ECHL Florida Everblades

'Blades tie ECHL record with four short-h anded goals in 9-7 win

January 5, 2007 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release


ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (21-10-0) used four short-handed goals and a hat trick by Reggie Berg to out-slug the Charlotte Checkers 9-7 on Friday night at Germain Arena in front of a crowd of 5,541.

The four short-handed tallies tied an ECHL record set by the Augusta Lynx earlier this season, also against the Checkers. The short-handed tally also set an Everblades team record.

The fun began with Florida's Brett Peterson scoring a pair of goals just 22 seconds apart midway through the first period. Brad Zancanaro assisted on both, while Ryan Van Buskirk assisted on Peterson's first of the night and sixth of the season and David Brine picked up the second helper on Peterson's second of the game. After the Checkers (17-14-1) tallied a late first period power play goal by Daymen Rycroft with 38 seconds left in the frame, the teams exploded for eight second period goals.

The Everblades scored the first two of the period, both short-handed and both on the same Charlotte power play. Berg notched his first of the night at 3:53 by jamming the puck past Charlotte goalie Alex Weslund with Jon Lehun assisting to open a 3-1 lead, and Zacanaro scored the first of his two short-handed goals just 33 seconds later on assists by Van Buskirk and Brine. The goal was Zancanaro's fourth of the season.

The Checkers responded with the first of four goals by Blake Bellefeuille when he deflected a point shot past Everblades net-minder David Shantz, trimming the lead to 4-2. Florida scored the next two to open a 6-2 lead. Zancanaro tallied his second of the night at 14:00 of the period, an unassisted short-handed goal and Berg collected his second goal of the night just 1:04 later with the teams skating even strength. Vince Bellissimo and Adam Taylor assisted on Berg's 15th goal of the year.

Bellefeuille and the Checkers answered 10 seconds later to trim the Florida lead back to three, but Lehun gave the Everblades a 7-3 lead with a power play goal at 16:25 on assists by Peterson and Taylor. Following that goal, Charlotte scored the next four goals starting with Bellefeuille notching the hat-trick with an even strength goal at 17:51 of second period.

At the start of the third period, both teams made goaltending changes. Craig Kowalski entered for the Everblades, while Chris Holt took over for the Checkers. Charlotte continued with the pressure as Mike Ouellette cut the 'Blades lead to 7-5 at 9:52 of the third period, then Bellefeuille scored his fourth of the night and 14th of the season at 11:32 to trim the lead to 7-6. The Checkers completed the come back when Kirk DeWaele snuck a shot from the left boards past Kowalski at 11:50 of the frame.

The Everblades responded despite playing three players short on their bench. Lehun gave the Everblades back the lead tallying the eventual game-winning goal with a one-timer from the slot at 15:09, and Berg sealed the win with his second short-handed goal of the night at 17:36 to open the 9-7 lead.

Kowalski got credit for the win for the Everblades after he stopped 12 of 15 shots he faced in the third period. The win raised his record to 12-6-0. Shantz didn't get a decision after allowing four goals on 22 shots during the first two periods. Holt suffered the loss for the Checkers allowing two third period goals on seven shots, dropping his record to 10-10-1. Weslund finished the night with 25 saves on 32 shots in the first two periods.

On the power play, both teams finished the night 1-for-10.

The Florida Everblades, proud affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes and the Florida Panthers, return to the ice on Saturday, January 6 when they host the Charlotte Checkers at 7:30 p.m. from Germain Arena. Saturday's game will be broadcast via the internet only and can be heard by visiting www.floridaeverblades.com or www.abc-7.com.

Florida Everblades full season tickets & mini-plans are now available! 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.

3 Stars:

1 - Reggie Berg - FLA

2 - Blake Bellefeuille - CHR

3 - Brad Zancanaro - FLA

Check out the Florida Everblades Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 5, 2007


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