VERSUS 
WHEELING, WV – The Road Warriors finished off their season series against the Wheeling Nailers with a 4-2 win on Sunday evening and earned a 6-0-0 record against their North Division foes. The win improved Greenville‘s record to 35-20-3 on the season and earned them five of a possible six points on their final northern road trip.
In the first period of Sunday’s game the Road Warriors looked like a team that had played each of the previous two nights, and the Nailers looked fresher as a result of being off the night before. Bouyed by a strong effort on their lone power play of the period, the Nailers out-shot the Road Warriors 9-4 in a frame and led 1-0 at the first intermission. On that power play defenseman Sebastien Bisaillon found himself open on the left wing and used a screen in front of Nic Riopel to wrist a shot home at the 11:18 mark. The goal was Bisaillon’s fifth of the season with assists going to Andrew Orpik and Alex Grant. Shortly after the Nailers took the lead, Greenville was given a chance to respond with its first power play of the night. That chance, however, went by the wayside and Greenville was held without a shot on the power play.
The Road Warriors had both an encouraging and a frustraing second period. It was encouraging in that they controlled play in Wheeling ice for a majority of the frame, but it was frustrating in the Patrick Killeen played a really strong period and kept the Road Warriors off of the scoreboard. Killeen’s best save came on a slap shot from Trevor Glass just past 11 minutes into the period. Glass had a rebound come to his stick in the high slot and he wasted no time with a high, hard one-timer. Killeen scrambled back to his left, though, caught the shot with his glove, and kept the Nailers ahead by one. Wheeling had a similar chance on a power play late in the period when a loose puck came to a wide open Jason DeSantis at the left point. But as DeSantis tried to settle the puck down, Riopel came way out to challenge and took the shot right to his chest. Riopel saw only five shots in the frame and batted away each one to keep the Road Warriors within striking distance.
Despite being held down for the first two frames, the Road Warriors kept plugging away and surged early in the third to take control of the game. Sean Berkstresser evened the score at one just 1:19 into the final frame with his fifth goal of the season and second against the team he broke into the ECHL with. Assists on the goal went to Jimmy Kilpatrick and Brandon Wong. In just his third game back off of the injured reserve list, Brendan Connolly netted his 14th to put Greenville ahead 2-1 40 seconds after Berkstresser’s goal. On the goal Greenville capitalized on a Wheeling turnover and Sam Klassen chipped the puck to Connolly who was alone behind the Wheeling defense. Ninety seconds after Connolly’s score, Mark Voakes worked a pretty give-and-go with Andrew Rowe to net the eventual game winning score. The goal was Voakes’ first since January 21 and 16th of the season. Connolly scored an empty-net goal with 40 seconds left to give Greenville a three-goal lead, but Wheeling didn’t go away quietly and Doug Rogers pulled the Nailers back within two on his sixth goal of the season with 26 seconds remaining. It was a goal of little consequence, though, because the Road Warriors had built up enough of a cushion.
Riopel earned his 17th win of the season with 23 saves while the Road Warriors were 0-for-2 on the power play and 4-for-5 on the penalty kill.
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.
Leave a Reply