By Ray Schmitt, the voice of the Greenville Road Warriors
GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors split a pair of road games against South Division rival Gwinnett last weekend and earned their first win of the season. This weekend they welcome the Florida Everblades to the BI-LO Center for the first time this season as they host a pair of games.
Record: 1-3-0, 2 pts., 4th place South Division
Leaders:
Goals – Jeff Prough: 4
Assists – Justin Bowers: 3
Points – Jeff Prough: 6
+/- – Jeff Prough: +2
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 10
PPG – Jeff Prough, Cullen Eddy, Wes Cunningham, Brendan Connolly: 1
SHG – None
Wins – Nic Riopel: 1
GAA – Nic Riopel: 2.00
SVP – Nic Riopel: .929
Previewing the Upcoming Week:
10/28 & 10/29 vs. Florida – 7:35 p.m. & 2:05 p.m., Home vs. FLA 0-0-0, Away vs. FLA 0-0-0
In 2010-11 the Road Warriors won the season series against the Everblades with a 10-2-3 record. They won their first ever game in the ECHL against the Everblades by a 4-1 count on October 21, 2011. Including the win on the home opener the Road Warriors were 5-1-1 against the Everblades at the BI-LO Center. The Road Warriors averaged 4.1 goals per home game against Florida while the ‘Blades scored an average of three goals per game in Greenville against the Road Warriors. This weekend’s games could be high-scoring as the Everblades have given up 19 goals in five games this season while the Road Warriors have allowed 17 in four games. Florida is coming off of a northern road trip that saw it go 1-2-0 against Atlantic Division competition. The win was in Florida’s most recent game on Oct. 23 against Reading; a 7-2 victory. The Everblades are led by rookie Justin Shugg who has three goals and five assists in five games.
Day-by-Day Schedule:
10/24/11 – Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
* Red Ribbon Week Appearance at McLees Academy of Leadership, 1:00 p.m.
“Between the Pipes” radio show at Ford’s Oyster House and Cajun Kitchen, 7:00 p.m.
10/25/11 – Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
Meet and Greet Appearance at Mojo’s at Cherrydale, 7:00 p.m.
10/26/11 – Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
* Red Ribbon Week Appearance at New Prospect Elementary, 1:30 p.m.
10/27/11 – Practice at the BI-LO Center, 10:00 a.m.
10/28/11 – Road Warriors vs. Florida, 7:35 p.m.
* Rowdy visits the Meyer Center, 9:00 a.m.
10/29/11 – Road Warriors vs. Florida, 2:05 p.m.
Rowdy visits Bark in the Park at Greenville Tech, 11:00 a.m.
10/30/11 – Off
* Denotes an appearance that is not open to the general public. Media members, however, are welcome to attend these appearances to report on Road Warriors community involvement. Please contact Ray Schmitt at 864-293-2025 or ray.schmitt@greenvilleroadwarriors.com to coordinate covering Road Warriors community appearances.
Road Warriors Broadcast Information
All Greenville Road Warriors games are broadcast live online courtesy of America One. You can listen to every game for free by clicking on the “Listen Live” link located on the Road Warriors’ home page – www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com. You can also visit www.americaone.com to find the Road Warriors internet TV broadcasts. The Road Warriors Pre-Game Show starts off every broadcast 15 minutes prior to faceoff.
Recapping Last Week:
10/21 at Gwinnett: L 1-6
Greenville’s first road test of the season did not go as planned after an evenly played first period against Gwinnett. The teams traded power play goals with Corey Fienhage striking first for the Gladiators then Greenville’s Brendan Connolly responding a minute and 45 seconds later. The Road Warriors launched 37 shots on goal during the game but could only slip the one past Gwinnett goalie Marc Cheverie. The Gladiators added two goals in the second period and three in the third period to pull away from the Road Warriors. Tyler Helfrich made his pro debut that night and led Gwinnett’s attack with two goals and two assists. Nikita Kashirsky registered three assists to lead Gwinnett in that category for the night. Jerry Kuhn took the loss in net for Greenville as he made 29 saves on the night.
10/22 at Gwinnett: W 4-2
Greenville rode a two-goal performance from its power play to its first win of the season last Saturday against the Gwinnett Gladiators. The defensemen carried the scoring load in the first with Cullen Eddy and Wes Cunningham converting with the man advantage. Each goal was the skater’s first of the season and Cunningham’s nearly did not count. Due to a scoreboard malfunction at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, no one in the arena was sure how much time remained in the period. Cunningham’s shot was off as time was winding down, but the horn signaling the end of the period sounded before the goal was scored. After some discussion it was determined that the goal was scored with five seconds left in the period and counted. It turned out to be important as Nikita Kashirsky and Scott Flemming scored for Gwinnett before the second period was five minutes old to tie the game. Kale Kerbashian’s first of the season with 7:13 left in the second recaptured the lead for Greenville and Jeff Prough provided an insurance score in the third period. Nic Riopel made his season debut and stopped 26 shots for the win.
Quick Hits:
* After winning his 2011-12 debut, Road Warriors goalie Nic Riopel is 8-1-1 in his last 10 regular season starts. With the 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs included, Riopel has won 12 of his last 17 starts for Greenville.
* With two assists on Saturday night against Gwinnett, Justin Bowers has reached 100 points in his ECHL career. Bowers is now seven points away from his 200th as a professional which includes his points from American Hockey League and Central Hockey League play.
* With a power play goal last Friday, Brendan Connolly has already scored half as many power play goals as he did all of last season (2). Connolly had the second-most five-on-five goals for the Road Warriors last season at 20. Marc-Olivier Vallerand was first with 21 five-on-five goals.
* Greenville plays its next eight games at home at the BI-LO Center. It is Greenville’s longest homestand of the season and will be followed by seven straight road games which is also the longest such stretch of the season.
* Jeff Prough is tied with eight other players for the league lead with four goals on the season. He is now eight goals away from 100 in his ECHL career. There have been 168 players in the history of the ECHL that have scored at least 100 goals in their career.
Upcoming Events:
Friday, Oct. 28: Road Warriors vs. Florida Everblades, 7:35 p.m. – Spinx Family Four Pack Friday. $48 gets you four tickets, four hot dogs, four bags of chips, and four fountain drinks.
Saturday, Oct. 29: Road Warriors vs. Florida Everblades, 2:05 p.m. – Trick or Treat with the Road Warriors. Bring the kids out for the Upstate’s safest Trick-or-Treating on the BI-LO Center Concourse. Any child dressed in costume gets in free with a paying adult.
Thursday, Nov. 3: Road Warriors vs. Toledo Walleye, 7:35 p.m. – Throwback Thursday Presented by WSSL 100.5, The Greenville News, and New Rock 93.3. Come out to enjoy $2 draught beers, $2 fountain drinks, $2 hot dogs, and $2 pretzels. Also, any college student with a valid ID gets in for just $6.
Friday, Nov. 4: Road Warriors vs. Reading Royals, 7:35 p.m. – Faith and Family Night. Groups from churches in the Upstate can get group tickets for just $6, and there will be a free post-game concert from Pulse!
Saturday, Nov. 5: Road Warriors vs. Florida Everblades, 7:05 p.m. – Country Night.
