VERSUS 
The Florida Everblades closed out their preseason schedule with a 4-2 win over the Greenville Road Warriors on Saturday night at Germain Arena.
The Everblades staked themselves to a 4-0 lead late in the second period before the Road Warriors battled back to score the game’s final two goals.
The Everblades opened the scoring with the lone first period goal coming off the stick of Alex Imbeault at 15:54 when his quick wrist shot from the right circle found it’s way past Greenville net minder Nic Riopel. The play was set up by quick outlet passes by Evgeny Timkin and Francis Lemieux.
Before the half way mark of the second period the Everblades added to their lead on Timkin’s first preseason goal. The Russian native blistered a slap shot from the top of the right circle under the cross bar and into the net at 7:29 of the frame to open a 2-0 lead. Imbeault set up the play with a perfect pass from the top of the left circle.
The score remained 2-0 until the late stages of the middle stanza when the teams combined to score three goals in the final 2:12. Florida increased their lead to 3-0 at the 17:48 mark when Matt Pistilli cashed in a Trevor Hendrikx rebound at the left side of the net. Hendrickx’s shot from the right point was stopped by Riopel, but found its way to Pistilli who slammed it home.
The Everblades took control of the game with 45 seconds remaining the second period on Imbeault’s second goal of the night with Florida on the power play. Imbeault was set up once again by the teamwork of Timkin and Lemieux before letting a quick one-timer from the top of the slot that found its way through the pads of Riopel.
Looking like they were going to head into the locker room down 4-0 Greenville got one back just five seconds after Imbeault’s tally. Right off the face off defenseman David Stratham let a shot go from the neutral zone that skipped past Everblades goalie David Markowicz with 40 seconds left in the period.
The final period saw the Everblades hold off waves of pressure from Greenville until late in the period. The Road Warriors, who out shot the Everblades 17-4 in the period, cut the lead down to two with 1:15 left in regulation. Andrew Carroll snatched up a rebound at the top of the crease off Brad Cole’s shot from the left point and slid the puck past a sprawling Markowicz to trim the score to 4-2.
In goal Markowicz picked up his second preseason win stopping 36 of 38 shots, while Riopel took the loss allowing the four goals on 23 shots.
On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 1-of-5, while Greenville closed out the game 0-of-3.
2010-11 Florida Everblades season ticket packages are available now! For just $66 you can get your piece of the action for next season! The Everblades begin the 2010-11 season on Friday, October 15 when they host the Gwinnett Gladiators at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
3 Stars:
1 – Alex Imbeault – FLA
2 – Evgeny Timkin – FLA
3 – Brian Markowicz – FLA
