GREENVILLE, SC – After completing a stretch of games that saw the team play nine of 10 games, and win eight of them, away from the BI-LO Center, the Greenville Road Warriors kick off a three-game home stand against the Gwinnett Gladiators tonight at 7:05.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
12/11/10 – GRW 5 – FLA 2
After a pair of nail-biting games between the South Division’s top two teams the Road Warriors asserted themselves with a comfortable win in the series finale. After a tightly-played first period the score was even at one apiece after goals from Greenville’s Julien Brouillette and Florida‘s David Fischer. As they have done all season, the Road Warriors outplayed the Everblades in the second period and claimed the lead for good. An even strength goal by Mark Voakes, and another power play goal from Brouillette built Greenville’s lead to 3-1 before Alex Imbeault chipped away at it for Florida with a power play goal of his own. There would be no dramatic comeback for Florida, though, thanks to 10 third period saves by Dov Grumet-Morris and goals by Brandon Wong (PP) and Connor Shields (EN, SH).
12/11/10 – GWT 3 – WHL 8
One night after suffering a 7-2 setback to the Wheeling Nailers, Gwinnett could not recover and produce a better result last Saturday. The Gladiators gave up more goals than they had in any previous game this season and had their season-long losing streak extend to five games. Wheeling grabbed a 3-0 lead over the first 12 minutes of the opening period before Gwinnett’s Dan Kissel dented the scoreboard. Mikael Bedard and Tim Miller exchanged goals for their respective clubs and Wheeling’s two goal lead remained intact after 20 minutes. Wheeling piled on one goal in the second and three more in the third to make Matt Krug’s third-period goal for Gwinnett relatively insignificant. Chris Carrozzi took the loss with 22 saves on 29 shots through 42:46 of play. Billy Sauer gave up one goal in 17 minutes of mop-up duty.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
A regular pairing on defense throughout most of the season, T.J. Reynolds and Julien Brouillette are working on reaching some new milestones after reaching some last week. By picking up two penalty minutes against Florida on December, 10, Reynolds earned his 1,000th penalty minute as an ECHL player. The Road Warriors’ captain is third in the ECHL in penalty minutes with 89. Brouillette, meanwhile, earned his 100th point as an ECHL player on December 11 at Florida. His 5-on-3 power play goal in the first period proved to be the one that reached his milestone. Brouillette currently leads all ECHL defensemen in goals (11), points (23), and power play goals (7). He tops the entire ECHL in +/- at +16.
The Road Warriors have been enjoying the comforts of home early on this season. Despite having played nine of their last 10 games away from the BI-LO Center the Road Warriors have played the fourth most home games thus far with 13. With the team returning home tonight they will be trying to improve on their league-leading 10 home victories. They also lead the league in average goals per home game with 4.3 and are out-scoring opponents 56-30 at the BI-LO Center.
The Road Warriors haven’t been showing their South Division brethren much hospitality this season. Against divisional opponents Greenville has posted a record of 12-5-2 with six of the 12 wins coming against the Florida Everblades. Interestingly, Gwinnett has been the toughest South Division foe for the Road Warriors. Greenville is 3-3-0 against the Gladiators – the only team against which the Road Warriors don’t have a winning record. At the BI-LO Center, though, Greenville has defeated the Gladiators two out of three tries. The Road Warriors are 3-2-0 against the Stingrays so far this season.
The Road Warriors, tonight, are offering their first Twofer Tuesday deal of the season. By walking up to the BI-LO Center Box Office, Road Warriors fans can buy the Twofer Tuesday package which features: two center-ice tickets, two sodas, and two boxes of popcorn for just $30! There are also great group seats still available for the game. You can call a Road Warriors group sales representative at 864-674-PUCK to book an outing for your group of 10 or ore.
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