TOLEDO, OH – Tonight the Greenville Road Warriors invade the Huntington Center to take on the Toledo Walleye for the second, and final, time this season. Greenville won its first visit to Toledo two weeks ago and has a chance to sweep the mini season series between the clubs.
RECAPPING THE ACTION:
2/25/11 – GRW 3 – CIN 4 (OT)
In a night filled with emotion due do Dean Stork, and three Road Warriors players’, return to Cincinnati for the first time the Road Warriors and Cyclones provided fans with an exciting playoff-style hockey game. The teams battled through a scoreless first period then volleyed scores through the final two before eventually heading to overtime. Cincinnati’s Mathieu Aubin opened the scoring just past the midway point of the second, but Wes Cunningham tied it back up for Greenville with his fifth of the season at 12:31. Greenville found itself playing catch up again in the third period due to Kevin Roeder’s tally 1:19 in. Limited to two shots through over half of the period, Greenville’s offense needed less than a minute to respond in a big way. Shane Harper‘s 14th of the season at 16:10 drew the game even and the Road Warriors pulled ahead on Brandon Wong’s 19th 46 seconds later. The Road Warriors were 26 seconds away from a regulation win, but Dustin Sproat tipped in a shot from Barrett Ehgoetz to send the game into extra time. In the sudden death frame the Cyclones received a power play goal from T.J. Fast 2:07 in to skate away with the extra point. Cameron Talbot started his second straight game and sustained the loss while making 33 saves.
2/25/11 – TOL 5 – KAL 8
The Walleye and Wings engaged in a wild, high-scoring affair last night, but Toledo didn’t quite have enough ammunition to out-duel the Wings who took over first place in the North Division with the win. Kalamazoo raced out to a 4-0 lead by the 12:38 mark of the second period. First period scores by Dean Strong and Patrick Asselin allowed the Wings to snag a 2-0 lead and it was built up in the second by Kory Karlander and Aaron Clarke. The Walleye and Wings combined for seven goals in the period, four for Kalamazoo and three for Toledo, and despite goals by Chris DiDomenico, Willie Coetzee, and Kyle Rogers the Walleye entered the third down by three. Just 10 seconds into the third Mike Hedden’s 21st of the season pulled Toledo within two goals and they eventually clawed within one at 7:01 on Rogers’ second of the night. Toledo’s offense sputtered out there, though, and the Wings got insurance goals from Mitch Versteeg and Strong to salt away the win. Thomas McCollum started for Toledo and took the loss with 27 saves on 33 shots through two periods. Joe Palmer worked the third and surrendered two goals.
WHAT’S ON TAP FOR TONIGHT:
Tonight wraps up the brief two-game season series between the Road Warriors and Walleye. Greenville took the first round 4-3, in overtime, on February 11. The Road Warriors capitalized on the Eastern Conference’s second-worst defense for three straight goals after Toledo had taken a 2-0 lead early in the first and then won 27 seconds into OT on a breakaway goal from Shane Harper. Toledo, like Greenville, has a busy week with four games on the slate and entered the week holding down the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. The Walleye are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games.
The Road Warriors have been living their nickname during the month of February with 10 of their 14 games away from the BI-LO Center. Not including tonight, six of their last 10 have been on the road and Greenville holds a 2-3-1 mark in those games. Each of the two wins have come past regulation with the last coming on Feb. 11 at Toledo.
· On Tuesday night Brandon Wong tied a team record with four points (1G, 3A) in the 7-1 win vs. Gwinnett.
· Mark Voakes is averaging just under a point per game with 11 this month, but has not scored a goal since Jan. 21 vs. S.C. (16 games).
· The Road Warriors’ magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 22 points. That is any combination of the Road Warriors gaining and teams below them losing points.
· Greenville is the only team in the league with four rookies (Vallerand, Wong, Harper, and Parlett) in the top 20 in league rookie scoring.
· Four of the Road Warriors’ last 10 games have been decided in overtime (3-1).
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors will return home to the BI-LO Center to battle the Trenton Devils on Friday, March 4 at 7:05 p.m. In conjunction with SHINE 96.7, the Road Warriors will be presenting “Church Night 2011” with a live, post-game performance from recording artists MyCalvary. Tickets for church groups start as low as $7. The SPINX Friday Family Four-Pack is also available for that game through the BI-LO Center Box Office and gets you four tickets, four hot dogs, four pretzels, four bags of chips, four fountain drinks for $48! For more information on these promotions and more contact a Road Warriors sales representative at 864-674-PUCK.
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