ROAD WARRIORS WEEKLY #24: 3/28/11 – 4/4/11 

GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors enter the final week of the regular season with wins in each of their last three games and they continue to hold the top spot in the Eastern Conference. This week’s schedule features three games in as many days against the Gwinnett Gladiators to close out the Battle of I-85.

Record: 43-22-4, 90 pts., 1st place South Division

Leaders:
Goals – Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 28

Assists – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 42

Points – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 61

+/- – Brendan Connolly: +23

PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 204

PPG – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 12

SHG – Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 4

Wins – Nic Riopel: 22

GAA – Dov Grumet-Morris: 2.32

SVP – Dov Grumet-Morris: .922

This Week:
3/31, 4/2 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05 p.m. & 4/1 at Gwinnett, 7:35 p.m. – Home (4-3-0), Away (3-4-0)

This week’s slate will determine the winner of the season series, the Battle of I-85, between the Road Warriors and the Gladiators. It has been over a month since the teams last met on February 22 at the BI-LO Center on the makeup date of the postponed game from December 14. Greenville skated away with a 7-1 victory that night on the backs of three point efforts by Wes Cunningham (1G, 2A), Sean Berkstresser (1G, 2A) and Brandon Wong (1G, 2A). The Road Warriors also won their most recent trip to Gwinnett, 2-1, on January 23. That win snapped a four-game losing streak that Greenville had suffered at the hands of the Gladiators. Each team has taken a turn building a lengthy winning streak in the season series as the Road Warriors reeled off four straight wins against the Gladiators from December 2 to December 19. Gwinnett enters this week with three wins in its last seven games and was officially eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, March 27. The Gladiators are the only South Division team to not qualify for the Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Day by Day:
Mon. 3/28: Off
Tues. 3/29: Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.

Wed. 3/30: Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.

Thurs. 3/31: Road Warriors vs. Gladiators, 7:05 p.m.

Fri. 4/1: Road Warriors at Gladiators, 7:35 p.m.
Sat. 4/2: Road Warriors vs. Gladiators, 7:05 p.m.

Sun. 4/3: TBD

Day-by-Day schedule subject to change.
Broadcast Schedule:
Thurs. 3/31: Road Warriors vs. Gladiators, 7:05 p.m.

Fri. 4/1: Road Warriors at Gladiators, 7:35 p.m.
Sat. 4/2: Road Warriors vs. Gladiators, 7:05 p.m.

All Road Warriors radio broadcasts can be heard online for free courtesy of America One. Point your browser to www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com and click “Listen Live” to join Ray Schmitt on the broadcasts. Road Warriors fans can also watch Internet TV broadcasts of the games by clicking here. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to face off with the Road Warriors Pregame Show. Fans can also email Radio Ray and have their questions read during the broadcast! Send your questions to grwradioray@gmail.com.

Last Week: (3-0-0)

3/22 at South Carolina: W 3-1

The Road Warriors fell behind South Carolina midway through the first period on Tuesday night but ultimately battled back to end their four-game losing streak at the North Charleston Coliseum. On a 2-on-1 rush, the Stingrays’ Rob Ricci put the home team up 1-0 by wristing a shot past Chris Beckford-Tseu to the blocker side. Greenville went into the first intermission down one, but that was reversed completely by the time the second intermission rolled around. Jimmy Kilpatrick started the ball rolling with a power play goal at 8:08 of the second period and he was followed by Brandon Wong’s power play score at 15:18. Greenville had to survive a five-minute major penalty to Chris Clackson for boarding that lasted from the end of the first into the early portion of the second before taking the lead. Justin Bowers netted an insurance score with 3:29 to play in the third period and salt away the win. Beckford-Tseu turned in 20 saves on the evening to earn his second win as a Road Warrior.

3/25 vs. Reading: W 5-2

Thursday night’s game was a showdown for the top spot in the Eastern Conference and the Road Warriors, for the second time in the week, rallied from a one-goal deficit to earn the victory. One minute and 35 seconds into the game Ryan Cruthers found the back of the net on the power play and staked Reading to a 1-0 advantage. Like the previous game, Jimmy Kilpatrick answered back for Greenville on the power play. His goal at 12:01 of the first was his 18th of the season and came with assists from Matt Schepke and Justin Bowers. Two minutes and 15 seconds later Marc-Olivier Vallerand potted his 26th of the season and gave the Road Warriors a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. The advantage grew to 3-1 with Chris Chappell’s goal 2:25 into the second period, but Rob Slaney made it interesting heading into the third with his seventh of the season at 17:44. The Road Warriors had an apparent goal waved off early in the third as Chris Clackson was ruled to have put the puck in the net with his hand. But just seconds after that was waved off, Brendan Connolly spiked home a one-timer at 1:47 to put Greenville up 4-2. Desperate to try to come back Reading pulled goalie Daren Machesney for an extra attacker, but Sean Berkstresser did the only damage with an empty-net score with 1:07 to play. Chris Beckford-Tseu tallied 28 saves in his third win as a Road Warrior.

3/27 at South Carolina: OTW 4-3

Greenville looked to be comfortably ahead of South Carolina with a two-goal third period lead, but things changed drastically in the third period and Greenville had to battle for the win in overtime. After the teams battled through a scoreless first Rob Ricci opened the scoring at 7:43 of the second period. Greenville had a high-quality chance to tie the score with a 5-on-3 advantage midway through the second that lasted for 23 seconds. The Stingrays killed off the shorthanded situation, but the Road Warriors found the tying score from Jimmy Kilpatrick at even strength with 1:13 to play in the second. In the third it was power play goals from Marc-Olivier Vallerand (1:02) and Brendan Connolly (13:11) that built Greenville’s two-goal cushion. South Carolina, though, surged in the final five minutes of the period and received goals from Ryan Del Monte (16:41) and Ricci (19:15) to send the game into extra time. At the 2:35 point Vallerand bulled his way to the net front and buried a wrist shot between Todd Ford’s pads for the game winner. Nic Riopel got the nod in net and posted 28 saves for his 22nd win of the season.

ONE-TIMERS:
Scoring Streaks:
Goals:

·    B. Connolly, 2 games (2G); 3/24-3/27

·    J. Kilpatrick, 3 games (3G); 3/22-3/27

·    M. Vallerand, 2 games (3G); 3/24-3/27

Assists:

·    B. Parlett, 3 games (4A); 2/11-2/15

·    J. Brouillette, 2 games (2A); 12/10-12/11

·    W. Cunningham, 2 games (3A); 3/24-3/27

·    G. Farrell, 3 games (3A); 3/12-3/27

·    J. Kilpatrick, 3 games (3A); 3/22-3/27

·    J. Bowers, 3 games (5A); 3/22-3/27

·    S. Harper, 3 games (3A); 3/22-3/27

Points:

·    J. Brouillette, 2 games (2G, 2A); 12/10-12/11

·    B. Parlett, 3 games (1G, 3A); 2/11-2/15

·    B. Connolly, 5 games (2G, 5A); 3/18-3/27

·    W. Cunningham, 2 games (3A); 3/24-3/27

·    G. Farrell, 3 games (3A); 3/12-3/27

·    J. Kilpatrick, 3 games (3G, 3A); 3/22-3/27

·    M. Vallerand, 2 games (3G); 3/24-3/27

·    J. Bowers, 3 games (1G, 5A); 3/22-3/27

·    S. Harper, 4 games (1G, 3A); 3/19-3/27

Quick Hits:

· Chris Beckford-Tseu was nominated for Goalie of the Week after going 2-0-0 with a 1.50 GAA and a .941 SVP. Jimmy Kilpatrick was nominated for Player of the Week with three goals and three assists in three games last week.

· Each of Greenville’s last three wins have come when the team has given up the first goal. The Road Warriors are 12-13-3 when their opponent scores first.

· Greenville’s overtime win in South Carolina on Sunday was its fifth in overtime and ninth combined between overtime and shootouts. The five overtime wins are third most in the league while the nine combined wins are second most.

· Justin Bowers leads the Road Warriors through March with 18 points (3G, 15A) in 11 games. The Road Warriors are operating at 28.3 percent (17-for-60) on the power play since his return from the AHL on Feb. 26.

· The Road Warriors are 18-for-20 (90 percent) on the penalty kill in their last five games and have a record of 4-1-0 over that span. On the season, Greenville is 39-13-3 when allowing one or fewer power play goals in a game.

Mark your calendars! Don’t forget about these upcoming promotions:
3/31 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: Join the Road Warriors for Dollar Drink Thursday at the BI-LO Center. Select draught beers and fountain drinks will be on sale for just $1! Stop by the stage behind Section 106 for a free pre-game concert from The Piedmont Boys.

4/2 vs. Gwinnett, 7:05: The Road Warriors will host Fan Appreciation Day for their final home game of the season. Exciting giveaways are planned throughout the night and players will deliver a “Thank-you” message to the fans over the BI-LO Center video board.

4/8 vs. TBD, 7:35: The Road Warriors open their 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs home schedule a week from Friday. The opponent is yet to be determined, but individual playoff tickets are on sale now at the BI-LO Center Box Office and through Ticketmaster outlets. Group discounts are also available for all Road Warriors home playoff games.