ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades master Augusta 6-2; clinch division title!

April 7, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (44-22-6) became the 2006-07 South Division Champs thanks to a 6-2 victory over the Augusta Lynx (39-29-4) on Saturday night at Germain Arena in front of a standing room only crowd of 7,483. The division title is the second in the team's history and means the Everblades will take on the winner of the best-of-three series between Charlotte and Augusta.

Saturday night's game opened in great fashion for the Everblades who put a four-spot on the board and chased Augusta starting goaltender Nathan Marsters. The Everblades began the scoring barrage at 9:31 of the period when Adam Taylor tallied his 25th goal of the season on an assist from Brad Parsons. Florida extended their lead to 2-0 on the first of two goals by Jon Lehun at 14:52. Jarret Lukin and Dustin Johner assisted on Lehun's 24th goal of the season.

Keeping the pressure on, the Everblades tallied a power play goal at 17:32 when Vince Bellissimo tipped home a centering pass from Parsons from the left post to grab a 3-0 lead. Mike Card also chipped in with an assist. The Everblades closed out the scoring in the first period when Brad Zancanaro broke in on Marsters with 1:30 remaining and forced the puck between the Augusta net minder's pads for his 18th goal of the season.

At the start of the second period, the Lynx replaced Marsters with goaltender A.J. Bucchino who made his professional debut. The rookie played strong stopping 23 of 25 shots over the final two periods, however the Everblades increased their lead to 5-0 at 11:02 of the middle frame on Lehun's second goal of the night by chipping in a rebound from the top of the crease. Reggie Berg and Steve Czech collected the assists.

Augusta finally got on the scoreboard late in the second period when J.B. Bittner had a nice deflection from the bottom of the right circle that rang off the under side of the cross bar and past Craig Kowalski at 16:09.

The Everblades carried their 5-1 lead into the third period, and extended the advantage to 6-1 at 2:38 on Czech's third goal of the season with a blast from the blue line and past a screened Bucchino. Johner and Lehun earned the helpers on the tally. The Lynx however closed out the scoring just 32 seconds later on Garrett Bembridge's 21st goal of the season.

In net Kowalski closed out the regular season with his 29th win by turning away 31 of 33 shots. Marsters ended up taking the loss for Augusta allowing the four first period goals on nine shots, which dropped his record to 7-6-2.

On the power play, the Everblades finished 1-for-5, while the Lynx closed out the game 0-for-3.

The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to the ice on Friday, April 13 when they host the game 1 of the South Division semi-finals at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. The Florida Everblades are now taking deposits on 2007-08 season tickets!! Reserve your seat for all the exciting action today by calling (239) 948-7825. Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on group ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

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ECHL Stories from April 7, 2007


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