ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades clinch playoff spot with 6-3 win

Published on March 4, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (36-18-3) used four power play goal to help clinch a spot in the 2006 Kelly Cup Playoffs with a 6-3 victory over the Charlotte Checkers (27-25-5) in front of a crowd of 6,431 at Germain Arena.

The Everblades came out fast and furious scoring twice in the first six and a half minutes. Vince Bellissimo opened the scoring just 2:32 into the game with a power play goal. Steve Saviano notched the first of his two goals at 6:28 by jamming a shot past Charlotte net-minder Chris Holt for the 2-0 Florida lead.

The Checkers responded with pressure of their own, resulting in a Dusty Jamieson goal at 11:09 of the opening period cutting the Everblades lead in half. Corey Neilson extended Florida's lead to 3-1 with a power play tally at 16:26 of the opening period. The goal was the veteran defenseman's 100th career goal in his 534th career game.

The Everblades increased their lead to 4-1 when Bellissimo notched his second goal of the night, also on the power play just 1:38 into the middle period. Charlotte however responded by scoring twice in the last half of the period to cut the gap to one. Rick Kozak notched a power play goal for Charlotte at 8:52 and Juris Stals slipped a shot past Everblades goaltender Kevin Nastiuk with nine seconds remaining in the period to cut the lead to 4-3.

Florida erased any hopes of a Charlotte come-back by scoring twice in the first five minutes of the third period. Dan Sisca notched his 21st goal of the season just 35 seconds into the period and Saviano collected his second goals of the night and Florida's fourth power play goal of the game at 4:30, giving the Everblades a 6-3 lead.

In goal, Nastiuk earned the win by turning away 30 of 33 Charlotte shots to raise his record to 7-3-1. Holt took the loss allowing six goals on 28 Everblades shots, dropping his record to 6-8-1.

On the power play, the Everblades finished the night 4-for-10, while the Checkers closed out game going 1-for-7.

The Everblades return to action on Friday, March 10 when they host on the Columbia Inferno at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena.

Everblades half season, group tickets, and individual game tickets are on sale now! Fans can purchase tickets at the Germain Arena box office, which is open from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone by calling TicketMaster at (239) 334-3309, or online at www.ticketmaster.com. For additional information, contact the Everblades office at (239) 948-7825.

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ECHL Stories from March 4, 2006


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