IHL recaps for Dec. 30, 1997

Wednesday, Dec. 31, 1997 | 4:01 a.m.

Long Beach Ice Dogs 4, Houston Aeros 3 (SO)

HOUSTON--The Long Beach Ice Dogs (22-13-5) moved up a notch in the IHL Southwest Division standings with Tuesday night's 4-3 shootout win over the first-place Houston Aeros. The tiebreaker loss, in front of a Compaq Center crowd of 7,224, kept Houston in front of the pack by one point going into a two-game set against third-place Utah. Dan Lambert scored at 8:23 of the third period to send the game to the tiebreaker, then netted the first of Long Beach's three shootout goals. Goalie Kay Whitmore, who made 27 saves for the Ice Dogs in regulation, stopped three of four shootout attempts to snap the Aeros' four-game winning streak. Long Beach took the lead at 1:25 of the first period, on a goal by Vitali Yachmenev. Houston's Mike Yeo equalized four minutes into the second. Shannon Finn put the Ice Dogs back in front briefly at 15:31, but goals by Rob Valisevic and Mark Freer gave Houston a 3-2 edge before the intermission. Aeros netminder Ryan Bach faced 33 shots and made 30 saves in regulation.

archive