VERSUS 
BY: Ray Schmitt, Voice of the Greenville Road Warriors
The Greenville Road Warriors’ best offensive outing of the season led to an 8-3 win over Toledo on Friday night at the BI-LO Center. The win improved Greenville to 31-18-3 on the season.
Click here for tonight’s box score.
The Road Warriors welcomed the Walleye back to Greenville for the first time since early November with a pair of first period goals and took a 2-1 lead into the intermission. Brendan Connolly extended his team-record point streak to 14 games with his 24th goal of the season 8:32 into the contest. Marc-Olivier Vallerand had the primary helper and he also set up Brandon Wong‘s 17th goal of the season with 1:53 left in the first to give Greenville the lead back at 2-1. Toledo had tied it with a Joey Ryan marker a minute and 14 seconds after Connolly’s score.
In the second, Toledo took advantage of a couple of back-to-back penalties on Greenville to tie the game. Brett Robinson, celebrating his 27th birthday, extended the lead to 3-1 with his 19th goal of the season on the power play near the midway point of the stanza. But a 5-on-3 goal from Harrison Reed and a 5-on-4 goal by Mike Thomas 16 seconds apart drew the Walleye to even footing. Both goalies were busy in the first two period with Greenville’s Jason Missiaen seeing 19 shots, and Toledo’s Alec Richards seeing 23.
The third period has been Greenville’s best offensive period all season, and that trend continued in a big way on Friday night. Greenville scored five goals in the final frame to break the game wide open, and four of the goals were scored in a span of 2:10. Justin Bowers started the onslaught with the eventual game winning goal 51 seconds into the stanza. The snowball really got rolling with Sean Berkstresser rifling home a one-timer at 6:49. Following suit were Bretton Cameron (8:18), Bowers (8:39), and Jyri Niemi (8:59). Bowers goal chased Richards from the goal and Niemi welcomed Dustin Carlson to the game by beating him on the first shot he faced. Greenville was also dominant defensively in the period and limited the Walleye to five shots, each of which was stopped by Missiaen.
Missiaen posted 19 saves in all to earn his 13th win of the season. Greenville was
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors return home on Sunday, February 19, 2012 to take on the Toledo Walleye at 4:05. Sunday is Family Day with the Road Warriors which means all kids 12 and under get in for just $5!
Stick around after the game for a free post-game skate with the Road Warriors. If you don’t have skates you can rent a pair for $3. Book your group of 10 or more in advance to get discounts off the box office price and preferred seating based on availability. Call 864-674-PUCK (7825) to book your group outing. Also, please note that the Road Warriors game scheduled for March 1 has been moved to Saturday, March 3 at 7:05 p.m. at the BI-LO Center. Visit Greenvilleroadwarriors.com for more information.
