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ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades come-back cut short, fall 5-4 to South Carolina

April 1, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (37-30-4) almost pulled off a miraculous come-back against the South Carolina Stingrays (36-29-6) with a three-goal third period, but came up just short falling 5-4 on Friday night at Germain Arena.

Trailing 5-1 entering the third period, the Everblades stormed back into the game after scoring a pair of goals separated by 28 seconds early in the frame. With the teams skating 4-on-4 Alex Imbeault ripped home his team-leading 36th goal of the season at 4:28 with a snap shot from the inside of the right circle. Scott Pitt collected the lone assist on the goal that made it a 5-2 game.

On the next shift the Everblades cut the lead to two after Elgin Reid led Brad Snetsinger into the zone on the left wing side. Snetsinger then was able to dance around the Stingray defense before wristing a shot up under the cross bar at the 4:54 mark for his 21st goal of the season.

Late in the period the Everblades brought the crowd of 6,006 to their feet when off a 3-on-2 rush up ice, Reid threw a shot to the net that deflected off the glove of Stingrays net-minder Shane Owen and into the net at 15:05.

With the crowd urging them on the Everblades went to a power play with just over a minute remaining in regulation. However with goaltender Mike Zacharias on the bench for an extra attacker they couldn't find a way to poke home the tying goal.

The difference in the game was the first period when the Everblades were out scored 2-1. The Stingrays jumped out of the game when rookie Nate Tabisz tallied his first pro goal at 1:09 when his shot from the bottom of the left circle squeezed past Zacharias.

Midway through the period South Carolina climbed to a 2-0 lead just after their second power play expired and Chase Langeraap tucked home a rebound off a pair of spectacular saves by Zacharias.

Before the period ended the Everblades got on the board when Bobby Raymond's shot from the left circle found its way through traffic and into the net for his eighth goal of the year at the 13:32 mark. Ross Carlson and newcomer Tyler Helfrich added the assists. For Helfrich it was his first pro point in his first pro game.

The second period belonged to the Stingrays as they outscore the Everblades 3-0 to snag the 5-1 advantage. Trent Campbell (4:42), Rob Ricci (11:55) and Ryan del Monte (18:41) all scored for South Carolina in the period.

In goal Zacharias suffered his first loss since joining the Everblades and fell to 13-17-7 after allowing the five goals on 20 shots. Although he allowed goals on 29 shots, Owen improved to 10-7-1.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out the game 0-of-4, while South Carolina closed out the night 0-of-3 on the man-advantage.

The Everblades return to action on Saturday, April 2 when they host the South Carolina Stingrays at 7:00 p.m. from Germain Arena. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Individual tickets to all 2010-11 Florida Everblades home games are on sale now! Tickets are available at the TIB Bank Box Office Monday - Friday from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. and on Saturday from 10:00 a.m. - 2 p.m. Fans can also purchase tickets through TicketMaster by logging onto www.ticketmaster.com or calling 800-745-3000.

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ECHL Stories from April 1, 2011


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