GREENVILLE VS. FLORIDA PREVIEW 

GREENVILLE, SC – After finishing a three-game series in Estero against the Everblades the Road Warriors return to home ice tonight to tangle with their division rival yet again. At stake for Greenville is an opportunity to put two more points between themselves and the second place Everblades.

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).

WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
The Road Warriors and their fans may have a nail-biter of a game on their hands tonight. The last handful of games between the Road Warriors and Everblades have gone down to the wire. In the season series between Greenville and Florida four of the eight games have been decided by just one goal and two of them (both won by the Everblades) have gone to overtime. The average margin of victory in Road Warriors/Everblades games is just two goals and only the Road Warriors have managed to win by more than a goal. Four of the Road Warriors’ wins against Florida have come by five goals.

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 have a very important promotion on tap for tonight. They are asking that all fans in attendance bring a gift from this list to donate and be sent to troops serving our country overseas. Fans who bring a gift will be given a buy-one-get-one-free coupon good for tonight’s game. There are also group seats still available for groups of 10 or more. Call 864-674-PUCK to speak to a Road Warriors group sales representative.