By Continental Professional Hockey League Staff
Nov 6, 2005

The St. Catharines IceCats thumped the Philadelphia Comets Saturday night 7-0. It was a fast paced game with a lot of end-to-end action. There were a number of hard hits and a few skirmishes with one ending in a fight.

"We practiced hard all week to be ready for this game," said IceCats coach Ken Southwick. "The guys still have a bit to work on but it was a good test to see where we are at right now."

Nick Winegar opened the scoring at 6:27 of the first period on a 2-on-1 breakaway with a pass across the slot from St. Catharines native Dave Magnotta. The IceCats followed up at the 8:01 mark when Eric Schultz scored his first of three when he put a rebound in off of a deflection by IceCats captain Jim Cashman. Cashman then got a goal of his own when he stole the puck from the Comets defenseman and tucked it in under the arm of the Comets goaltender Tom McElwee to close out the first period scoring at 11:19.

The second period pretty much followed the way of the first with the IceCats scoring 2:58 in when Brian Smith tapped in a rebound off of a Dustin Fisher breakaway. Schultz then got his second of the game when he ripped a slap shot just inside the right post from the top of the face-off circle. Schultz then got his second of the period and third of the game on a shorthanded goal at 13:58 of the second period.

The third period was a very physical one with a lot of hard hitting with not a lot of scoring with only one goal being scored but there was a lot of emotion being shown.

"Philly didn't seem to like the fact that we were giving them back what they were dishing out all game," said IceCats defenseman Burt Beaudry. "They started running us so we started to run them back. I think they were upset because we beat them both on the scoreboard and with the physical play."

Kevin Holland and Chris Obradovich shared the IceCats shutout. Holland started and played two solid periods making 22 saves with a few highlight reel type saves. Obradovich also played well coming in to play the third period and stopping 10 shots in the process.

"We had a good start with three goals in the first period and then were able to keep to momentum," said Cashman. "We also got great goaltending from both goalies. Anytime you get a shutout it makes it always helps."

The IceCats open up the regular season Saturday, November 12 against Philadelphia. Game time is 7 pm at the St. Catharines SportsPlex.