LATE THIRD PERIOD GOAL ENDS FALCONS STREAK

March 16, 2008 - The Springfield Falcons and San Antonio Rampage met for the very first time at the MassMutual Center on Sunday with the Rampage beating the Falcons 3-2.  For Springfield, it snapped their four-game home winning streak and for the Rampage, it ended their two-game losing skid.


After a scoreless first period, the Falcons built a 2-0 lead in the middle stanza when Rob Schremp opened the scoring at 4:30 of the second period, followed by Stephane Goulet's power play marker just 2:08 later.  San Antonio cut their deficit to 2-1 at 8:09 of the middle frame when Mike Zigomanis tallied his fourth goal of the year.  The Rampage evened the score at 2-2 when Adam Keefe converted for the second time this year tying the score at 2-2 at 10:07 of the second period.

In the third period, the Falcons had opportunities on the power play to find the go-ahead goal, but it was San Antonio's Chris Durno tallying on the man advantage at 19:08 of the final frame giving the Rampage the 3-2 win.

FALCONS LINEUP

Potulny - Simon - Schremp
Trukhno - Reddox - Goulet
Almtorp - Sestito - Werner
Garlock - McDonald

Kemp - Young
Gabinet - Peckham
Berry - Farynuk

Deslauriers
Dubnyk

FALCONS SCRATCHES - T.J. Reynolds (Injured), Troy Bodie (Injured), Sebastien Bisaillon (Injured), Ryan O'Marra (Injured), Allan Rourke (Injured), Jean-Francois Jacques (Injured), Kenny Smith (Healthy), Tommy Goebel (Healthy), Jacob Micflikier (Healthy)


GAME NIGHT NOTES………………

GAME SETUP: The Springfield Falcons and San Antonio Rampage meet for the second and final time this season and this afternoon’s contest will be the first ever meeting between these two teams at the MassMutual Center.  The Falcons and Rampage met for the very first time on December 21, 2007 in San Antonio with the Rampage winning that contest
3-1.  The Falcons held a 1-0 lead going into the third period of that game before San Antonio scored three unanswered markers in the final period.  Matt Murley, Joey Tenute and Travis Roche scored for the Rampage in the first meeting, while Springfield’s Liam Reddox tallied the Falcons’ lone goal in that contest. 

The Falcons head into Sunday’s action coming off a 4-1 win over the Worcester Sharks on Saturday night at the MassMutual Center.  Springfield’s Ben Simon, Viacheslav Trukhno, Stephane Goulet and Colin McDonald scored for the Falcons, while goaltender Jeff Deslauriers stopped 28 of 29 shots earning the win.  Nine different Falcons players recorded at least a point in their victory on Saturday.  Springfield has now won a season-high four straight home games and they remain in fourth place in the Atlantic Division with a record of 30-26-5-5 on the season.  The Falcons currently have a three-point lead on fifth-place Manchester and an eight point advantage on sixth-place Worcester.  Saturday night was Springfield’s 30th win of the season, their first 30-win campaign since 2002-03 and the Falcons are now only 10 points away from tying their highest point total in a regular season since the 1998-99 campaign when they earned 80 points that year.   

The Rampage head into Springfield having lost to the Providence Bruins on Saturday night by a score of 6-2.  David Spina and Matt Murley tallied for the Rampage against the Bruins.  San Antonio has lost their last two games as they conclude their third game in three days on Sunday in Springfield.  Tonight will be the fourth game of a six-game road trip for the Rampage as they conclude their voyage in Manitoba this week.  San Antonio has a record of 35-20-3-7 good for 80 points and third place in the AHL’s West Division.  The Rampage is only one win away from tying their franchise record for wins in a season with 36 victories set during the 2002-03 campaign.

HOT DOWN THE STRETCH:  Falcons forward Viacheslav Trukhno extended his scoring streak to seven games and his goal-scoring streak to five consecutive contests when he tallied in the first period on Saturday night.  Trukhno has six goals and four assists for 10 points over his last seven games.  Trukhno is in his first season of professional hockey after spending last year with Gatineau of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League where he collected 25 goals and 77 assists for 102 points in 60 games.  In 50 games with the Falcons this season, Trukhno has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points and he is second on the team in rookie scoring. 

Stephane Goulet scored his seventh marker of the season Saturday night giving the youngster three goals and one assist for four points in his last three games.  Goulet has registered at least a point in three of his last four games picking up four goals and one assist in that stretch.  Goulet is in his second season of professional hockey after spending the majority of last year with the ECHL’s Stockton Thunder where he led all Thunder rookies in points with 17 goals and 23 assists for 40 points in 69 games.  Goulet led Moncton of the QMJHL in goals during the 2005-06 season with 51 markers, while ending the year second on the club in points with 93.  

FALCONS TRANSACTIONS:  The Falcons announced Thursday that they signed forward Tommy Goebel to an Amateur Tryout Agreement (ATO).  Goebel recently completed his collegiate career with Ohio State University where he led the team in scoring during his senior campaign collecting 21 goals and 15 assists for 36 points in 39 games.  The
5-foot-8, 170-pound native of Parma, Ohio spent the last two seasons with Ohio State after transferring from Michigan State University following the 2004-05 campaign. 

On Monday, the Falcons announced they signed center Ryan Garlock to a Professional Tryout Agreement (PTO).  Garlock made his Falcons debut on Wednesday March 12 in Manchester and collected his first point with Springfield on Saturday night against Worcester.  Garlock has spent the majority of the 2007-08 season with the Johnstown Chiefs where he recorded 26 goals and 35 assists for 61 points in 50 games.  The 6-foot, 202-pound native of Iroquois Falls, Ontario was leading the Chiefs in goals, assists and points. 

SAN ANTONIO PLAYER STREAKS:  Rampage defenseman Brendan Bell has points in two of his last three games collecting one goal and two assists in that stretch….Center Joey Tenute has points in four of his last six contests picking up one goal and three assists in that span….Troy, NY native Matt Murley continues to lead the Rampage in scoring with 17 goals and 33 assists for 50 points in 62 games.  Murley has also seen time with the NHL’s Phoenix Coyotes this year collecting one assist in three games.  Murley spent last season with the Albany River Rats where he finished second on the club in scoring with 23 goals and 32 assists for 55 points in 61 games….Former Falcon David Spina retunes to Springfield tonight having collected 13 goals and 19 assists for 32 points in 61 games this year.  In 127 games with the Falcons from 2005-2007, the Mesa, Arizona native picked up 26 markers and 33 assists for 59 points.