ROAD WARRIORS WEEKLY #10: 12/20/10-12/26/10 

GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors picked up two wins in three tries last week and became the first team in the ECHL to reach 20 wins this season. This week the Road Warriors will be off for the Christmas holiday and get to enjoy time with friends and family. They return to the ice on Dec. 27 at home against South Carolina.

Record: 20-6-2, 42 pts., 1st place South Division
Leaders:
Goals – Brendan Connolly/Mark Voakes/Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 13
Assists – Mark Voakes: 18
Points – Mark Voakes: 31
+/- – Julien Brouillette: +16
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 93
PPG – Julien Brouillette: 7
SHG – Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 4
Wins – Dov Grumet-Morris: 11
GAA – Dov Grumet-Morris: 1.98
SVP – Dov Grumet-Morris: .930
This Week:
The Road Warriors are off until returning home to play the South Carolina Stingrays on December 27 at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. The Stingrays will be on break for the holidays until December 26 when they visit the Gwinnett Gladiators.

Day by Day:
Mon. 12/20: Off
Tues. 12/21: Off
Wed. 12/22: Off
Thurs. 12/23: Off
Fri. 12/24: Off
Sat. 12/25: Off

Sun. 12/26: Practice at the BI-LO Center, 12:00 noon.

Day-by-Day schedule subject to change.

Broadcast Schedule:
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:

12/15 at Florida: L 1-5

After a stretch of games that saw the Road Warriors play nine of 10 away from the BI-LO Center they returned home to face division rival Florida. Greenville grabbed a 1-0 lead less than two minutes in thanks to Brandon Wong chipping in his seventh goal of the season. Brendan Connolly earned an assist in his first home game back after a call up to Adirondack of the American Hockey League. Greenville’s offense couldn’t contribute any more production on the night and Florida reeled off five goals in a row. Mitch Fadden had two in the first period on either side of Alex Imbeault’s 15th of the season to stake Florida to a 3-1 lead after one. In the second Francis Lemieux (PP) and Mathieu Roy scored 20 seconds apart late in the frame to set the final score. Dov Grumet-Morris turned aside 21 shots in sustaining his third loss of the season while Bobby Goepfert made 27 saves in earning the win.

12/17 vs. Gwinnett: OTW 1-0

On a night when the Road Warriors’ first goal was their most anticipated one, it was ironic that the first goal wound up being the game winner after regulation time had expired. Greenville and Gwinnett battled to a 0-0 draw through 60 minutes of play on the Road Warriors’ inaugural Teddy Bear Toss night. The Road Warriors nearly secured the win in regulation, but Marc-Olivier Vallerand was robbed at 5:57 of the third period on a sprawling glove save by Billy Sauer. The one-timer looked destined for the back of the net and brought a premature barrage of a few hundred teddy bears. The ice was cleared and play resumed only to see neither team score in regulation. The Road Warriors sent 25 shots Sauer’s was in regulation while Dov Grumet-Morris turned aside 19 from the Gladiators. Nearly halfway through overtime Mark Voakes broke in behind Gwinnett’s defense on a breakaway but was tripped from behind. The play resulted in a penalty shot and Voakes slipped the puck through Sauer’s five-hole for the winning score with 2:47 gone by in the extra frame.

12/19 at Gwinnett: W 4-1

Greenville used superlative special teams play to upend the Gladiators for the fourth consecutive time and head into the Christmas break on a high note. After going nearly a month without a goal (11/26 at Kalamazoo) Jimmy Kilpatrick broke out for a pair of power play goals to lead the Road Warriors to victory. Kilpatrick’s first came at 15:20 of the first period on a wrist shot from the left circle. At 6:12 of the second he deflected a pass from Justin Bowers past Billy Sauer for the eventual game winner. Mark Voakes assisted on both goals and climbed atop the Road Warriors leader board for assists. At 14:57 of the second Marc-Olivier Vallerand ripped a one-timer past Sauer for a shorthanded score – his fourth of the season. Connor Shields had the set up, and then scored his seventh goal of the season with 56 seconds left in the game. That came after Tim Miller ended Dov Grumet-Morris’ shutout bid at 15:37 of the third period with a shot from the point. Greenville ended the night with a 2-for-8 effort on the power play and an 8-for-8 result, plus a shorthanded goal, on the penalty kill. Grumet-Morris’ 11th win on the season came by way of 31 saves.

ONE-TIMERS:
Scoring Streaks:
Goals:

·

Assists:

·    J. Brouillette, 2 games (2A); 12/10-12/11

Points:

·    M. Voakes, 2 games (1G, 2A); 12/17-12/19

·    B. Wong, 2 games (2G); 12/10-12/11

·    J. Brouillette, 2 games (2G, 2A); 12/10-12/11

Quick Hits:

· Mark Voakes scored the first penalty shot goal in Road Warriors history on 12/17/10 vs. Gwinnett. The goal also gave the Road Warriors their first ever overtime win.

· T.J. Reynolds leads ECHL defensemen with 93 penalty minutes. He has the fifth most major penalties in the league with five.

· Greenville has the second fewest major penalties in the ECHL with 15. .

· Road Warriors have scored the first goal more times (20) than any other team in the ECHL. They are 15-4-1 when scoring first and Julien Brouillette leads the Road Warriors with five first goals.

· The Road Warriors have more wins against divisional opponents (14) than any other team in the league. Six of those 14 wins have come against Florida.

Mark your calendars! Don’t forget about these upcoming promotions:
– 12/27 vs. South Carolina, 7:05: The Road Warriors are hosting the Upstate’s biggest gift exchange! Bring any unwanted gifts to the game and exchange it for something else. One person’s trash is another’s treasure. Any unclaimed gifts will be given to Goodwill.

– 1/2 vs. Wheeling, 4:05: Post-game Skate with the Road Warriors. Following Greenville’s game against the Nailers, Road Warriors fans can lace ’em up and hit the ice with the Road Warriors for a public skate session. If you don’t have your own skates, there’s no need to worry because there will be pairs for rent.

– 1/6 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Dollar Drink Thursday returns! Join the Road Warriors at the BI-LO Center on Thursday night and enjoy select fountain drinks and draught beers for just $1.