FireAntz overcome sloppy play to beat Louisiana
By Thomas Pope
Assistant sports editor

 

The top-scoring team in the Southern Professional Hockey League was able to win despite the coach's dissatisfaction with its play.

"I personally don't think we played good at all. I thought that was one of our worst games we played all year," Fayetteville FireAntz coach Tommy Stewart said after a 5-3 win over Louisiana on Thursday night. "Two points (for the victory) is two points and we'll take it, but we were very sloppy tonight."

That's the difference between a second-place team that's now 12-9-0 and an expansion IceGators squad buried at the bottom at 6-14-0 - that the Antz could play that way and still win. The teams mix it up again tonight at the Crown Coliseum.

"Wins are very important at this stage. We've got to keep it up," said forward Steve Cooke, who scored the first of three first-period Antz goals. "We've got to win these two games because if we lose one, there's going to be a lot of angry people over the holidays."

The league's leading scorers padded their totals against IceGators goalie A.J. Bucchino. Rob Sich had goals in the first and third periods, giving him 26 on the season. He also had a couple of assists, boosting him even further ahead of the pack with 37 points. Linemates Chris Leveille and Jesse Biduke each had a goal and two assists, giving them 34 and 19 points, respectively.

Sich's first goal came with 6:24 left in the opening 20 minutes. After taking a hard hit near center ice that knocked off his helmet and a glove, he made the IceGators pay.

"I saw that Levs had it and I was thinking, 'You know what? This will be a good little ending to that hit,' " Sich said. "That's the ultimate payback. Rather than going off the ice and sulking about the hit, you get back in the play and score. That hurts them more. I'll take hits like that every day for a goal."

With the 3-0 lead, the Antz then fell into an offensive slumber, and A.J. Tucker got the IceGators on the board two minutes after Sich's goal. Mike Ruberto, a rookie with the Antz last season, cut the deficit to 3-2 in a second period that saw Fayetteville generate only six shots.

After a tongue-lashing from Stewart, the Antz lit the fuse again in the third period, getting goals from Leveille and Sich, who crowed about his score in front of an already edgy Gators' bench.

"They've got a tough team and they're coming after our top guys," he said. "If they want to chirp all game, the easiest way to shut them up is scoring goals and letting them know about it."

First-place Huntsville has picked up former Antz goalie Chad Collins. The roster on Huntsville's Web site includes Collins, who was released earlier in the week by Pensacola.