GREENVILLE, SC – Tonight the Palmetto State Rivalry is renewed with the Road Warriors playing host to the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. It’s Greenville’s first home game following a seven-game road trip that lasted three weeks and covered over 3,300 miles.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
2/5/11 – GRW 4 – FLA 3 (SO)
The rubber match of the three-game series seemed like it would never end as the Road Warriors and Everblades battled through 65 minutes of play and a 12-round shootout to decide the winner. Ultimately the Road Warriors were one better in the breakaway competition and skated away with the two points. Like the night before, the Road Warriors struck first but were stuck playing comeback in the third period. Jimmy Kilpatrick’s power play score had Greenville ahead 1-0 after one but Ethan Graham’s shorthanded score in the second knotted the game at one. Alex Hutchings had a pair early in the third to give Florida a 3-1 lead, but 32 seconds after Hutchings’ second Andrew Carroll converted off of a turnover to bring the Road Warriors back within one. Carroll came through for the tying score on the power play with 5:03 to play and the game went to overtime. After a scoreless five minutes in the sudden death frame the contest switched to the shootout. Each team produced one goal in the first five rounds which meant a sudden death shootout. The teams exchanged one shooter a side until one team scored and the other didn’t. Twice the Road Warriors faced elimination in the sudden death shootout, but Jacob Lagace tied it in the bottom of the ninth and on his second shot Mark Voakes tied it in the bottom of the 11th. After Nic Riopel stopped Hutchings in the top of the 12th, Lagace scored on his second attempt to give Greenville the win.
2/5/11 – S.C. 5 – KAL 4
The Stingrays’ offense was kicking in high gear last Saturday and it needed to be because the Kalamazoo Wings were scoring goals in bunches, too. After Dan Eves gave the Stingrays the 1-0 lead just under eight minutes in the Wings bounced back to take a 2-1 lead. Rob Ricci tied the game for the ‘Rays with 47 seconds left in the first period and started a run of four consecutive goals for South Carolina. Luke Popko scored the lone goal in the second period to give S.C. the lead at 3-2, but tallies by Tommy Goebel and Matt Scherer in the third period proved to be the most vital. Those goals were scored 2:15 apart midway through the third and gave S.C. enough of a cushion to survive a late surge by Kalamazoo. Justin Taylor and Andrew Fournier scored 20 seconds apart with just over seven minutes left to play and pulled the Wings back within one. They couldn’t muster any more offense, however, and the ‘Rays skated out of Wings Stadium with the win. Andrew Loewen played in goal for South Carolina and posted 27 saves in earning his first ECHL win.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
The Palmetto State Rivalry has been as close as a rivalry can get with the Road Warriors and Stingrays holding identical 3-2-0 records at home over each other. The Road Warriors will try to improve on that number tonight as they play their first home game since a 5-3 loss to the Stingrays on January 21. Overall, the Road Warriors have lost three games in a row against South Carolina dating back to Dec. 31, 2011 with a combined score of 12-4. Greenville enters the game as the slightly hotter team with four wins in its last six games while South Carolina is an even .500 over that same stretch at 3-3-0. There will be ample opportunities for the Road Warriors or Stingrays to take control of the season series this month. The rivals play five games against one-another in February and will have just two games remaining in the season series come March.
The Road Warriors boast one of the largest contingents of rookies in the ECHL with 11 on the active roster. They are also the only team in the league with three players in the top 20 among rookie scoring thanks to Marc-Olivier Vallerand (33 Pts), Brandon Wong (30 Pts.) and Blake Parlett (26 Pts.). Parlett is also the top scoring rookie defenseman in the ECHL and third overall. On the season, rookies have ac-counted for 57 of the Road Warriors’ 159 goals (35 percent).
Over the final two games of the Florida series, forward Andrew Carroll got back to scoring goals at a high clip. With three goals in his last two games Carroll is fifth among active Road Warriors in goals despite playing just 13 games with Greenville so far this season. Between Abbottsford and Peoria, Carroll has played 27 AHL games this season. Tonight is his first game at home since October 30. At the BI-LO Center, Carroll has eight points (6G, 2A) in five games.
Tonight’s game is a rescheduled date from February 8, 2011. Any fan who held a ticket to the original date can use that ticket for tonight’s game. Also, the original Twofer Tuesday promotion that was scheduled for the original date is still in effect for tonight. The Twofer Tuesday package gets you two center ice tickets, two hot dogs, two boxes of popcorn, and two sodas for just $30! The package can be purchased at the BI-LO Center Box Office. Group tickets also remain available for tonight for groups of 10 or more. Call 864-674-PUCK to book your group outing and save off the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability and enjoy other great benefits.
