Sharks Stung at Home, Again!

Sharks Stung at Home, Again! November 9, 1997

By Mark Fitzhenry
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER

The Tiger Sharks dropped their second straight home game at the Leon County Civic Center as the South Carolina Stingrays logged a convincing 5-2 victory.

The defending Kelly Cup Champion Stingrays had been riding a three game losing streak when they came into town, but opened the scoring in the first and held onto the lead all the way.

Jacques Joubert and R.J. Enga tried to make a comeback for the Sharks during the second. Joubert managed to capitalize on a power play, something the Sharks have been weak on at 7:38 of the second, making it a two-one game. Just over three minutes later, the Rays struck back with a power play goal of their own. Enga answered though, putting Tallahassee within one again by the end of the third.

But a two-minute elbowing penalty for Louis Bedard lead off the the third period, and South Carolina rifled a slap shot past Aaron MacDonald less then two minutes into the period. Then, twenty three seconds later, Stingrays forward Wayne Strachan scored, for the final 5-2 tally.

"Falling behind early didn't hurt us," said Tiger Sharks Head Coach Terry Christensen. "When we scored that goal at the end of the second period, I thought our team was into it and the crowd was into it."

"It was those goals at the beginning of the third period. Any emotional edge we had, you could just feel it slip away."

Christensen removed goaltender Aaron MacDonald at that point and replaced him with Blair Allison.

"Aaron MacDonald has made a lot of big saves for us, but I believe he would have played that fourth goal a little differently if he had to do it over. But you're not always going to get the unbelievable save every game.

Christensen called a time out with fifteen minutes remaining, but was unable to rouse the Tiger Sharks for a comeback. Cory Cadden remained solid in the net, making 30 saves for the Stingrays who were outshot by the Sharks 32-27.

"Over 20 of those shots were from the Grade A area of the ice surface," Christensen said. "I thought their goalie played exceptionally well. He made big saves at critical times."

"We're not happy with the way we're playing at home. Our fans deserve better than what we're giving them. I'm not going to dodge that issue. But I really think we've got a good group of guys in our locker room."

"If you can learn from this weekend, then you feel good about it. But if you don't learn something, then you have to make a change."

Tallahassee with be hosting the Birmingham Bulls on Thursday at 7:05 pm , and it will be interesting if the team can make the Shark Tank come alive again. Christensen said he expects returning veteran Shark Dan Lupo to be back in the lineup for the first time this season by Thursday as well. He as been nursing a sore groin muscle.

"We're just making mistakes and the other teams are capitalizing right now," said Tiger Shark Captain Jim Paradise. "And we haven't got enough offense yet to cover it."

"We've got goal scorers on our hockey team. When it comes, hopefully it will come in bunches because they're not coming right now."

Tallahassee remains in first place in the Southeast Division, two points ahead of South Carolina, but the Tiger Sharks have lost their second home game in as many days and have fallen to 4-4 at home this season.

Date - 11/09/97

South Carolina (5) at Tallahassee (2)

Score by Periods:

South Carolina   2  1  2 - 5
Tallahassee      0  2  0 - 2

1st Period - Scoring: SC - Strachan (Sittler) 5:54
SC - Sittler (Strachan, Moser) 9:22

2nd Period - Scoring: TAL - Joubert (Reid, Enga) PP 7:38
SC - Marietti (Cipolla, Seitz) PP 10:49
TAL - Enga (Ingraham, Reid) 19:15

3rd Period - Scoring: SC - Hynnes (Dexter, Cipolla) PP 1:18
SC - Strachan (Sittler) 1:40

Power Play conversions: South Carolina 2 for 6, Tallahassee 1 for 4

Shots on goal:

South Carolina    11  7  9 -  27
Tallahassee       13 11  8 -  32

Goalies: South Carolina - Cadden (30 of 32 saves)
Tallahassee - MacDonald (16 of 21 saves) left at 1:40 of the 3rd period; Allison (6 of 6 saves)

A: 3,249

Referee: Jeff Smith
Linesmen: Steve Frasier, Greg Wright