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ECHL ECHL

ECHL Southern Conference

April 3, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Southeast Division ==================

AUGUSTA LYNX (Coyotes) -- Despite finishing the regular season with a 27-39-6 record and just 60 points, the Lynx were just four points out of the final playoff position in the Southern Conference. Augusta went winless in three straight games March 25-29 before closing out the season with a 4-3 overtime victory over Pee Dee. The win was not enough as Greenville ended the year with 64 points and the final playoff spot. The Lynx suffered a 7-3 loss to the Grrrowl on March 29 and went just 3-5 head-to-head this season. ... RW Andrew Williamson, who was added to the roster on December 5, led the team with 74 points and had 85 total between Dayton and the Lynx.

COLUMBIA INFERNO (Canucks) -- The Inferno used an 18-2-1 stretch from January 31-March 20 and to hang on for the top spot in the Southern Conference. Once the winning ways ended, Columbia closed out the regular season with a 2-2 record and finished the year at 47-23-2 overall with 96 points. During their run, the Inferno posted winning streaks of five, six and seven games. ... Columbia's two ties (shootout losses) this season represent the fewest in the league. The Inferno suffered a 4-3 shootout loss at Pee Dee on December 6 and a 5-4 shootout loss at Greensboro on February 28. ... C Rejean Stringer led the team and finished second in the league in scoring with 96 points. Stringer had 37 goals and 59 assists.

COLUMBUS COTTONMOUTHS (Oilers) -- The Cottonmouths finished the season with 28-39-8 with just 58 points, tied for the second-lowest total in the league. ... Columbus lost three straight and six of seven March 14-25 before closing out the season with a three-game winning streak. During their winning streak March 26-30, the Cottonmouths scored 16 goals, including a seven-goal outburst vs. Arkansas on March 26. The seven goals matched a season high. Columbus was credited with seven goals during a 7-6 shootout win at Louisiana on November 24. ... RW Brett Cullaton led the team with 62 points (18 goals, 44 assists) in a team-high 72 games.

FLORIDA EVERBLADES (unaffiliated) -- Despite finishing the regular season with just one win in their last seven games, the Everblades ended with a 35-23-14 record, 84 points and a playoff berth. Florida played Greenville in the opening-round game (a one-game playoff) and was bounced by the Grrrowl after a 3-2 loss. ... LW Joe Blaznek led the Everblades with 66 points in 71 games. He scored 34 goals and had 32 assists. RW Kevin Brown, who joined the team on November 29, had 60 points in 52 games for Florida. ... The 14 ties (shootout losses) were the most in the league.

GREENVILLE GRRROWL (Thrashers) -- The Grrrowl finished the regular season with a win and a tie, earning the final playoff spot in the Southern Conference. Greenville played Florida in the one-game playoff and pulled off a 3-2 victory. F Peter Flache had a pair of goals and RW Mike Henerson scored the eventual game-winner 3:51 into the third period. The Grrrowl advanced to play Columbia in the divisional semifinals, suffering a 6-2 loss in Game 1. ... LW Matt Demarski led Greenville with 63 points during the regular season (25 goals, 38 assists) and RW Tyler Deis was second with 62 points (24 goals, 38 assists).

PEE DEE PRIDE (unaffiliated) -- The Pride ended the 2002-03 campaign with a 40-26-6 record, good for 86 points and the fifth seed in the Kelly Cup Playoffs. ... Pee Dee went 8-3-1 over its final 12 games. One of the defeats was a 4-2 loss at South Carolina, the Prides' first opponent in the postseason. ... Pee Dee opened the playoff series with a 3-0 victory over the Stingrays on April 2. G Ron Vogel made 25 saves for the win. During the regular season, Vogel went 24-13-3 with a 2.69 ERA and four shutouts. ... C Matt Reid and C Greg Schmidt each finished the regular season with 72 points. Reid scored 28 goals and added 44 assists while Schmidt had 20 goals to go along with 52 helpers.

SOUTH CAROLINA STINGRAYS (unaffiliated) -- The Stingrays closed out the regular season with four straight wins and finished with a 42-22-8 record, good for 92 points. During the winning streak, South Carolina outscored its opponents 15-8. ... The Stingrays finished in a tie with Louisiana in points for third place in the Southern Conference. But South Carolina lost the only meeting of the season between the two teams, falling to the fourth seed in the playoffs. .... The Stingrays, who were shutout just once the entire regular season, opened the Kelly Cup Playoffs with a 3-0 loss to Pee Dee.

Southwest Division ==================

ARKANSAS RIVERBLADES (Unaffilated) -- The Riverblades converted a league-best 23.6 percent of their power play chances during the season. ... Arkansas won four of its last five games against its first opponent in the postseason, the Louisiana IceGators. G Scott Fankhouser turned away 39 of 40 shots in a 2-1 victory over the IceGators on March 29. Overall, he won seven of his last nine decisions and had a 2.65 goals-against average in 19 games with Arkansas. He finished the season with an overall 3.33 goals-against average. ... C Buddy Smith was the only player in the ECHL to break the 100-point mark, finishing with 104 points and becoming the first Riverblades' player to win the scoring title. He also set team records in both assists and points. ... LW Jason Bermingham tied a league high with four goals, including three on the power play, in a 7-4 loss to Columbus on March 26. He led the team with 38 tallies, including 18 on man advantage.

BATON ROUGE KINGFISH (Unaffilated) -- The Kingfish ended the year on a sour note, losing their final seven contests by a margin of 25-3. The club was shut out in four consecutive road games and five of six contests between March 7-22. After netting a power-play goal with just 3:43 left in the second period of a 4-3 shootout win over the South Carolina Stingrays on March 8, Baton Rouge failed to score in over 320 minutes until it collected a man-advantage marker in the middle of the third period of a 4-1 loss to the Mississippi Sea Wolves on March 25. The Kingfish established a dubious ECHL record for most consecutive games shut out (4), consecutive scoreless minutes and tied the mark for most times shut out in a season with 10, equaling the record set by the Wheeling Nailers during the 1998-99 campaign. ... Averaging a league-low 2.56 goals per game, Baton Rouge finished last in the league with points, winning percentage (.340), total wins (20) and wins at home (11).

JACKSON BANDITS (Blackhawks) -- Finishing the season with an 11-3-1 record, the Bandits moved into the eighth spot in the Southern Conference with a 38-26-8 mark and 84 points. ... G Adam Hauser ended the regular season by winning six of his last seven starts. The 22-year-old, who posted a pair of shutouts against Baton Rouge over his winning streak, posted a 1.55 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage over that span. On the season, Hauser was 20-9-4 with a 2.46 GAA, good for third overall in the circuit. ... C John McNabb scored eight goals and had 14 points over his last 15 games of the season. Overall, he led the team in points (70), goals (35) and power-play markers (11).

LOUISIANA ICEGATORS (Wild) -- G Kyle Kettles recorded wins in the IceGators' final five games, including consecutive shutouts that were part of a 164:43 scoreless streak, the second longest in team history. ... D J.P. Morin scored the lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Jackson on March 21, his second professional goal and first in 114 games, the second-longest goalless streak in the league. ... Although they lost the tiebreaker with the Mississippi Sea Wolves because of fewer victories, Louisiana claimed a share of their sixth straight division title, a league record. The IceGators trailed the Sea Wolves by nine points on March 14, but finished 7-1-1 to knot a tie for the division on the final day of the season. ... Louisiana finished the regular season 31-1-3 when leading after two periods.

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES (Unaffilated) -- The Sea Wolves enter the playoffs as the second seed in the Southern Conference and in search of their first ECHL title since 1999. ... D Jim Baxter was named the ECHL 2002-03 Defenseman of the Year. Baxter led all blueliners with 74 points and posted a plus-13 rating. He topped all defensemen with 58 assists, good for fifth overall in the circuit. ... RW Steffon Walby finished fifth in the league with 89 points, including 29 (14 goals, 15 assists) in his last 19 outings. ... G Greg Gardner won 12 of his final 15 decisions and set a team record with 32 wins on the year. ... Mississippi ended the season with 12 straight wins, part of an 18-game unbeaten streak at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, a team record.

PENSACOLA ICE PILOTS (Lightning) -- Winless over its last 12 games of the season (0-9-3), Pensacola squeaked into the Southwest Division wild card game against Jackson. Despite finishing nine points behind the Bandits in the standings, the Ice Pilots had a 5-5-1 mark against them during the regular season. ... RW Greg Pankewicz, who finished with 19 points in the month of March, recorded nine goals and seven assists over his last 10 games of the season. He led the ECHL in both goals (46) and power-play markers with 20, and finished tied for sixth in the league in scoring with 87 points. ... G Maxime Gingras went winless over his last 10 starts of the campaign, surrendering four or more goals six times and finishing with a 3.86 goals-against average.

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