The Greenville Road Warriors used a third period surge to pick up a 4-1 win over the Florida Everblades on Thursday night. A crowd of 4,576 turned out at the BI-LO Center to take in the victory.
The Road Warriors opened the game strong and out-shot the Everblades 20-5 in the first period. Greenville picked up some momentum as Igor Gongalsky brought the crowd to its feet by dropping the gloves with Florida‘s Mitch McColm halfway through the period. The Road Warriors took advantage of a Florida turnover late in the first period as Chris Chappell came away with the puck and hit Matt Schepke for a one-timer past Florida goalie Bobby Goepfert with 37 seconds left in the period.
Florida swung the momentum its way in the second period notching a goal 52 seconds into the period. Alexandre Imbeault tied the game at one with a backhander off of a scramble in front of the net. Greenville goalie Nic Riopel tried to find the puck through the crowd but the shot beat him to the blocker side. Florida out-chanced the Road Warriors 2-0 on the power play in the second period and outshot Greenville 13-9.
The Road Warriors began to sway things in t
heir favor early in the third period. With 15:16 left in the third period, an apparent upper body injury to Florida goalie Bobby Goepfert disallowed a Road Warriors go-ahead goal. The injury forced Goepfert to leave the game and he was replaced by 19-year-old rookie Jaroslav Janus. The Road Warriors took advantage of the change and with 7:35 left in the third period Julien Brouillette scored on an unassisted wrist shot from the left wing. The goal came on just the second shot that Janus faced and proved to be the game winner. The Road Warriors stretched the lead shortly after with 6:24 left in the third. Working on the forecheck, Chappell won the puck battle sending it to Brendan Connolly who beat Janus low along the ice. The Road Warriors continued the scoring barrage in the third when Schepke scored his second goal of the night on a breakaway. After a Florida turnover, Marc Olivier-Vallerand hit Connor Shields who slid it ahead to Schepke who raced in and sent a wrist shot past Janus’ blocker side.
Nic Riopel posted 26 saves in earning the victory as the Road Warriors outshot the Everblades 39-27. Greenville finished 0-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors play the second game in their inaugural season against the Florida Everblades on Friday, October 22 at 7:05 p.m. Join the Road Warriors for their first Friday Family Four-Pack. The Friday Family Four pack features four each of: game tickets, hot dogs, pretzels, chips, and sodas for just $48! Group ticket packages are available for groups of 10 or more. Call 864-674-PUCK to book your group outing today. For more information on Road Warriors ticket options visit www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com.
