GREENVILLE, SC – Today the Road Warriors play the fourth of a five-game home stand by hosting the Kalamazoo Wings at 1:05. It is Kalamazoo’s final visit to the BI-LO Center after Greenville went to Wings Stadium twice over Thanksgiving weekend.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
1/15/11 – GRW 1 – KAL 2
The Greenville Road Warriors struck first on Saturday night but could not build a lead and eventually fell to the Kalamazoo Wings by a 2-1 count in front of a season-high crowd of 5,860. Brandon Wong scored a goal in his third straight game to give the Road Warriors an early 1-0 lead in the first period. The Wings Justin Taylor netted two goals in the second period, the second and eventual game winner came on a fortunate rebound opportunity with a little more than three minutes left in the second. Riopel sustained the loss while making 28 saves. The Road Warriors were 0-for-7 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill.
1/16/11 – KAL 3 – SC 1
The Wings won their second game in a row taking a 3-1 decision over the South Carolina Stingrays. The Wings, currently on a season long six-game road trip, didn’t look sluggish at all from the previous night’s game against the Greenville Road Warriors. Despite falling behind early to South Carolina on Tommy Goebel’s wrist shot just 4:33 into the first period the Wings ripped off three unanswered goals. Sam Ftorek scored a little over four minutes later to tie it at 1-1 and Andrew Fournier finished the period with two goals of his own to give the Wings a commanding 3-1 first period advantage. Ryan Nie turned aside 28 shots to improve his record to 12-9-2-2.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT
Even though the Road Warriors and Wings have only played three times this season it marks a reunion of sorts for the Road Warriors coaching staff, Dean Stork and Jason Spence, and Wings goalie Ryan Nie. Nie was a teammate of Jason Spence on the 2007-08 edition of the Johnstown Chiefs. Spence was an alternate captain on that team and had nine points (6G, 3A) in 51 games while Nie set a team record for wins in a season with 29. That season was the last time the Chiefs made an appearance in the Kelly Cup playoffs. The next season Nie found himself in Cincinnati under the direction of then assistant coach Dean Stork. He went 16-6-0 in the regular season and 3-2-0 in the playoffs as Cincinnati reached the American Conference finals.
Despite dropping a 2-1 decision to the Wings this past Saturday which included the Road Warriors going 0-7 on the power play, Greenville is still looking forward to tonight’s game against a Wings’ defense that ranks as one of the worst in the league. The Wings have a GAA of 3.66 – 128 in 35 games which is near the bottom of the ECHL and the Road Warriors are second in the ECHL scoring an average of 3.53 goals per game. While both teams rank near the top scoring on the power play, the Wings rank 15th in the ECHL with a penalty kill of 81.0% and Greenville is near the top at 85.1%.
If this season’s history has taught us anything is that Greenville should have the advantage on paper for tonight’s match up. The Road Warriors are 7-1-0 against North Division opponents; 5-0-0 vs. Wheeling and 2-1-0 vs. Kalamazoo, while the Wings are 3-7-1 against the South Division. Kalamazoo’s two South Division win were against South Carolina (7-3) December 6, Greenville (2-1) January 15, and South Carolina (3-1) January 16. The games have generally been close with the Kalamazoo outscoring the South 35-31 on the season. It has been quite different for Greenville with a 36-17 goal advantage over the North, including 16-6 here at the BI-LO Center.
It’s a special 1:05 p.m. start time on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and there will be a post-game skate with the Road Warriors. The skate is free to attend for anyone with a game ticket and skates are available to rent from the BI-LO Center. If you have a group of 10 or more call the Road Warriors at 864-674-PUCK to book your group and save off the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and enjoy other great benefits.
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