DARCHE NETS HATTRICK TO LEAD TEAM WHITE TO 3-0 WIN

On the fourth and final day of camp scrimmages, Team White pulled out a 3-0 victory against Team Black on the power of a Mathieu Darche hattrick. Scoring his first three goals of this year’s training camp scrimmages, Darche helped give Team White a final 2-0-2 record against Team Black. The win was the second consecutive victory for Team White.

Darche opened the scoring a little more than a minute into the contest, when he slid the puck past Johan Holmqvist at the side of the crease. Less than two minutes later Darche added his second goal of the scrimmage off a slapshot Matt Smaby fired from the left faceoff circle.

Darche, signed as a free agent on July 2, 2007, led the AHL’s Worcester Sharks in goals, assists, points, power-play goals and multi-point games before being recalled to the San Jose Sharks during the 2006-07 season.

Playing with the 2-0 lead, Team White continued applying tough pressure early in the contest before Team Black responded with chances on netminder Marc Denis. With play picking up in front of the net, defenseman Paul Ranger fired a shot through traffic but Denis closed his pads on the puck for the save.

Early in the second frame, Denis made a similar save on a Kyle Wanvig shot from the right faceoff circle, before denying Michele Ouellet on a penalty shot. After drawing a penalty, Ouellet tried to make a deke attempt on Denis, but the Lightning goaltender dropped on the shot to keep Team Black within two.

Denis would later contain a Brad Richards shot through traffic, but despite his best efforts allowed the third and final goal of the scrimmage. With less than 10 minutes remaining in the matchup Darche connected on an odd-man rush to complete his hattrick by one-timing a pass by Chris Gratton to the short-side of Denis.

Denis finished the contest by stopping 19 of 20 shots faced through 26:30 between the pipes. The goal by Darche was the first Denis had allowed since the first scrimmage on Saturday morning, and the Tampa Bay netminder finished with a .964 save percentage through 107.5 minutes of ice time.

On the opposite of the ice, Karri Ramo continued his strong performance by stopping all 13 shots faced through 22:30 of playing time. Ramo posted a scrimmage-best 1.08 goals-against average and .967 save percentage through all four days of scrimmages.

Picking up an assist on Darche’s first goal of the morning, Brad Richards led all skaters with four points, all assists, during training camp scrimmages. Darche’s three goals placed him as the second-leading scorer during the morning match-ups, while five players tied for third with two points each.

Over the course of training camp Team Black was held to three goals through four contests.

As the Lightning conclude scrimmages, they prepare to face off against the Dallas Stars for their pre-season opener. Tampa Bay will play five pre-season games, including three at the St. Pete Times Forum, starting with the Wednesday, September 19 (7:30p.m.) matchup against the Stars.

Date: Sept. 18, 2007      Teams:       Team Black 0    vs.    Team White 3

GOALTENDERS

TEAM: Black

NAME	MIN	SV	SA
Johan Holmqvist	28:00	20	18

TEAM:  White

NAME	MIN	SV	SA
Marc Denis	26:30	20	19
Karri Ramo	22:30	13	13

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TEAM Black

PLAYER	GP	G	A	TP
Prospal, Vaclav	4	1	1	2
Tarnasky, Nick	4	1	0	1
Lecavalier, Vincent	4	1	0	1
Roy, Andre	4	0	1	1
Ranger, Paul	4	0	1	1
Stewart, Karl	4	0	0	0
St. Louis, Martin	4	0	0	0
Schneider, David	4	0	0	0
Milley, Norm	4	0	0	0
MacDonald, Craig	4	0	0	0
Lundin, Mike	4	0	0	0
Leach, Jay	4	0	0	0
Lampman, Bryce	4	0	0	0
Craig, Ryan	4	0	0	0
Boyle, Dan	4	0	0	0

Goaltenders

PLAYER	GP	MIN	SA	SV	SV%	GAA
Holmqvist, Johan	4	116:17	58	52	0.897	3.10

TEAM WHITE

PLAYER	GP	G	A	TP
Richards, Brad	4	0	4	4
Darche, Mathieu	4	3	0	3
Ouellet, Michel	4	1	1	2
Wanvig, Kyle	4	1	1	2
Gratton, Chris	4	1	1	2
Lukowich, Brad	4	0	2	2
Ward, Jason	4	1	0	1
Janik, Doug	4	0	1	1
Karlsson, Andreas	4	0	1	1
Smaby, Matt	4	0	1	1
Hlavac, Jan	3	0	0	0
Jones, Blair	4	0	0	0
O'Brien, Shane	4	0	0	0
Kuba, Filip	4	0	0	0
Jancevski, Dan	4	0	0	0

Goaltenders

PLAYER	GP	MIN	SA	SV	SV%	GAA
Ramo, Karri	4	111.5	60	58	0.967	1.08
Denis, Marc	4	107.5	56	54	0.964	1.12