Four out of four points equals a great weekend's work for the Snakes. Not that it was easy on those of us who were watching...

When I talked to Jerome before the game, he was a little concerned that last night's emotional win would leave the guys a little flat. He certainly expected the IceGators to come out flying, which they did. They had something to prove after last night's domination by the Cottonmouths.

I was afraid we were in for a long night when Andrew Loewen struggled with control of his rebounds. Never a good sign. On the Gators' first goal, it wasn't the initial shot that went in. Not even the second shot. It was the third one. 1-0 visitors.

Could the line of Derek Pallardy-Orrin Hergott-Greg Beller be any hotter? Add to their recent excellent performance the fact that Derek's family was in town this weekend and you have a sizzling trio out there. Should I see if Derek's folks can move here? haha

Derek and Orrin's hard work resulted in the tying goal. Derek did the honors, with an assist from Orrin. Tie game, 1-1.

Morgan James and Daniel Amesbury dropped the gloves only three seconds after Derek's goal. Still a lot of sweater grabbing, but better than last night. Daniel landed a couple of pretty good punches this time.

James scores for LA and the Snakes have to mount yet another comeback...ugh. Enter the blue line...this time it's Orrin, with assists from Derek and Jordan. Orrin was at the corner of the net...just waiting for his chance. Open net. Top shelf. Tied...again. 2-2 this time. It was the first of two PPG.

After the Gators pulled ahead again, Will Barlow decided to get his team's attention. He took on Kevin Beauregard, who has 6 inches and about 30 pounds on Will...at least. Will landed blow after blow and after it was over, Will headed to the box and Beauregard off the ice, looking a little wobbly. Too far away for my concussion assessment, which only works on my guys anyway...haha.

A really weird sequence of events to start the third. Since I'm usually visiting with folks, I don't notice the promotions, with the exception of chuck-a-puck, which Reese didn't win this time..ugh. So not sure if it took a little longer than usual, but when the teams took the ice, it was still really, really wet. There was a puddle down the center.

The puddle helped, then hurt Greg Beller. A LA player had the puck and he went to move it and it just STOPPED. Greg grabbed it and tried to move it, but the puck hit a puddle and just quit. The linesman had to get the squeegee and remove some of the excess water. It seemed to be fine afterward.

Greg didn't let a few little puddles deter him. He grabbed the puck in the Snakes zone, scooted down the left boards and put it in the net, unassisted to tie the scorer 3-3.

By this time, I start wondering how many comebacks the Snakes had in them and wouldn't it be nice to actually have a lead...:) A golden opportunity soon presented itself in the form of a 5-on-3. The Gators did a nice job of killing the two-man advantage, but the Snakes converted for their second PPG of the night. A 4-3 lead (that's the good news) with half a period to play (that's the bad news).

A no-goal call negated the chance the Snakes had to go up by two. I think it was Orrin who threw it at the net. The goal judge lit the lamp, but, after a conference with the refs (there were 2 tonight) they ruled it had not gone completely over the line.

The most controversial call of the night came with 4:38 to play. The refs gave Mitch Wall two penalties...one for elbowing and one for unsportsmanlike conduct. Now I assume the latter was for his reaction to the original penalty. Later, Jordan Braid said it was the wrong call. It should have been a minor for elbowing and then a 10-minute misconduct for Mitch's reaction.

Bad news for Mitch as his night would've been over, but the Snakes would've had to kill only two minutes rather than, in effect, the whole rest of the game.

The tying goal continued an unfortunate trend that the Snakes have experienced lately. A real momentum killer, or in this case, a win in regulation, when you give up a goal in the first or last minute of the period. Happening way too much. This time, I was standing right across from Andrew. I could see the puck floating out there, inches from the goal line. Andrew was reaching for it...but it drifted across the line. OT. :(

Even though I pretty much hate OT, this year the Snakes have been really good at pulling out the Ws. They've lost 5 in OT this season, but have won 7. Of those 7 wins, 5 have been at the Snake Pit. So I've been spared a lot of the sudden-death, agony of defeat misery that I hate. I can live with those numbers...haha.

Great job by Andrew Krelove and Jordan in OT to grab the win and prime the crowd for the midget wrestling. Didn't see the wrestling as I came home to write...in my pjs, on my sofa, with plenty of time. Ahhhhh. But what an awesome crowd tonight...largest of the season, 5006!!! Great job, front office staff. Know ya'all worked hard. :)

Preceding the midgets was karaoke. I never could find Peggy and John to say hi, but the other Middlebury duo was there. I asked John Sullivan Sr if he was headed to sign up for karaoke. He said no, but....since I didn't stay, don't know that John Sr wasn't the star of the evening. haha

Thought it was unlikely in a crowd that large, looked for somebody who resembled Derek so I could thank them for coming and helping inspire a great offensive weekend, but no luck.

After I finished interviewing the guys, Dave Kessler stopped by to say hi, as I asked the parents to do in this space. Nice to make a personal connection with my readers. Dave is one of the lucky ones. He doesn't have to come from the great white north...either Canada or the US. He has to head down I185 from Newnan. He rarely misses a game. Great to meet you, Dave!

My encounter with Dave was the pleasant part of my hallway experience tonight. The unpleasant part was when Gators coach Kevin Kaminski gave the refs a piece of his mind as they left the ice. I'd tell you what he said, but this is a family space. Not sure which specific call the coach was steamed about, but the PIMs ended up dead even.

Going to talk to Daniel for a story to run next Friday. Will chase him down early next week. In the meantime, a Sunday with no hockey and no football. Wow.

Stay tuned.