Sports stats



COLUMBUS RIDES SIX-GAME WIN STREAK TO FIRST PLACE IN THE UNITED HOCKEY LEAGUE

November 17, 2003 - United Hockey League (UHL)
Columbus Stars News Release


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 17, 2003

COLUMBUS RIDES SIX-GAME WIN STREAK TO FIRST PLACE IN THE UNITED HOCKEY LEAGUE Cheverie's six-assist week, Timely goals from Ridolfi and Bootland lift Stars to the top of the Eastern Conference

COLUMBUS, OH – Columbus has been hungry for a hockey winner since Ohio State's magical Frozen Four run in 1999. Central Ohio may have that team in these Columbus Stars. The Stars have ridden good goaltending from Greg Hewitt and consistent chances from an offense that has out shot opponents 215-149 over the last six games to a 9-2-1 record and the league's top spot.

--------

Week that was:
11/12 STARS 4, Rockford 3 (SO)
11/14 STARS 7, Missouri 4 11/15 STARS 5, Flint 4
11/16 STARS 3, Adirondack 2

Week ahead:
11/19 STARS @ Adirondack, 7 p.m.
11/21 STARS vs. Elmira, 7 p.m.
11/22 STARS vs. Fort Wayne, 7 p.m.

Week In Review: Sunday afternoon – STARS 3, Adirondack 2 - The Stars battled back from a 2-1 deficit with two third-period goals to defeat the Adirondack IceHawks 3-2 and take over sole possession of first place in the UHL's Eastern Conference.

Steve Rodberg scored the game-winner at the 10:08 mark of the third period on assists from Chris Thompson and Eric Naud. Columbus defenseman Jasmin Gelinas tied the game for the Stars at the 3:03 mark on assists from Brian Ridolfi and Paul Dunphy. Dunphy opened the scoring thirty-four seconds into the second period with his first professional goal. Gelinas and Ryan Coole added assists on the rookie's goal. Adirondack netminder Scott Dickie made 28 saves in the loss and Columbus' Greg Hewitt made 19 saves to earn his seventh win of the year.

Saturday night – STARS 5, Flint 4 - Brian Ridolfi scored the game winner with 24 seconds remaining in the game as the Stars won a key conference match-up with the Flint Generals last night. Flint had tied the score less than 20 seconds earlier on a power play, extra-attacker goal by Kevin Kerr. The Generals were 34 seconds into a penalty given to the Stars' B.J. Kilbourne who Flint Head Coach Robbie Nichols claimed correctly, was using an illegal stick. The back-and-forth contest saw Columbus take leads of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-3 only to see Flint battle back to tie. Ridolfi's goal was his second of the year and was assisted by Evan Cheverie and Chris Thompson. Cheverie had his second three assist night in a row and has take over the league lead in assists with 12. Kilbourne scored on a blast from just inside the blueline at the 7:20 mark of the third to give Columbus a 4-3 lead, also on an assist from Thompson. Jasmin Gelinas, Scott Levins and Nick Bootland scored the first three Stars' goals. Bootland also added an assist. Greg Hewitt made 21 saves to earn his sixth victory of the year in goal for Columbus. The penalty-marred game ended with 72 penalty minutes combined, with 37 being whistled on the Stars.

Friday night – STARS 7, Missouri 4 - The Stars scored four goals in four minutes early in the second period en route to a 7-4 win over the Missouri River Otters. Forwards Evan Cheverie and Brian Ridolfi notched three points a piece as ten Stars factored in the scoring. Columbus captain Nick Bootland scored the final two goals in the offensive flurry and extended his team leading point total to 14 on the year. Craig Hillier made 17 saves in earning is first UHL win in his first start as a Star. Missouri was buoyed by a hat trick by former Colorado College star Jesse Heerema, who scored a goal in every period. River Otter netminder Tim Knudson made 34 saves in the loosing effort. Jeff Petruic and Colin Emblay added two assists for Missouri. Columbus' Chris Thompson opened the scoring with his first goal of the year on an assist from B.J. Kilbourne at the 5:58 mark of the first period. Scott Levins extended his goal-scoring streak to four games with a marker on an assist from Cheverie at :45 of the second. Kilbourne added another assist on Eric Naud's third goal of the year, a power-play goal at 3:16 of the second, that lead into Bootland's back-to-back goals. Chris Taliercio added an insurance goal, from Cheverie and Levins at 2:31 of the third to complete the Columbus side of the scoring.

Wednesday night- STARS 4, Rockford 3 (SO) - Steve Rodberg flipped a backhand over Rockford's Paul Schonfelder to end the overtime shootout in the seventh round and give the Stars a 4-3 victory. Columbus (6-2-1) sprinted out to a two goal advantage on first period goals by Scott Levins and Gary Zinck, but Rockford pulled one back with four seconds left in the first on Nathan Lutz's power-play blast. Dave Paradise tied the game with another power-play goal at the 17:37 mark of the second on assists from his brother Chris and Donnie Margettie. The Paradises and Margettie all had two-point games for Rockford. The IceHogs went 2-for-5 on the night with the man advantage, while Columbus went 1-for-4. B.J. Kilbourne scored an unassisted goal at the 2:56 mark of the third to put the Stars back on top until Steve Cygan scored three and a half minutes later to end the scoring in regulation. Kelly Miller and Chris Paradise scored for Rockford in the shootout, while Evan Cheverie and Nick Bootland preceded Rodberg's game-winner for the Stars. The Stars move to 4-0-1 at home and 1-1 in shoot out overtimes.

Star Gazing: Bootland shows up in the clutch: Of team captain Nick Bootland's team leading seven goals, four have been game winners. The 25-year old Shelbourne, ONT native leads the UHL in game-winning goals.

Power-play opportunists: The Stars' power play ranks fourth in the league at 20.68% (12-for-58). Take away a 0-for-11 opening weekend and the Stars are clipping along at over 25% over the last ten games.

Hewitt controls the crease: Columbus netminder Greg Hewitt stopped 68 shots in three wins this week. Hewitt leads the UHL with a GAA of 2.21. The London, ONT native also leads the league in minutes played at 598 and is tied for the UHL lead in wins at 7. Hewitt was selected as the UHL Goaltender of the Week for Week Three (ended November 9).

Still rocking the "Brick House": The Stars are 6-0-1 at the Ohio Expo Center Coliseum this season, nicknamed the "Brick House" by this years' team. Columbus has outscored their guests 25-16 on home ice while out shooting opponents by 48 (228-180). Starposts Ahead · Right wing Eric Naud entered his seventh professional season three assists from 100. He added number 98 on opening night at Adirondack and has added two goals since. · Fourth-year pro Matt Noga is 10 assists away from 150 for his pro career. The right wing is part of a top scoring line with Evan Cheverie and Nick Bootland that was formed in Cincinnati last year. · Fifth-year pro B.J. Kilbourne needs 10 points to achieve 200 pro career points. The gritty centerman from Lake Saranac, NY is second on the team in goals (6) and is third in points (12).

The Week Ahead: A relatively light week for the Stars who have played three games in three days two of the last three weekends. · A Wednesday night tilt with the Adirondack IceHawks in the Glens Falls Civic Center is the fourth meeting between the teams in the young season. The Stars have taken two of three from the IceHawks. All three contests have been one-goal games. · The Columbus Blue Jackets UHL affiliate Elmira Jackals come into their parent-club's hometown for the first time on Friday night for a 7 p.m. face off. The Jackals beat the Stars in Elmira on October 25 by a 4-2 count, but Columbus avenged the defeat one week later, 5-3. · Defending Colonial Cup champions the Fort Wayne Komets return to the Expo Center Coliseum looking for revenge after their October 31, 3-2 loss.

On the Road Again: A midweek trip to Glens Falls, NY wrecks havoc on a practice schedule. The Stars will skate at the Coliseum Tuesday morning at 8:00 a.m. before boarding the bus for New York. Friday and Saturdays pre-game skates are slated for 10:00 a.m.

COLUMBUS TEAM STATISTICS Through Games of 11/16/2003

No. PLAYER POS GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH GW FG SOG SOA SO% SHOTS PCT 17 Bootland, Nick LW 12 7 9 16 3 13 4 1 4 1 1 2 50.0 53 13.2 18 Kilbourne, B.J. F 12 6 8 14 0 14 3 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 31 19.4 9 Cheverie, Evan F 12 3 10 13 3 10 1 0 1 1 2 2 100.0 35 8.6 22 Levins, Scott RW 9 5 5 10 -1 23 1 0 1 0 0 1 0.0 22 22.7 44 Gelinas, Jasmin D 12 3 7 10 0 15 1 0 0 1 0 2 0.0 23 13.0 36 Thompson, Chris M. LW 12 1 8 9 1 49 0 0 0 1 0 1 0.0 39 2.6 20 Naud, Eric LW 11 3 3 6 2 29 1 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 25 12.0 24 Ridolfi, Brian RW 12 2 3 5 5 6 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.0 18 11.1 16 Nemeth, Tom D 12 1 4 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 32 3.1 19 Dunphy, Paul D 12 1 4 5 3 12 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.0 10 10.0 4 Rodberg, Steve D 12 2 2 4 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 100.0 29 6.9 12 Noga, Matt C 4 2 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 4 50.0 10 Taliercio, Chris F 10 2 0 2 -1 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 17 11.8 6 Medvecz, Matt D 9 1 1 2 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 10 10.0 14 Coole, Ryan D 12 0 2 2 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 9 0.0 11 Zinck, Gary D 12 1 0 1 1 40 1 0 0 1 0 0 0.0 13 7.7 XAschaber, Ryan G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 30 Hillier, Craig G 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 7 McIver, Chad D 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 4 0.0 21 Ernest, Derek D 5 0 0 0 2 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 25 Watson, Dan D 9 0 0 0 5 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 14 0.0 34 Hewitt, Greg G 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 BENCH 12 1 1 0 1 TOTALS 12 41 67 108 264 12 1 9 7 4 12 33.3 388 10.6 OPPONENT TOTALS 12 31 56 87 272 11 0 3 5 4 12 33.3 305 10.2

No. GPI MIN AVG W L SOL SOW EN SHO SOG SOA GA SAVES SPCT

34 Hewitt, Greg 10 598:37 2.21 7 2 1 1 1 1 4 12 22 231 0.913 XAschaber, Ryan 1 60:00 3.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 26 0.897 30 Hillier, Craig 1 60:00 4.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 17 0.810

TEAM TOTALS 12 720:00 2.58 9 2 1 1 1 1 4 12 31 274 0.898

Columbus 2003-04 Game-by-Game Recap Date Opponent W/L Record Score G W Goal Goaltender Opposing Goaltender ATTN Oct 24 at Adirondack W 1- 0- 0 2-1 Cheverie Hewitt (1GA,22SV) Leslie (2GA,25SV) 4027 Oct 25 at Elmira L 1- 1- 0 2-4 Hewitt (3GA,18SV) Aubry (2GA,23SV) 2975 Oct 31 Fort Wayne W 2- 1- 0 3-2 Bootland Hewitt (2GA,24SV) Buckley (3GA,27SV) 1645 Nov 1 at Elmira W 3- 1- 0 5-3 Bootland Aschaber (3GA,26SV) Aubry (5GA,29SV) 3336 Nov 2 Muskegon T 3- 1- 1 #2-3 Hewitt (2GA 28SV) Daigle (2GA,19SV) 965 Nov 5 at Adirondack L 3- 2- 1 2-3 Hewitt (3GA,22SV) Leslie (2GA,34SV) 1515 Nov 7 Port Huron W 4- 2- 1 4-2 Levins Hewitt (2GA,22SV) Dunn (4GA,36SV) 971 Nov 8 Rockford W 5- 2- 1 2-0 Bootland Hewitt (0GA,27SV) Vogel (2GA,35SV) 970 Nov 12 Rockford W 6- 2- 1 #4-3 Hewitt (3GA,28SV) Schonfelder(3GA,24SV) 952 Nov 14 Missouri W 7- 2- 1 7-4 Bootland Hillier (4GA,17SV) Knudsen (7GA,34SV) 786 Nov 15 at Flint W 8- 2- 1 5-4 Ridolfi Hewitt (4GA,21SV) Chovan (5GA,33SV) 2867 Nov 16 Adirondack W 9- 2- 1 3-2 Rodberg Hewitt (2GA,19SV) Dickie (3GA,29SV) 891

Upcoming Schedule Nov 19 at Adirondack Nov 21 Elmira Nov 22 Fort Wayne Nov 26 Kalamazoo Nov 28 Adirondack Nov 29 at Fort Wayne

• Discuss this story on the United Hockey League message board...

United Hockey League Stories from November 17, 2003


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.

Other Recent Columbus Stars Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central