ROAD WARRIORS WEEKLY #7: 11/29/10-12/5/10 

GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors lived up to their nickname by winning each of their four games on their northern road trip last week. On tap this week; a return to South Division action with a first-place showdown on Thursday and a pair of road games to close out the week.

Record: 13-5-1, 27 pts., 2nd place South Division
Leaders:
Goals – Brendan Connolly: 11
Assists – Mark Voakes/Brendan Connolly/Justin Bowers: 12
Points – Brendan Connolly: 23
+/- – Brendan Connolly: +13
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 62
PPG – Julien Brouillette/Justin Bowers: 4
SHG – Brendan Connolly: 2
Wins – Nic Riopel: 6
GAA – Nic Riopel: 2.65
SVP – Nic Riopel: .918

This Week:
12/2 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. and 12/5 at Gwinnett, 4:05 p.m. – Home (1-1-0), Away (0-2-0)
Thursday’s game will be another huge showdown between the Road Warriors and the Gladiators. Entering the week the Gladiators sit one point ahead of Greenville for first place in the South Division, but the Road Warriors have one more win than the Gladiators and one game in hand. Both teams enter the game red hot. Greenville is on a four-game winning streak and is 8-2-0 in its last 10 games. One of those two losses game to the Gladiators who are 4-0-1 in their last five and 6-4-0 in their last 10. Greenville will be trying to snap a three-game losing streak at the hands of the Gladiators who picked up a 2-1 win in the most recent meeting between the clubs on November 21. Greenville’s last win against Gwinnett was a 3-1 triumph on November 5. Gwinnett is the only team in the league against which the Road Warriors have a losing record. Thursday’s home game will be Greenville’s only home game sandwiched between a four and a five game road swing. Greenville has yet to win in Gwinnett this season and has been out-scored 11-4 by the Gladiators at the Arena at Gwinnett Center.

12/4 at South Carolina, 7:05 p.m. each night – Home (2-1-0), Away (0-1-0)
The Palmetto State Rivalry is renewed this Saturday when the Road Warriors travel east to Charleston. The Stingrays enter the week in fourth place in the South Division, but are looking to bounce back from a rocky start to the season. The Stingrays have won four of their last seven games including a 3-1 win over Greenville on November 16. Recently South Carolina has struggled with its offense a bit and has been shut out in three of its last four games. Greenville might not be hindered very badly by playing on the road that night. The Road Warriors will carry a four-game road win streak into the North Charleston Coliseum and South Carolina will be traveling back from a road game of its own in Gwinnett on Friday, Dec. 3. Saturday’s is one of three games the Road Warriors will play in North Charleston this month.

Day by Day:
Mon. 11/29: Off
Tues. 11/30: Practice at BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
Wed. 12/1: Practice at BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
Thurs. 12/2: Road Warriors vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m.
Fri. 12/3: Practice at BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
Sat. 12/4: Road Warriors at South Carolina, 7:05 p.m.

Sun. 12/5: Road Warriors at Gwinnett, 4:05 p.m.

Broadcast Schedule:
Thurs. 12/2: Road Warriors vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m.
Sat. 12/4: Road Warriors at South Carolina, 7:05 p.m.

Sun. 12/5: Road Warriors at Gwinnett, 4:05 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:

11/24 at Wheeling: W 5-4

Early on it looked like Greenville’s struggles away from the BI-LO Center would continue. Wheeling’s Casey Pierro-Zabotel put the home team on the board with a shot from the point 5:08 into the first period. Greenville came back to tie the game and grabbed the lead just before the period expired. Brandon Wong scored his second of the season off a Wes Cunningham rebound at 9:30 to tie it then Brendan Connolly threaded a perfect pass to Julien Brouillette who scored a power play goal with just 12 seconds left in the period. The second period belonged to Greenville as the Road Warriors out-scored the Nailers 3-1 in the frame. Justin Bowers made it 3-1 5:33 into the period before Ben Street’s goal at 11:18 pulled Wheeling back within one. The Road Warriors’ power play went to work from there with a 5-on-3 goal from Jimmy Kilpatrick at 18:53 and a 5-on-4 goal from Marc-Olivier Vallerand at 19:35. That closed out Greenville’s scoring and Wheeling did everything it could to climb back into the game. Andrew Lord (2:53) and David Urquhart (18:46, PP) cut Wheeling’s deficit to one but Brian Stewart made 24 saves to earn his first ECHL win and the Road Warriors first road win.

11/25 at Kalamazoo: W 7-4

Greenville’s highest offensive output of the season was aided by a pair of empty-net goals in its first ever meeting with the Kalamazoo Wings. Trent Daavettila gave Kalamazoo the lead at 10:17 of the first in a game that see-sawed throughout the first two periods. Rookie defensemen Trevor Glass (15:49, first pro goal) and Blake Parlett (18:23, PP) provided Greenville’s offense in the opening frame. In his first game with Kalamazoo Brady Leisenring tied the score at two just 34 seconds after Parlett’s goal. Justin Taylor restored Kalamazoo’s one-goal lead at 5:36 of the second only to see Connor Shields score to tie it 46 seconds later. Paul McIlveen converted a Wings turnover into a goal at 9:28 and put Greenville ahead by one. The lead nearly survived to the second intermission but Brian McGuirk stole a puck from Dov Grumet-Morris and fed Tyler Doig for a goal with seven seconds left in the second. Greenville finally grabbed control of the game for good with Marc-Olivier Vallerand scoring the game winning goal for the second straight night. Vallerand stole a pass at center, and lifted a wrist shot past Wings goalie Riley Gill at 5:27. Kalamazoo brought the pressure from there but Grumet-Morris quelled the attack and then Vallerand and Brendan Connolly potted empty-net goals in the final minute of play to seal the win.

11/26 at Kalamazoo: W 6-2

The Road Warriors kept the offensive pedal to the metal and Kalamazoo turned the game chippy late because of it. For the first time on the road trip Greenville scored first with Jimmy Kilpatrick netting his third of the season at 2:57 of the first. The Wings answered back with an even strength goal at 4:40 from Andrew Fournier and a power play tally from Jordan Fulton at 11:10 to snare the lead. The Road Warriors came right back with a goal from Mark Voakes 28 seconds after Fulton’s score to tie the game at two. In the second the Road Warriors took over. Igor Gongalsky scored his first two goals in a Greenville uniform at 11:19 and 16:03 and Julien Brouillette slipped in a power play goal between Gongalsky’s scores. Kilpatrick rounded out the scoring at 11:26 of the third with Greenville’s second power play goal of the night. From there the mitts started to drop en masse. Brandon Wong fought Steve Tarasuk at 12:55, Igor Gongalsky and T.J. Reynolds fought Sam Ftorek and Brian Jurynec, respectively, at 17:32, and Connor Shields went with Tyler Doig with six seconds remaining. Greenville racked up a season-high 52 minutes in the win. Brian Stewart had 33 saves in the winning effort.

11/28 at Wheeling: W 2-0

Greenville finished off its four-game northern road trip in impressive fashion with the second shutout in team history. Dov Grumet-Morris turned aside all 33 shots that Wheeling sent his way and Mark Voakes scored the eventual game winning goal just 2:09 into the game. Grumet-Morris was at his best late in the second period and throughout the third. With less than a minute remaining in the second Greenville gave the puck away deep in its own end. Wheeling defenseman Mike Gershon teed up a big one-timer but Grumet-Morris took it square on the chest and preserved the 1-0 lead. In the third, the Road Warriors netminder piled up 15 saves to earn his fifth win of the season and extend his winning streak to four games. Brendan Connolly scored his team-leading 11th goal, and second shorthanded goal, at 9:41 of the third to extend his point streak to 11 games.

ONE-TIMERS:
Scoring Streaks:
Goals:

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

·    M. Voakes, 2 games (2G); 11/26-11/28

Assists:

·    P. McIlveen, 2 games (2A); 11/26-11/28

Points:

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

·    P. McIlveen, 2 games (2A); 11/26-11/28

·    B. Connolly, 11 games (8G, 9A); 11/11-11/28

·    M. Voakes, 2 games (2G, 2A); 11/26-11/28

·    J. Kilpatrick, 2 games (2G, 1A); 11/26-11/28

Quick Hits:

· Brendan Connolly was nominated for ECHL Player of the Week after racking up two goals and four assists in four games last week. The second-year forward leads Greenville with 23 points (11G, 12A), and tops the league in plus/minus at +13.

· Sunday’s win in Wheeling was the first road game where the Road Warriors did not allow a power play goal.

· The Road Warriors’ current four-game winning streak is their longest of the season. There have been three different win streaks of at least three games this season.

· Greenville leads the league with 13 wins, a .711 win percentage, and a 3.89 goals per game average.

· Despite its recent four-game road trip the Road Warriors have still played the third fewest away games in the league at seven.

Mark your calendars! Don’t forget about these upcoming promotions:
– 12/2 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Dollar Drink Thursday. Select fountain drinks and draught beers will be on sale 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.

– 12/15 vs. Florida, 7:05: Cards for Soldiers Night. Children who bring a homemade holiday card to send to our soldiers overseas get into the game for free with a paying adult. Limit one free kid’s ticket per paying adult. All you have to do is bring your card to the game and the Road Warriors will get it to the troops.

– 12/17 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Toy Toss Night to benefit local charity. Bring a stuffed animal with you to the game and throw it onto the ice when the Road Warriors score their first goal of the game. Tossed stuffed animals will be donated to local charity(ies) and distributed to children for the holidays.