This is posted on the Riverhawks website:
Game 3 Mississippi 5 - Augusta 1
MISSISSIPPI WINS SERIES 3-0
Augusta, GA - When the curtain closed on the 2009-2010 SPHL season, the Mississippi Surge were left watching as the Huntsville Havoc skated the President’s Cup around the ice. To a man, the Surge vowed that the 2010-2011 campaign would be different.
Friday night at the James Brown Arena, the Surge made good on every off-season promise they made by blasting the Augusta RiverHawks 5-1 to sweep the best-of-five finals series. Veterans Shane Wagner and Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn led the way by scoring two goals each in support of goalie Bill Zaniboni who stopped 23 of 24 shots to earn the win.
“It does feel good but it feels even better to see the guys celebrating,” Surge coach Steffon Walby said. “They’re the ones that have put in so much time and effort, blood and sweat so it’s nice to sit back and watch the guys celebrate. I told them don’t be shy. Take a lap (with the trophy) and celebrate.”
A year ago, the Surge were the best team in the regular season and steamrolled over Columbus to get to the finals. The team was built for speed and man advantage opportunities with defense and goaltending that was second to none - that is until the championship series. Huntsville frustrated Mississippi at every turn and got just enough offense to sweep the series.
This time around, it was the Surge who frustrated Augusta, showing the ability to turn and hold momentum for long stretches. They also showed that they didn’t need to depend on the power play, which was a non-factor once Mississippi dispatched Knoxville in the semifinals. The Cinderella-like RiverHawks played well beyond the rookie status of the majority of their roster but were no match for the chip that Mississippi has carried on its shoulder since last April.
After winning in overtime on Adam Bartholomay’s goal Wednesday night, the Surge rode into Augusta knowing that the President’s Cup would also be there. Coach Walby made absolutely sure that his team was focused on the task at hand - winning the closeout game. Mississippi roared out of the locker room with their sticks blazing, pounding Augusta net minder Jon Olthuis with shot after shot.
Down the other end of the ice, Zaniboni was occasionally having shots thrown his way but they were few and far between. Even with stretches of up to four minutes without seeing rubber, Zaniboni was sharp.
Mississippi finally cracked onto the scoreboard at the 18:29 mark of the first period. During a four-on-four situation, Wagner, who toiled for Augusta owner Bob Kerzner when he ran the Twin City Cyclones, turned the corner on RiverHawks defenseman Keith Wynn and snuck the puck between Olthuis’ stick and the post to put the Surge in front to stay.
With Zaniboni and the defense bottling up Augusta’s offense, the Surge offense was free to patiently seek out opportunities to increase the lead. One of those came three minutes into the second period when Versteeg-Lytwyn, who was acquired as the proverbial “player to be named later” in the deal that sent goalie Mike Brown to Louisiana, took a pass from Jeff Grant and beat Olthuis.
The RiverHawks had more success getting shots on net during the middle stanza but Zaniboni was equal to everything sent in his direction. With no rebound shots coming off of Augusta sticks, Mississippi’s net minder wasn’t feeling as much pressure as his counterpart was.
The Surge added a third goal late in the period when a shot by Ryan McCarthy hit something in front of the Augusta net and bounced to defenseman Jack Wolgemuth who had dropped down from the point. Wolgemuth quickly stuffed the puck into the net to give his team what appeared to be a commanding 3-0 lead that they took to the intermission.
"They're a good team. Even when we had our push they had an answer for us," Augusta coach Brad Ralph said. "I think maybe if we would have had a little more energy we would have been able to make it a closer series. But at the end of the day, hats off to them. They're a good hockey team, and it gives us a goal to attain next year."
The 2,251 mostly RiverHawks fans in the stands were looking for something to cheer about and got it early in the third. Playing on a power play left over from the middle period, Augusta’s Branden Kosolofsky cut the deficit to two at the 1:17 mark.
The hope brought on by Kosolofsky’s score was short-lived as exactly four minutes later, Wagner lit the lamp for the second time in the game, restoring the three-goal cushion. A subsequent Surge power play resulted in Versteeg-Lytwyn’s second of the night at the 7:35 mark and the rout was on.
Augusta’s frustration with the events of the evening produced several penalties in the final twelve minutes. With the outcome no longer in doubt, Mississippi used the three man advantage situations it had to effectively kill time off the clock. By the time the clock struck zero, the Surge were well on their way to enjoying the franchise’s first playoff championship to go along with two Coffey trophies for regular season dominance.
Game Notes: Olthuis finished the game with 30 saves in the loss. He finished the post-season with a 3-4 record, a 2.96 goals against average and a .924 save percentage after facing a league-high 231 shots…Zaniboni was the top playoff goalie, posting a 6-2 record with a league-best 2.18 goals against average and a .915 save percentage…The Surge had the top two scorers during the playoffs in Michael Richard (3 goals, 9 assists) and Rusty Masters (4 goals, 7 assists) while Augusta had the number three spot as Kosolofsky finished with four goals and seven assists…Mississippi went 1-for-7 on the power play in game three and finished the series at 3-for-16. Augusta was 1-for-3 with the man advantage and posted a 4-for-14 mark…The Surge continued a statistical oddity by winning the President’s Cup. All seven championships have either been won by Knoxville (three times) or the team that eliminated the Ice Bears from the post-season…The Surge will arrive back in Biloxi between 11 a.m. and 12 noon on Saturday. The victory party is scheduled for Wednesday…Apologies to Mississippi forward Bartholomay for misspelling his last name. The incorrect spelling came from information provided to the league’s information site.
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