ROAD WARRIORS WEEKLY #6: 11/22/10-11/28/10 

The Greenville Road Warriors finished last week with an even .500 record and maintained their spot in second place in the South Division. This week, after opening with 12 of their first 15 games at home, the Road Warriors will head north for a week-long trip and four games against non-divisional opponents.

Record: 9-5-1, 19 pts., 2nd place South Division
Leaders:
Goals – Brendan Connolly: 9
Assists – Mark Voakes: 10
Points – Brendan Connolly: 17
+/- – Julien Brouillette: +10
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 36
PPG – Andrew Carroll/Justin Bowers: 4
SHG – Julien Brouillette/Brendan Connolly/Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 1
Wins – Nic Riopel: 6
GAA – Nic Riopel: 2.65
SVP – Nic Riopel: .918

This Week:

11/24 & 11/28 at Wheeling, 7:05 p.m. each night – Home (2-0-0), Away (0-0-0)
The Road Warriors met the Nailers for the first time last week and skated away with a pair of victories at the BI-LO Center. Greenville handled the Nailers in fine fashion with wins of 4-2 and 6-2, and never trailed in either game. This week, the Road Warriors kick off and close their first long road trip of the season with visits to WesBanco Arena. Wheeling has struggled, at times, on home ice this season and has posted a 4-5-0 record at WesBanco and has been out-scored 27-21 there. The Nailers’ last home win was a 5-4 overtime win against Elmira on November 7. Wheeling is returning home from a four-game road trip that saw the team put up a 1-3-0 record. Greenville, meanwhile, is looking for its first road win of the season. The Road Warriors have only played three games away from the BI-LO Center at this point, but have been out-scored 14-5 in losses to Gwinnett (2) and South Carolina (1). Greenville has given up eight power play goals in its three road games.

11/25 and 11/26 at Kalamazoo, 7:30 p.m. each night – Home (0-0-0), Away (0-0-0)
The Kalamazoo Wings are the defending North Division champions after joining the ECHL in the summer of 2009. Thursday and Friday will be the first ever meeting between the Road Warriors and Wings. The Wings begin the week in second place in the North Division with a 7-5-2 record. Thursday’s game will be Kalamazoo’s first in six days after a brief two-game road swing in Cincinnati while the Road Warriors will be playing in their fourth game over that same time frame. Greenville will be trying to take advantage of a Kalamazoo defense which has given up the fourth-most goals in the conference (47) in just 14 games; a 3.35 goal-against average. The Wings do boast the league’s fourth best scorer in Kory Karlander who has 20 points (8G, 12A) in 14 games, and goalie Ryan Nie who is tied for second in the league with six wins.

Broadcast Schedule:

Wed. 11/24: Road Warriors at Wheeling, 7:05 p.m.
Thurs. 11/25: Road Warriors at Kalamazoo, 7:30 p.m.
Fri. 11/26: Road Warriors at Kalamazoo, 7:30 p.m.
Sun. 11/28: Road Warriors at Wheeling, 7:05 p.m.

All Road Warriors radio broadcasts can be heard online for free courtesy of America One. Point your browser to www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com and click “Listen Live” to join Ray Schmitt on the broadcasts. Road Warriors fans can also watch Internet TV broadcasts of the games by clicking here. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to face off with the Road Warriors Pregame Show. Fans can also email Radio Ray and have their questions read during the broadcast! Send your questions to grwradioray@gmail.com.

Last Week:

11/16 at S. Carolina: L 1-3

Maxime Lacroix (2G) and Tommy Goebel (3A) put up big numbers for the Stingrays as they snapped the Road Warriors’ three-game win streak. Lacroix began the scoring with a power play goal at 4:35 of the first period and then stretched the Stingrays’ lead to 2-0 1:33 into the third period. Brendan Connolly gave the Road Warriors a shot to get back in the game when he cashed in his team-leading eighth of the season with 5:11 left to play. Greenville’s comeback bid was dealt a crippling blow when Jimmy Kilpatrick was whistled for holding the stick at 17:58 of the third. Despite the shorthanded situation, Greenville pulled Dov Grumet-Morris for an extra attacker but Nikita Kashirsky potted an empty-net goal with 30 seconds remaining to seal the win. Grumet-Morris turned in 34 saves on the night for Greenville.

11/18 vs. Wheeling: W 4-2

Second period goals 31 seconds apart by Shane Harper and Marc-Olivier Vallerand broke open a scoreless game and propelled the Road Warriors to their seventh straight home win. Wheeling’s Ben Street chipped away at the Road Warriors’ lead with his second goal of the season at the 13:00 mark of the second. Greenville never lost composure and at 17:17 Brendan Connolly potted his ninth goal of the season. It turned out to be the eventual game winner and was the third consecutive Road Warriors win that Connolly scored the winning goal. Mark Voakes added an insurance marker with a power play score 5:54 into the third. Ex-NHLer Kris Vernarsky trimmed Greenville’s lead to two at 11:19 but Dov Grumet-Morris and the Greenville defense shut things down the rest of the way. Grumet-Morris earned the win with 31 saves.

11/19 vs. Wheeling: W 6-2

Greenville matched its best offensive effort of the season and picked up its eighth consecutive home win and swept the two-game mini-series over Wheeling. Justin Bowers netted his team-leading fourth power play goal of the season at 7:05 of the first to put the Road Warriors in front. Wheeling answered back with a 5-on-3 power play goal from Andrew Lord 3:16 into the second. Marc-Olivier Vallerand responded with a shorthanded goal for the Road Warriors at 6:06 and from there it was all Road Warriors. Connor Shields and Blake Parlett (first pro goal) added scores in the middle frame while Jimmy Kilpatrick and Vallerand tallied in the third. Kilpatrick’s goal was his first as a Road Warrior and Vallerand netted his first two-goal game as a pro. David Marshall had the other goal for Wheeling at 3:30 of the third. Grumet-Morris earned his second straight win with 30 saves.

11/21 vs. Gwinnett: L 1-2

It was a battle for sole possession of first place in the South Division when the Road Warriors hosted the Gladiators on Sunday. Greenville was also looking to repay the Gladiators for a pair of losses in Gwinnett on November 6 and 7. After coming down from the Adirondack Phantoms of the AHL, rookie goalie Brian Stewart was strong with 32 saves, but a timely goal after a Greenville turnover proved to be the Road Warriors’ undoing. Mike Forney and Paul McIlveen traded goals in the second period leaving the score tied at one heading into the final frame. As the clock wound down the game seemed destined for overtime, but a failed clearing attempt allowed Gwinnett’s Chris Poli to center the puck to an open Pat Galivan. Galivan squibbed a shot past Stewart on the blocker side for the eventual game winner.

ONE-TIMERS:
Scoring Streaks:
Goals:

·    A. Carroll, 4 games (6G); 10/22-10/30

Assists:

·    B. Connolly, 3 games (3A); 11/18-11/21

·    B. Wong, 2 games (3A); 11/19-11/21

Points:

·    A. Carroll, 4 games (6G, 2A); 10/22-10/30

·    B. Wong, 2 games (3A); 11/19-11/21

·    B. Connolly, 7 games (6G, 5A); 11/11-11/21

Quick Hits:

· Brendan Connolly was nominated for ECHL Player of the Week after racking up two goals and three assists in four games last week. The second-year forward leads Greenville with 17 points (9G, 8A).

· Greenville is 27-for-29 on the penalty kill (93.1 %) in its last five home games.

· Road Warriors play nine of their next 10 games on the road. They are the only team in the ECHL yet to win an away game but lead the league with nine home wins.

· Wednesday’s game in Wheeling will feature two of the league’s top rookie sharpshooters. Wheeling’s Nick Petersen (7) and Greenville’s Marc-Olivier Vallerand (6) are second and third, respectively, in goals among rookies.

· Road Warriors are third in the league in goals per game at 3.60 and seventh in goals-against per game at 2.87.

Mark your calendars! Don’t forget about these upcoming promotions:

– 12/2 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Dollar Drink Thursday. For the fourth time this season the Road Warriors will be offering select fountain drinks and draft beers for just $1!

– 12/14 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Twofer Tuesday. For the first time this season the Road Warriors will offer their Twofer Tuesday special. What you get with the special are two center-ice tickets, two hot dogs, two drinks, and two boxes of popcorn for just $30.