Christmas Party Was Great!

 Worcester Ice Cats 
Sunday, February 25, 2001
                                       CODY SAVES
 Worcester goaltender Cody Rudkowsky made 52 saves last night as the IceCats defeated the St. John’s Maple Leafs 4-3 at Worcester’s Centrum Centre. The victory was the 37th of the season for the ‘Cats, who lead the American Hockey League in the “Wins” column and are pacing the AHL with 81 points.  Despite a scoreless first period, in which Worcester was outshot 20-4, the ‘Cats were able to grab the lead early in the second. Daniel Corso scored just 30 seconds into the frame. Adam Mair and Don MacLean answered Corso with goals for the Maple Leafs in the middle period before Worcester’s leading scorer, Eric Bogniecki, tied it up again at the 14:35 mark.  Mike Peluso gave Worcester its second lead of the night two minutes into the third. For the IceCats, it was their third power play goal of the game. A little less than three minutes later, Andrei Troschinsky went on to bag the eventual game winner as Mair's follow up goal became non-consequential.  Rudkowsky turned aside an unbelievable 52 of 55 shots, including 39 through the first two periods. "I felt good from the start of warm-ups and I was seeing the puck really well," noted the second year 'Cat. "I was just glad to help our team get the win."   The Leafs made it tough down to the wire. Their 55th and final shot gave them an opportunity to tie the game with only 10 seconds remaining as Don MacLean had an alley to the net. Rudkowsky, however, stopped the surging Leaf. "I was thinking about poke checking the guy, but I stayed in position and played the angle. My d-men made it easier on me to make the save as they came back in on the play and the puck hit me in the head."  “I felt pretty good out there,” said Marc Brown, who picked up an assist on Troschinsky’s goal while playing in his first game since Nov. 28th after undergoing abdominal surgery. However, he couldn’t help but turn  the attention to the netminder that tied a 2000-01 single-game AHL high in saves. “(Rudkowsky) was awesome. He was really standing up out there.”