Elmira Jackals End Of Season Release

ELMIRA, N.Y. - The Elmira Jackals ended their season on Saturday with a 7-0 loss at the hands of the Gwinnett Gladiators. The Jackals finished the year with a 24-40-8 record and missed the playoffs for the first time since joining the ECHL in 2007-08. Despite missing the playoffs, there were some team and individual milestones achieved in 2013-14.

Last Week's Record: 1-2-0
Overall Record: 24-40-8; third place Atlantic Division, 12th place Eastern Conference

2013-14 Season Leaders:
Goals - Mike Vaskivuo: 19
Assists - Mike Vaskivuo: 40
Points - Mike Vaskivuo: 59
+/- - Raman Hrabarenka: +3
PIMs - Corey Bellamy: 155
PPG - Artem Demkov: 6
SHG - Jordan Pietrus: 3
Wins - Neil Conway: 9
GAA - Neil Conway: 3.10
SVP - Neil Conway: .913

2013-14 Season Awards:

MVP - Mike Vaskivuo

Rookie of the Year - Patch Alber

Defenseman of the Year - Kyle Bushee

Leading Scorer - Mike Vaskivuo

Hardest Working Player - Jean Bourbeau

Player's Player (Best Teammate) - Corey Bellamy

Unsung Hero - Neil Conway

Jackals Booster Club Most Popular Player - Rob Bellamy

Community Service Award - Patch Alber & Zach McCullough

Most Improved Player - Dane Walters

Day-by-Day Schedule:
4/14 - Media Availability and Exit Physicals at First Arena - 1:00 p.m.
4/15 - Rob Bellamy acoustic concert at SplitRock Brewing Company - 7:00 p.m.         
          Patch Alber and Zach McCullough guest bartend with tips donated to Habitat for Humanity


Recapping Last Week: 
4/9 at Gwinnett: W 6-3
Box Score, Recap

The Jackals opened the last week of the 2013-14 campaign with a season-high 46 shots on goal and powered past the Gladiators 6-3 on Wednesday night. Jordan Pietrus, Rob Bellamy and Taylor Law each scored twice for Elmira. Law's first two professional points came in just his second pro game. Mike Vaskivuo recorded three assists and increased his team-leading point total to 59 on the season. Neil Conway stopped 39 of 42 shots en route to his team-leading ninth victory of the year.

4/11 at South Carolina: L 1-4
Box Score, Recap
Elmira got on the board first with an unassisted goal by Jordan Pietrus just 3:51 into the opening frame. But, South Carolina responded with two first period tallies to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission. Former Jackal, Jack Downing, opened the scoring for the Stingrays and Wayne Simpson followed with one on the power-play later in the first period. South Carolina would add two more goals in the final 40 minutes to down the Jackals 4-1. Mike Vaskivuo earned a penalty shot in the third period with his team down by two, but failed to convert on the opportunity. Chris Driedger stopped 41 of 44 shots in his third professional start.

4/12 at Gwinnett: L 0-7
Box Score, Recap
Playing their second game in as many nights and skating two skaters short were odds too long for the Jackals to overcome in the season finale. The Jackals fell flat and tied their worst margin of defeat of the season in the 7-0 loss. This was the eighth time this year Elmira was shutout by an opponent. Neil Conway started the game and stopped 24 of 29 shots before he was replaced by Chris Driedger in the third period. Driedger stopped 11 of 13 in relief duty. Brenden Walker scored a hat trick and Casey Pierro-Zabotel notched four points (two goals, two assists) for the Gladiators.


Quick Hits:
* By the end of this season three Jackals surpassed Chaz Johnson for the team's ECHL games played record. Johnson's record of 160 games played was overtaken by Rob Bellamy, Jordan Pietrus and Jean Bourbeau. Bellamy holds the current team record with 204 games played, Pietrus sits one behind him with 203 and Bourbeau slates into the third spot with 171 games played.

* This season the Jackals' total roster consisted of 55 players, including goalies, which is the third-most in the team's ECHL history. The club saw 67 players don the Jackals jersey in 2010-11 and 62 in 2007-08, which was Elmira's first season in the ECHL. The Jackals had seven different goaltenders man the pipes this season, which is tied for second in the club's history. Elmira also had seven goalies play in 2008-09 and 2009-10. The team record was set in 2010-11 when 10 netminders saw game action with the Jackals.

* Despite an increase in the black-and-blue style of play as the season moved along the Jackals finished the 2013-14 campaign with the fewest penalty minutes in the team's ECHL history. Elmira totaled 1,026 penalty minutes, which is 123 less than the previous low mark set in 2011-12. The most penalty minutes in a single season was 1,840, which was set in 2007-08.

* Chris Driedger became the youngest goalie to suit up for an ECHL game this season when he made his professional debut on April 4. At 19 years old Driedger also became the youngest goalie in the history of the Jackals (United Hockey League and ECHL eras) to win a game.