackham Coliseum on Thursday.

Louisiana got on the board first when Paul McBrien stole the puck away from Surge defenseman Steve Weidlich, passed it to Alex Hager and they rushed down the ice two-on-none against Mississippi goaltender Ryan Senft. Hager ripped a wrist shot through Senft’s legs for a shorthand goal and a 1-0 Louisiana lead at 2:52 of the first period.

Mississippi tied it back up, converting on its second power-play opportunity of the night when Matt Zultek blasted a loose puck past Louisiana goalie AJ Bucchino 14:17.

After a back-and-forth second period, Louisiana regained the lead when a loose puck ended up behind Senft during the last minute of play in the period.

Mississippi was able to tie the score when Tim Velemirovich walked the puck out of the left wing corner along the goal line and backhanded it over Bucchino midway through the third.

Chris Greene scored the first game-winning goal in Surge history when he drove down the left wing and one-timed a pass from Matthew Larke past Bucchino at 16:15 of the third period.

Ryan Senft made 12 saves to earn the win.