GLADIATORS TAKE THE ROAD OUT OF WARRIORS 

VERSUS

DULUTH, GA – The Greenville Road Warriors put up another valiant comeback effort in the third period, but fell by a goal for the second straight night to the Gwinnett Gladiators, 3-2, on Saturday night. The Road Warriors record slipped to 23-10-2 with the loss.

Greenville played a desperate style of hockey from the opening faceoff and took the play to the Gladiators for the first half of the opening frame. Sean Berkstresser did his best to spur the team on by fighting Gwinnett‘s Danick Paquette 25 second into the contest. Near the midway point the Road Warriors had built up a 7-2 shot advantage and had out-chanced the Gladiators on the power play 2-0. But after killing off a delay of game minor to Matt Case that was taken at 10:26, Gwinnett went on the offensive. Justin Milo scored both Gladiator goals – one at even strength at 13:08 and next on the power play at 19:48  – to give Gwinnett a two-goal advantage after the first. Dov Grumet-Morris turned aside 17 shots in the period while Chris Carrozzi denied 11 Greenville attempts.

In the second frame Marc-Olivier Vallerand potted his team-leading 15th goal of the season to put the Road Warriors on the board, but that was the only tally the Road Warriors could manage and still trailed by a pair heading into the third. The red-hot Tim Miller scored on a breakaway with Gwinnett up a skater at 8:23 of the second. The play started with a faceoff win by Pat Galivan in the Gladiators’ defensive zone, and continued with Sam Roberts hitting Miller with a perfect stretch pass. Miller’s fourth goal of the three-game series was scored with a wrist shot high to the blocker side of Grumet-Morris. Greenville’s defense and goaltending held the fort from there and allowed for Vallerand’s goal at 11:32 to pull the Road Warriors back within two. Brandon Wong and Connor Shields turned in a hard-working shift along the end boards and won a pair of puck battles. Wong slipped the puck to Vallerand between the circles for a quick snap shot that beat Carrozzi to the blocker side.

Facing a 3-1 deficit entering the third period for the third straight game, the Road Warriors did everything in their power to battle back and tie the game. Sam Klassen registered his first professional goal 24 seconds into the frame and gave Greenville plenty of time to vie for the tying goal. The rush that Klassen scored on materialized off of the opening faceoff of the third as Vallerand led the charge into the Gwinnett zone. Klassen joined as the trailer and blasted a wrist shot past Carrozzi after taking Vallerand’s drop pass. The Road Warriors kept the pressure on throughout the third and forced Gwinnett to take a couple of late penalties. The most dangerous one came when Michael Forney cross-checked Connor Shields with nine seconds left. The Road Warriors had already pulled Grumet-Morris for the extra attacker but could not find the tying goal despite the 6-on-4 skater advantage.

Grumet-Morris suffered his sixth loss of the season in making 30 saves. The Road Warriors went 0-for-5 on the power play and 2-for-4 on the penalty kill.

Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors return to home ice on Thursday, January 13 to take on the Florida Everblades at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. Be sure to arrive early because The Piedmont Boys will be playing a pre-game concert beginning at 6:00 p.m. on the BI-LO Center concourse. You’ll want to stick around for another Dollar Drink Thursday with select draught beers and fountain drinks on sale for just $1! If you have a group of 10 or more that wants to attend the game call 864-674-PUCK to speak to a Road Warriors group sales representative. Groups enjoy discounts off of the box office price, preferred seating based on availability, and other great benefits.