Blades win brawl filled game 4-1 over Gwinnett
March 28, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Florida Everblades News Release
ESTERO, FL - The Florida Everblades (36-24-8) and the Gwinnett Gladiators (42-21-5) combined for 284 penalty minutes in a brawl filled contest at Germain Arena on Friday night. When the final horn sounded, the Everblades behind a hat-trick by Preston Callander, earned a 4-1 win over their South Division rival sending the crowd of 6,088 home happy. The win snapped a five-game losing streak for the Everblades and moved them closer to locking up home ice in the first round.
The game was nothing short of intense, frustrating, exciting, fight-filled and record-breaking as the Everblades broke an all-time regular season high of most penalty minutes between both teams in a single game. The previous record held strong since February 8, 2003 against the now-defunct Jackson Bandits with 173 penalty minutes administered.
As far as goal scoring went, the Everblades opened the scoring by converting on the power play just 2:38 into the game to take an early 1-0 lead. With only seconds remaining in the power play, Ernie Hartlieb pounded the puck into the net from the right circle, garnering his 24th goal of the season. Tallying assists were Brandon Roach and Derek Damon.
The Everblades remained strong after killing a Gwinnett 5-on-3 power play and added another goal when Preston Callander hammered his 20th goal of the year past Gladiators goalie Dan Turple at 10:14. Assisting Callander were Brad Zancanaro and Damon, who nabbed his second assist of the night. Damon also added to his team-leading assist total, putting him at 46 assists on the season and the Everblades up 2-0.
The Gladiators weren't going scoreless without a fight and responded quickly when Jeff Campbell tallied his 24th goal of the year just 35 seconds later by wristing a shot past Everblades net-minder David Shantz from the slot, narrowing Florida's lead by one.
The Everblades battled back however to regain their two-goal lead at 14:15 when from the right side of the crease, Callander notched his second goal of the night by lifting the puck past an unsuspecting Turple who was distracted on the left-hand side of the goal. Zancanaro collected his second assist of the night and Brett Peterson added a helper as well.
The Everblades penalty killers, who came up big all night, finished off the second period in strong fashion after David Cornacchia was whistled for a five-minute for spearing, the Everblades left the first period up 3-1.
Fairly peaceful back-and-forth play overshadowed much of the second period until the Everblades' Callander added another goal to his impressive nightly total and bringing his season total to 22. Callander slapped his third goal of the night into the net from the right circle, giving the Everblades a hefty lead of 4-1.
Shortly after, gloves and sticks scattered as the teams took to a brawl on the ice. The clash, which included both goalies engaging in a fight at center ice, ended with a vast array of penalties resulting in a substitution of goaltenders for both teams. After a long delay of the game, play resumed and goaltenders Kevin Nastiuk and Craig Kowalski took over for the departing Shantz and Turple.
The second period ended without further incident, but more was to come in the third period with the Everblades carrying their sturdy of 4-1 into the second intermission.
Intensity and frustration weren't lacking in the beginning of the third period when sticks and gloves soared once again in another line brawl erupted less than four minutes into the period. After another prolonged delay and another distribution of fighting and game misconduct penalties, play resumed...but not for long. Like bad déjà vu, just 1:20 later a third line brawl broke out resulting in the ejection of Gwinnett's Miles Stoesz, who amassed an incredible 68 penalty minutes in the game.
When the dust settled, the Everblades held a seven minute power play, but could not convert. Only one other incident broke out over the remaining 15:12 with a fight between Florida's Ryan Van Buskirk and Gwinnett's Dinos Stamoulis.
In the end, the Shantz ended up with the victory to improve to 10-4-3 after stopping 16 of 17 shots in the 33:13 played. Nastiuk finished off the game by turning away all eight shots he faced in the remaining 26:47. For the Gladiators, Turple suffered the loss allowing the four goals on 21 shots, and Kowalski closed out the game stopping all 12 shots he faced.
On the power play, the Everblades closed out night 1-for-8, while the Gladiators finished 0-for-6.
Experience the excitement of the Everblades 10th Anniversary season! The Everblades return to action on Saturday, March 29 when they host the Gwinnett Gladiators 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.
Stars: 1) Preston Callander - FLA 2) Derek Damon - FLA 3) Brad Zancanaro - FLA
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