NEWS

By Gene Coleman, Biloxi Sun Herald

BILOXI -- The Mississippi Surge overcame a dismal start Wednesday night to give fans a nail-biting 4-3 shootout win over the first-place Louisiana IceGators at the Coast Coliseum.

Kiefer Smiley and the Surge dominated the shootout, with Jay Silvia and Jarkko Leppanen hitting the net while Smiley shut down four attempts by the Gators.

The overtime win was a relief for fans who watched the IceGators step out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Midway through the first period, a high-sticking penalty put the Surge on a four-minute penalty kill.

Less than two minutes later, the IceGators' Jordan Foreman put one past Smiley for the first score. Just as the penalty kill was about to end, Tyler Lyon extended the lead.

Anthony Collins ignited the crowd at 17:02 with an impressive display of pugilism. He and the IceGators' Weston Cydell were ejected with "aggressor" game misconducts, but the incident seemed aroused a sluggish Surge offense.

Then, with nine seconds remaining, Kyle Kudroch put the Surge on the board with an unassisted goal.

In the second period, the Surge had 18 shots on goal while holding the Gators to two. Unfortunately, one of the IceGators' shots was an unassisted goal by Matt Robertson at 6:01 to put them up 3-1.

Read more