ECHL Florida Everblades

Blades thump Stingrays 7-2; Fleming wins 300th as a head coach

January 5, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (19-11-3) used a four-goal first period explosion and 30 saves from goaltender Justin Peters to thump the South Carolina Stingrays (19-11-1) by a score of 7-2 on Saturday night, giving head coach Gerry Fleming his 300th career win in the process.

The crowd of 5,882 had plenty to cheer about as the Everblades matched a season high with four goals in one period while opening a 4-0 lead after the first period. Ernie Hartlieb started the fun scoring his 11th goal of the season just 1:50 into the contest on assists by Dan Collins and Preston Callander. Shortly after, Mike McLean tallied his fouth goal of the season with a quick shot from the high slot at 7:28, prompting Stingrays head coach Jared Bednar to use his lone timeout. Kirk MacDonald and Ryan Van Buskirk each collected assists on the goal.

The Everblades kept the pressure on and opened a 3-0 lead at 12:23 when MacDonald pushed his point scoring streak to five straight games by lifting a backhand shot from the right circle over the blocker of South Carolina goaltender Josh Johnson. McLean and Van Buskirk earned the helpers on MacDonald's fourth goal of the season.

Before the period ended, the Everblades tacked on one more goal that deflated the Stingrays bench. Defenseman Steve Czech took a pass from Derek Damon and launched a shot from the right point that deflected off a South Carolina player's stick and past Johnson with 6:02 remaining in the period. Collins added his second assist of the night on Czech's first goal of the year.

Florida kept the pressure on in the second period and were rewarded with two more goals to open a 6-0 advantage heading into the second intermission. Collins notched the first of the two goals collecting his own rebound after an Everblades faceoff win. Collins' original shot hit Callander, then on his second attempt fired into the upper left corner of the net at 11:59. Damon tallied the second assist on the goal.

MacDonald would be the only multiple goal scorer for the Everblades in the game when he tallied his second short-handed goal of the season at 16:02 of the middle period. He and McLean broke out the Everblades defensive zone on a 2-on-1 rush that resulted in McLean flipping a pass to MacDonald in the left circle, who then took the puck across the front of the net and slipped it inside the right post for a 6-0 Everblades lead.

At the start of the third period, the Stingrays replaced Johnson with back up goaltender Jay Chrapala who stopped 11 of the 12 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes of play. South Carolina found the back of the net for the first time in the contest while on the power play when Chris Chaput tapped in a loose puck at the right post just 2:01 into the frame.

Still leading by five, the Everblades made sure the Stingrays wouldn't get any closer when Preston Callander tacked on his sixth goal of the season at 5:21 on a shot that was stopped by Chrapala, but rolled up his arm and into the net. Collins earned his third assist of the night on the tally and David Cornacchia picked up a helper as well.

The final goal of the night came from Stingrays defenseman Mike Gabinet who fired a wrist shot from the blue line that sailed past the glove of Peters and into the net with 11:53 remaining in the game.

Peters picked up the win to improve his record to 13-5-2, while Johnson fell to 10-8-0 after allowing six goals on 17 shots through the first two periods.

For Fleming, in his eighth season as a head coach, he improved his all-time head coaching record to 300-175-62. Fleming began his head coaching career in 2000-01 with the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks of the ECHL, and is now in his seventh season as the head coach of the Everblades.

On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 0-for-8, while the Stingrays finished 1-for-8.

Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Thursday, January 10 when they travel to Augusta to take on the Lynx at 7:05 p.m. from James Brown Arena. The Everblades return home on Tuesday, January 15 to host the Pensacola Ice Pilots at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Individual tickets to all Everblades home games are on sale now! Stop by the Germain Arena box office to reserve your seat for all the exciting action! Visit www.floridaeverblades.com and www.germainarena.com for more information on ticket packages, pricing and upcoming Germain Arena events.

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 5, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central