VERSUS 
Greenville, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors halted their three game losing streak with a 4-1 win over the Florida Everblades on Thursday night at the BI-LO Center. The win improved Greenville’s record to 24-10-2.
In their final home game of the season against Florida, the Road Warriors looked to strike first blood with an early power play. But a turnover resulted in a shorthanded 2-on-1 and a goal by Florida’s Ross Carlson, giving the Everblades an early 1-0 lead at 3:41. The Road Warriors settled things down and answered back with the tying goal when Chris McKelvie scored his second goal of the year on a scrum at the net slipping the puck past Florida’s Jaroslav Janus. T.J. Reynolds and Trevor Glass both recorded assists on the goal at 14:01. Florida’s Drew Larman received a hooking penalty with a little over five minutes left in the period giving the Road Warriors their second power play opportunity of the night. Taking advantage of the extra man, Greenville’s Blake Parlett snapped the puck past Janus for his sixth goal of the year at 15:08. Mark Voakes and Jimmy Kilpatrick picked up assists on the play. Greenville outshot Florida 13-7 in the first period.
Looking to protect a one goal advantage, the Road Warriors turned up the defense in the second period. Unable to take advantage of three power play opportunities in the period Greenville continued their stellar penalty kill shutting Florida out on two power play opportunities and outshooting the Everblades 12-7 in a scoreless second. Nic Riopel turned aside all seven shots he faced in his first game at the BI-LO Center since November 13.
The defense and the penalties picked up in the third as both the Road Warriors and Everblades looked for an advantage. The Road Warriors capitalized on a scramble near the net as Voakes picked up his second assist on the night with a perfect pass to Brandon Wong who smoked it past Janus. Wong’s ninth goal of the year extended his point streak to four games and sealed the win as the Road Warriors put the clamps on the Everblades for the rest of the period. In his first game with Greenville since November, Shane Harper added a late goal with little over three minutes left in his first game back from his call up to Adirondack. Riopel blanked Florida in his busiest period of the night and turned in 13 saves.
Riopel made 26 stops on the night to earn his seventh win of the season. Greenville went 1-for-9 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Mark your calendars! The Road Warriors are finishing up a three-game home series with games this Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game against Gwinnett features the Friday Family Four-Pack where $48 gets you four hot dogs, four sodas, four bags of chips, and four pretzels. Saturday is a hockey double-header with Clemson taking on Tennessee at 3:00 p.m. at the BI-LO Center followed by the Road Warriors and Kalamazoo Wings at 7:05. Groups of 10 or more can still book an outing to either game to save off the box office price, receive preferred seating based on availability, and enjoy other great benefits. Call 864-674-PUCK for more information or to book your outing.
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