All Along The Coast
Published on May 8, 2003 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release
2003 Kelly Cup Finals (Best-of-Seven) Atlantic City leads 1-0
Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies at Columbia Inferno 7:05 ET / 6:05 CT
* Scott Matzka scored at 1:17 of the third period in Atlantic City's 1-0 win in Game 1 on Wednesday.
* Bullies' Scott Stirling stopped 18 to record his second shutout, tying him for the postseason lead.
* Columbia is 7-1 at the Carolina Coliseum in the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs and 8-2 all-time at home.
* The team with home-ice advantage in the ECHL Championship has won the series nine out of 14 times, including Greenville last year.
* The team winning Game 1 of the ECHL Finals has gone on to win eight of the 14 ECHL Championships, including each of the past two years with Greenville in 2002 and South Carolina in 2001.
* In the 33 seven-game series in ECHL history, the team winning Game 1 has won the series 21 times.
* Columbia is looking to become the third straight team from South Carolina to win the Kelly Cup joining the 2002 Greenville Growl and the 2001 South Carolina Stingrays.
* This is the first appearance for both teams in the Kelly Cup Finals.
* Atlantic City and Columbia did not meet in the regular season.
* Columbia secured its Finals berth by defeating Mississippi, 4-2 in the Southern Conference Finals.
* Atlantic City won the Northern Conference Finals edging Cincinnati, 4-3.
* Columbia secured its Finals berth with a 4-2 win in Game 6 on Friday.
* Atlantic City advanced with a 3-2 Game 7 win over Cincinnati on Saturday.
* Inferno swept Greenville in the Southeast Semifinals and Pee Dee in the Southeast Finals.
* Bullies swept Trenton in the Northeast Semifinals and beat Greensboro, 3-1, in the Northeast Finals.
* Columbia leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs scoring, averaging 3.62 goals per game.
* Atlantic City ranks second in Kelly Cup Playoffs scoring, averaging 3.53 goals per game.
* Inferno ranks third in the Kelly Cup Playoffs on the power play with 27.39 percent (20-for-73).
* Bullies' postseason power play is 21.59 percent (19-for-88).
* Columbia's penalty kill is 86.15 percent in the Kelly Cup Playoffs (56-for-65).
* Atlantic City's penalty kill is 86.11 percent in the Kelly Cup Playoffs (62-for-72).
* Bullies' J. F. Caudron (9g-7a) and Luke Curtin (1g-15a) are tied for second in Kelly Cup Playoffs scoring with 16 points.
* Inferno's Rejean Stringer is tied for fifth in Kelly Cup Playoffs scoring with 14 points (3g-11a).
* Atlantic City's Luke Curtin leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs with 15 assists.
* Columbia's Rejean Stringer ranks second in the postseason with 11 assists.
* Atlantic City's J. F. Caudron ranks second in the Kelly Cup Playoffs with nine goals.
* Inferno's Trevor Demmans leads defenseman in postseason scoring with 12 points (2g-10a).
* Bullies' Kevin Colley leads the Kelly Cup Playoffs with five power-play goals.
* Columbia's Barrie Moore and Atlantic City's J.F. Caudron are tied for second in the Kelly Cup Playoffs with four power-play goals.
* Atlantic City's Scott Stirling, who returned from the American Hockey League prior to the Northern Conference Finals, is 5-3 with a 2.41 GAA and a .909 save percentage in the 2003 Kelly Cup Playoffs.
* Bullies' Matt Yeats is 4-1 in the postseason with a 2.14 goals against average and a .908 save percentage.
* Inferno's Patrick Couture is 9-3 with a 2.01 goals against average and a .923 save percentage.
* Inferno won its first nine playoff games, tying the record for second-longest postseason winning streak set by Toledo in 1994, before losing to Mississippi 3-1 in Game 4 of the Southern Conference Finals.
* Atlantic City's Mike Nicholishen is the only player in the 2003 Finals who has his name already on the Kelly Cup, earning the honor with South Carolina in 2001.
* Columbia coach Scott White was a defenseman on the 1990 ECHL Champion Greensboro Monarchs and was named the 1991-92 ECHL Defenseman of the Year.
* Atlantic City's Mike Haviland was an assistant coach with Trenton when it lost in the 2001 Kelly Cup Finals to South Carolina.
* Columbia finished atop the Southern Conference and Southeast Division with 96 points.
* Atlantic City finished atop the Northeast Division and third in the Northern Conference with 94 points.
* Bullies led the ECHL in goals per game in the regular season, averaging 3.72 goals per game.
* Inferno ranked second in the ECHL in regular season goals per game, averaging 3.68 goals per game.
* Columbia ranked fourth in the ECHL in regular season goals allowed, averaging 2.81 goals per game.
* Atlantic City allowed 3.11 goals per game during the regular season. * Inferno ranked third on the power play during the ECHL regular season with 21.9 percent (86-for-392).
* Bullies' power play was 17.7 percent (83-for-469) during the ECHL regular season.
* Columbia's penalty kill led the ECHL during the regular season with 86.1 percent (297-for-345).
* Atlantic City's penalty kill was 82.1 percent during the regular season (303-for-396).
* Inferno's Rejean Stringer led the ECHL in the regular season with 11 game-winning goals and ranked second in the ECHL in scoring with 96 points (37g-59a).
* J. F. Caudron led the Boardwalk Bullies in scoring with 85 points (39g-46a).
* Bullies' Jade Galbraith ranked second among rookies in the regular season with 74 points (27g-47a).
* Columbia's Patrick Couture ranked second in the regular season with a 2.42 goals against average.
* Inferno's Couture was 27-11-0 with a 2.42 goals against average and a 0.917 save percentage in the regular season.
* Atlantic City's Scott Stirling was 17-3-4 with a 2.93 goals against average with a 0.906 save percentage during the regular season.
* Bullies' Scott Stirling was the 2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game Most Valuable Player.
* Inferno's Patrick Couture was named Second Team All-ECHL.
ECHL Stories from May 8, 2003
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- All Along The Coast - ECHL
- Pamela Graves Named Grizzlies Vice-President of Marketing - Utah Grizzlies
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