VERSUS 
BY: Ray Schmitt, Voice of the Greenville Road Warriors
The Greenville Road Warriors lost in their final meeting of the season with the Gwinnett Gladiators, 3-2, on Saturday night at the BI-LO Center. The loss dropped Greenville’s record to 40-23-6.
Click here for tonight’s box score.
The Road Warriors snagged a 1-0 lead for the second straight game when Chris McKelvie sizzled a one-timer past Marc Cheverie 7:43 into the game. The goal was McKelvie’s third of the season with assists going to Jeremy Gouchie and Jason Wilson. The goal gave goalie Nic Riopel a comfort zone to work with as he made his first home start since December 29. The Road Warriors could not hold onto the lead through the frame, though, as Steven Mallaro squeezed a slap-shot past Riopel on the glove side at 17:01.
In the second Nikita Kashirsky spotted Gwinnett a one-goal lead when he scored from the right wing with 1:03 gone by. Greenville didn’t wait long to respond as Marc-Olivier Vallerand took a homerun pass from Wes Cunningham and raced in on a breakaway against Cheverie. His wrist shot scored low to the blocker side and knotted the game at two. Riopel and Cheverie shut down the offenses from there and the game went into the third period deadlocked at two.
Gwinnett’s Paul Flache restored its lead just before the third was halfway over. He came out from behind the Greenville net and tapped home a backdoor feed from Pat Galivan for his seventh goal of the season. The Road Warriors put the pedal down in an effort to find the tying goal and managed to assail Cheverie with 12 shots in the stanza. The most furious few came in the last minute as Greenville had a 6-on-3 skater advantage with Gwinnett taking back-to-back penalties and Riopel pulled for the extra attacker. Cheverie, however, stopped all of Greenville’s attempts and sealed the win.
Riopel stopped 35 shots in sustaining the loss. The Road Warriors were 0-for-3 on the power play and 5-for-5 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are back at the BI-LO Center for their next home game on Tuesday, March 27 at 7:35 p.m. against the South Carolina Stingrays. Come out for Two-For Tuesday presented by BI-LO. Fans can show their BI-LO BONUSCARD at the Breakaway Honda Ticket Office at the BI-LO Center to get a free ticket when they purchase a ticket of equal value. There are discounted tickets and preferred seating based on availability for any group of 10 or more that books in advance. Call 864-674-PUCK (7825) to book your group outing. Visit Greenvilleroadwarriors.com for more information.
Get ready for the Road Warriors’ run to the Kelly Cup! Discounted playoff packages are on sale right now. With the playoff packages you can pay as you go throughout the playoffs and tickets start as low as $8.50 per game. Call 864-674-PUCK (7825) to get your 2012 Kelly Cup Playoffs tickets reserved today!
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