KiXX Defeat Comet, 21-8 For Second Straight Home Win

Saturday, December 29, 2001

By Jeff Schumacher
Philadelphia Kixx Correspondent

The first place Philadelphia KiXX (11-4) defeated the Kansas City Comets (7-9), 21-8 Saturday night in front of a crowd of 4,639. Chris Handsor recorded a hat trick by scoring 3 two-point goals in the 3rd period. Joe Scigliano also notched a hat trick. Don D'Ambra recorded a goal, playing for the first time since going down with an injury on November 28. Goalkeeper Peter Pappas made 9 saves in the win.

Nino DaSilva and Nate Houser lead the Comets' in scoring with a goal and an assist each. Goalkeeper Chris Damico made 15 saves in the losing effort.

The KiXX travel to Baltimore on January 4th for their next game and return Sunday, January 6th when they welcome the Baltimore Blast for a 5:05 p.m. start.

Kansas City took an early lead, 2-0, just 1:50 into the first period.

Comets forward Darren Sawatzky scored into an empty right side of the net. The Comets took an initial shot from the top of the key, but it deflected off of Midfielder Nate Houser right to Sawatzky. KiXX goalie Peter Pappas had fallen down trying to make the initial save leaving the right side of the net open. That was Kansas City's only shot on goal in the period. Philadelphia scored a power play goal at 4:38 of the first quarter to even the score at 2-2. KiXX defender Omid Namazi fed a pass from the right corner to midfielder Jim Hesch who tipped the ball in just inside the left goalpost. The penalty was called on Comets forward Jaime Harding for holding when he dragged down KiXX midfielder Gary DePalma during a KiXX 3-1 breakaway at 3:46.

Despite Philadelphia out shooting Kansas City 7-3 in the second quarter, neither team was able to score. DePalma went down with an injury early in the period. He did not return.

Philadelphia took their first lead of the game, 4-2, just 28 seconds into the 3rd quarter when midfielder Joe Scigliano stole a pass from the Comets and dribbled inside the three-point stripe before blasting an unassisted goal past Comets' goalkeeper Chris Damico. The KiXX extended their lead to 6-2 when defensemen Drew Kopp fed a pass from midfield to forward Chris Handsor waiting at the yellow line. Handsor moved to the top of the key where he shot the ball just right of Damico's reach at 8:38. Kansas City closed the lead to 6-4 at 11:21 when forward Wes Wade knitted a pass to forward Dino Delevski who snuck the ball past Pappas. The KiXX struck back at 12:23 when Handsor took a pass from midfielder Chris Marinos. Handsor dribbled around 3 defenders before putting the ball in the bottom right hand corner of the net to give Philadelphia an 8-4 lead. Handsor scored his third goal of the quarter when he put a pass from Namazi in the top left hand corner of the net with just 7 seconds left in the quarter to give the KiXX a 10-4 lead.

"There was a change in tempo after the first half," said KiXX Head Coach/Player Omid Namazi. "Kansas City was playing careful in the first half, but once they started becoming aggressive, we were able to counter attack."

Philadelphia struck first in the 4th quarter, when off a restart, Namazi fed a pass to D'Ambra who kicked the ball just below the crossbar for a 12-4 KiXX lead. The KiXX increased the lead to 14-4 when Scigliano and Handsor went on a 2 on 1 break. Scigliano's initial shot was deflected to Handsor, who passed it back to Scigliano who tipped it in the net at 1:29. The Comets narrowed the KiXX lead to 14-6 when defenseman Alex Zotinca passed the ball to forward Nino DaSilva. DaSilva blasted the ball to the right of Pappas at 1:49. Off a restart Namazi passed the ball to midfielder Joel Shanker who fed the ball to Scigliano who tapped the ball in the right side of the net at 2:02 to record the hat trick. Kansas City added a goal at 5:00 to narrow the score to 16-8 when a DaSilva shot came right back to him. He passed the ball to Houser who had an empty net to score in to. Philadelphia added a bonus punch at 10:15 when Shanker gave the KiXX an 18-8 lead by shooting the ball in the lower left corner of the net. Kopp recorded the assist. The goal was scored on Comets' 6th attacker Kevin Koetters. Marinos sealed the game at 1:18 when he scored a three-point goal from his own side of mid-field at 13:43 off a pass from Hesch to give Philadelphia a 21-8 win.

Notes: Philadelphia went 1-1 on the power play, while Kansas City did not have any opportunities... Philadelphia played without Shayne Campbell (right hamstring), Kevin Sloan (left hamstring), Cesidio Colasante (ACL tear) and Pat Morris (bruised ribs).

For ticket information, call 888-888-KIXX or log on to www.kixxonline.com.