Jackals Weekly Release 12/15-12/21

ELMIRA, N.Y. - The Elmira Jackals, proud ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Buffalo Sabres and AHL's Rochester Americans, finish the second leg of their six-game road trip with visits to Evansville and Cincinnati.

Last Week's Record: 1-2-0
Overall Record: 13-9-3; third place in East Division, fifth place in Eastern Conference

Leaders:
Goals: Matt Tassone (11)
Assists: Steven Shamanski (13)
Points: Matt Tassone, Steven Shamanski & x Taylor Stefishen (18)
+/-: Matt Tassone (+11)
PIMs: Nick Tuzzolino (70)
PPG: Taylor Stefishen (4)
SHG: Matt Tassone, Rob Florentino, x Taylor Stefishen & Mike Seidel (1)
Wins: Travis Fullerton (8)
GAA: Sam Marotta (2.66)
SVP: Sam Marotta (.914)

Previewing the Upcoming Week:

12/17 at Evansville Icemen - 7:15 p.m. CST
Home vs. EVN 3-1-0, Away vs. EVN 1-0-0
The Jackals face Evansville for the sixth of six meetings this season and the second of two at the Ford Center. Elmira won the first four meetings against Evansville this year, including a 3-2 win on November 5th at the Ford Center. Former Icemen Mike Seidel scored the eventually game-winner in the Wednesday morning School Day game. Seidel added his second game-winning-goal against Evansville on November 28th. The last meeting resulted in Evansville's first win against Elmira this season. Chris Driedger turned aside all 38 shots he faced and former Jackal Kevin Harvey scored the lone goal of the game to give the Icemen a 1-0 advantage. The Jackals are 11-2-1 all-time against Evansville since the Icemen joined the ECHL in the 2012-13 season. Elmira is also 5-0-0 at the Ford Center in the all-time series.

12/19 at Cincinnati Cyclones - 7:35 p.m. EST; 12/20 at Cincinnati Cyclones - 7:35 p.m. EST
Home vs. CIN 0-0-0, Away vs. CIN 0-0-0
This weekend the Jackals face Cincinnati for the first two of four meetings this season and the first two of three at U.S. Bank Arena. Despite going 2-4-1 last season against Cincinnati, Elmira holds a 20-13-6 all-time record against the Cyclones. The last time these two teams met was March 22, 2014. The Jackals scored first but the Cyclones stormed back and defeated Elmira 4-1 at U.S. Bank Arena. Elmira's last win against Cincinnati came on January 16, 2014. Danny Hobbs, Maxim Lamarche, Rob Bellamy, Jean Bourbeau and Ludwig Karlsson scored for the Jackals and Maxime Clermont stopped 25 of 29 shots in the team's 5-4 victory on the road. Veteran defenseman Nick Tuzzolino added two assists in two games last year against Cincinnati as a member of the Fort Wayne Komets.

  Recapping Last Week:

12/9 at Orlando: W 3-1

Sam Marotta stopped 40 shots and stonewalled the Solar Bears in the Jackals' 3-1 victory at the Amway Center in Orlando. Justin Sawyer gave the Jackals some juice just 3:37 into the game when he dropped the gloves with Carl Neilsen in a heavyweight bout. Four minutes and nine seconds later Kellan Tochkin scored his first goal as a Jackal with a wrist shot that snuck through the legs of a defender and past Orlando goaltender Kent Patterson. The Jackals continued to press in the first period, even on the penalty kill. Steven Shamanski stole the puck from Mickey Lang, streaked down the right wing side and fed Taylor Stefishen for the short-handed marker. The Jackals added to their lead 3:56 into the second period. Matt Tassone won the draw back to Shamanski who fired a shot on net and Tassone swung through the slot and deposited the rebound for his team-leading ninth goal of the season.

12/10 at Florida: L 2-6

Florida jumped out early with Adam Brace's seventh of the season coming just 12 seconds into the game. The Everblades doubled their lead at the 4:20 mark of the period when Mitch Wahl one-timed a feed from Brace past Travis Fullerton. The Jackals bounced back and cut the Florida lead in half with Matt Tassone's 10th goal of the season 14:14 into the first period. Mike Seidel shoveled the puck into the corner and Taylor Stefishen fed Tassone in the slot for the tally. Florida would add their third goal at 10:34 of the second period. Alex Lavoie took a pass from Cameron Burt and found John McInnis in the slot for his fifth of the year. Less than a minute later Colin Jacobs' cross-ice pass was intercepted by Brace, who fed Wahl for a breakaway and his second goal of the night. McInnis would add his second goal of the night as well at 14:47 of the second period with the man advantage. Tassone notched his second of the night with a redirect off of Steven Shamanski's point shot on the power-play at 11:32 of the third period. However, that would be as close as the Jackals would get to a comeback as Alex Aleardi added his second of the season less than a minute later.

12/11 at Orlando: L 2-5

The home fans did not have to wait long to participate in their Teddy Toss Night. Nick Tuzzolino was whistled for slashing just 16 seconds into the game and on the ensuing power-play Brett Findlay found Ben Rosen backdoor for a power-play goal 1:03 into the game. Orlando added its second power-play goal of the night 9:54 into the second period when Jacob Cepis deposited his own rebound in the slot. The Jackals answered less than three minutes later and cut the Orlando lead back down to one. Justin Daniels worked the puck down low to Kellan Tochkin who found Thomas Nesbitt in the high slot for his fifth of the season. However, less than two minutes later Patrick Watling scored a controversial goal, which appeared to be kicked in. The Solar Bears added another at 17:47 of the second period with Mike Ullrich's breakaway marker. The Jackals came out in the third period and quickly cut the Solar Bears' lead down to two. Daniels swung down the right side and deposited the loose change past Orlando netminder Garret Sparks for his second of the season. Elmira pressed but could not cut any deeper into Orlando's lead.

Quick Hits:

* Elmira is tied for the league-lead with nine home wins.

* Elmira is 10-2-2 when scoring first.

* Sam Marotta is third among rookie goalies with a 2.66 GAA and second with a .914 SV%.

* Steven Shamanski leads all rookie defensemen with five goals and 18 points. He is tied for second among all defensemen with nine power-play points.

* Elmira is 13-0-1 when scoring three or more goals.

* Jackals captain Matt Tassone leads the team with 11 goals and is tied for the team-lead with 18 points, despite playing in just 15 of the team's 25 games. Tassone leads the Jackals with a 25.0% shooting percentage (11-for-44).

* Elmira is second in the league with 22.28 penalty minutes per game.