ESTERO, FL – The Greenville Road Warriors used a solid defensive effort and solid goaltending to defeat the Florida Everblades 2-1 on Friday night at Germain Arena. The win improved the Road Warriors‘ record to 17-5-2 on the season.
On the first shift of the game the Greenville Road Warriors had a glorious scoring opportunity off of a Florida turnover. With an Everblades defenseman coughing up the puck in his own zone the disc was left right in front of goalie Bobby Goepfert. Jimmy Kilpatrick tried to throw a deke on the goalie but mishandled the puck on the deke and had his shot denied by Goepfert on a stick save. Florida was able to capitalize on a Greenville turnover and league-leading scorer Mitch Fadden cashed in his 10th goal at 10:41 to give the ‘Blades a 1-0 lead. Greenville did not let the deficit grow any further thanks to a penalty kill, and goaltending by Dov Grumet-Morris, to survive 1:02 of a Florida 5-on-3.
After surviving 13 more seconds of a Florida power play at the start of the second, the Road Warriors offense clicked into gear, oddly enough, while shorthanded. Marc-Olivier Vallerand took advantage of an outlet pass from Julien Brouillette and found an open lane on the left wing. With a clear shot on net, Vallerand wristed a puck through Goepfert’s five-hole to tie the game at one with 5:23 gone by in the second. After a couple of Road Warrior power play chances went by the wayside Brandon Wong potted his fifth goal of the season to give Greenville a 2-1 lead at 13:43. In just his second game with the Road Warriors, Chris McKelvie sent a deft pass to Wong at the goalmouth. The former Quinnipiac Bobcat lifted a backhander past Goepfert.
The third period saw no change on the scoreboard and that was fine for the Road Warriors. Grumet-Morris made four saves in the frame to make the one-goal lead stand up. Florida applied pressure with a power play starting at the 7:49 mark and then by pulling Goepfert for an extra attacker with just over a minute left. But the pressure didn’t result in many scoring opportunities. The one good opportunity was off the stick of Mike McKenzie but the shot hit the post and bounced clear of the goal.
Grumet-Morris turned in 19 saves in picking up his ninth win of the season. Greenville was 0-for-4 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are back on home ice for three games next week on December 14, 15, and 17 all at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. There are great holiday events scheduled each night with the Twofer Tuesday on the 14th, a gift drive for military serving overseas on the 15th, and the Road Warriors’ inaugural Teddy Bear Toss on the 17th. There is great group seating still available to each game for your group of 10 or more. Groups enjoy discounts off the box office price, preferred seating based on availability, and other great benefits. Call the Road Warriors at 864-674-PUCK to speak to a group sales representative today.
