Due to a power outage that caused a quarter-inch of the ice surface at the Monroe Civic Center to melt, the start of the Monroe Moccasins' game against Lake Charles on Friday was delayed until around 9:30 p.m. Game results will be in Sunday's News-Star.

Monroe was originally scheduled to face Arkansas, but the GlacierCats were marooned in Little Rock, and their bus driver refused to travel down, forcing a new opponent to be found.

Lake Charles was originally scheduled to play Shreveport, which was also stuck in Little Rock, but the Ice Pirates were sent here by the Western Professional Hockey League.

The Snake Pit lost power, like much of northeastern Louisiana. Full power was restored to the Snake Pit at around 5 p.m. Friday.

Monroe will play host to Alexandria today at 7 p.m.

What a long, strange trip Friday was for the Monroe Moccasins and Lake Charles Ice Pirates.

With weather problems and power outages causing the ice in the Snke Pit to melt, the 7 p.m. game didn't begin until well after 9 p.m.

When the puck landed in the empty net for a 5-2 Ice Pirates' win a little after midnight Lake Charles had survived an extended day.

"There was a lot of adversity today," Lake Charles forward Tracey Katelnikoff said. "Today after about the first three things that happened, it started to be comical. It started a few days age in New Mexico and now here we are."

Katelnikoff scored the Ice Pirates' second power-play goal of the second period, helping Lake Charles take a 3-2 lead en route to the win. The victory helped Lake Charles remain close to the Mocs in the Western Professional Hockey League's Eastern Division.

But Lake Charles wasn't even supposed to be the Mocs' opponent. Monroe was to take on Arkansas. But due to the weather, the GlacierCats were stuck in Little Rock with no route to Monroe.

Ditto for Shreveport, which was also stuck in Little Rock. So the WPHL sent the Ice Pirates, who had driven from New Mexico to Shreveport through the weather for their apparent game.

"It was just before midnight when we got to Shreveport," Ice Pirates coach Bob Loucks said. "We left at 11 p.m. the night before. We had no heat on the bus, and guys were standing at the front of the bus with blow dryers so we could drive."

Monroe had its own problems, and a little reversal of fortune.

With the power fully restored to the Civic Center arena at 5 p.m., the waiting game started. As fans waited for the ice to harden and the game to begin, so too were the players.

"We were a little impatient, which didn't help." said monroe left wing Kelvin Solari, who scored both Mocs goals. "We had been on the road for a long time and were sitting around for four or five hours. There wasn't much we could do though."

The ice concerns didn't end until right before the game began. Monroe warmed up on the opposite end from where it usually does, because of concerns for one spot in particular.

Everything from fire extinguishers to old ice was used to solidify the spot.

"I know Bob didn't want to play the game," Mocs coach Brian Curran said. "It was evident by dthe meetings we had beforehand. I heard just about every reason we shouldn't play, but I'm sure he's quite happy that we did play."

Loucks was just happy his team could end its strange day with a win.

"Any time you handle adversity it makes you better," Loucks said.