Blades announce opening night roster
October 21, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
Estero, FL - Florida Everblades head coach Gerry Fleming announced his opening night roster for the 2004-05 season today. The roster features 11 players which saw time on last years Eastern Conference Championship squad. In addition four players will make their professional debuts this season. Overall the opening night roster consists of 13 forwards, five defenseman, and two goaltenders.
The 11 returning players from the 2003-04 season are forwards Brent McDonald (22g, 33a - 55pts), Keith Anderson (18g, 33a - 51pts.), Reggie Berg (24g, 23a - 47pts), Damian Surma (6g, 9a - 15pts.), and Brandon Coalter (3g, 12a - 15pts).
The retuning defenseman are Matt Pagnutti (11g, 29a - 40pts), Ryan Brindley (11g, 29a - 40pts), Tim O'Connell (10g, 26a - 36pts), Jared Newman (2g, 7a - 9pts) and Ed Hill, who appeared in three games last season.
Returning between the pipes for the Everblades is goaltender Rob Zepp (20-13-7, 2.95 GAA). Seeing action for the first time as a member of the Florida Everblades will be forwards Brad Church, who scored 41 points in 56 games with Reading of the ECHL and 11 points in 11 games with Manchester of the American Hockey League; Brian Sullivan, who notched 32 points in 26 games with the University of Massachusetts-Boston, before skating in seven games in the AHL with Springfield and Lowell; Ernie Hartlieb who saw action in 63 games with Worcester of the AHL, collecting 14g, 21a - 35pts.; Jim Abbott, who combined to score 56 points with Pensacola and Toledo of the ECHL last season; Matt Hendricks, who scored 25 points in 37 games with St. Cloud St. University, and made his professional debut with Milwaukee of the AHL, skating in one game; David Lundbohm, who played in 39 games with the University of North Dakota and collected 30 points; Chris Hodgson who played all of last season in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with Acadie-Bathhurst, and notched 36 pts. in 57 games; Chris Lee, who comes to the Everblades from the college ranks at SUNY-Potsdam, where he collected 49 pts. in 27 games; and Cody Doucette, who also skated in the QMJHL with Quebec and Moncton, where he collected a combined 196 penalty minutes in 60 games. The lone new defenseman to this season's squad is Tom Reimann, who spent the majority of last season in the ECHL with Greensboro, scoring 33 pts. in 43 games, and also skated in seven games in Austria with Feldkirch. Joining Zepp in goal for the Everblades this year is Craig Kowalski who spent last season in goal with Northern Michigan University, where he compiled a 17-14-4 record, 2.71 GAA, and saw action in five games with Lowell, going 1-3-1, 3.16 GAA.
Beginning the season on the injured reserve list will be Doucette, Hill and Lee.
Game On! The Florida Everblades will open their seventh season in Southwest Florida at Germain Arena on Friday, October 22nd at 7:30 PM when they take on the Texas Wildcatters. To purchase season tickets and reserve your piece of the action during the 2004-05 season call (239) 948-7825 or for single event tickets call Ticketmaster at (239) 334-3309. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.
Upcoming Schedule
Friday, October 22nd - Pregame Skate 10 AM, Opening Night Everblades vs. Wildcatters 7:30 PM
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