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Everblades, Inferno Lead Tight South Division

Published on December 12, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


The South Division continues to be the tightest race in the ECHL as five points separates eight teams.

Florida (13-6-0) and Columbia (12-8-2) are tied with 26 points followed by Greenville (12-9-1) and Gwinnett (11-5-3) with 25 points. South Carolina (9-10-6) has 24 points and Augusta (10-11-2) has 22 points while Charlotte (10-9-1) and Pensacola (9-11-3) each have 21 points.

Florida has won its last four games to extend its home winning streak to 10 games, breaking the team record of nine games set Dec. 3, 1999-Jan. 22, 2000. The Everblades visit Augusta (10-11-2) on Wednesday, Charlotte (10-9-1) on Friday and Sunday and Columbia (12-8-2) on Saturday. Florida is 3-0-0 against Augusta this season with all three games played at home and 35-10-6 all-time against the Lynx. The Everblades are 2-0-0 at home and 2-1-0 overall against Charlotte this season and 15-7-2 all-time against the Checkers. Florida won 3-0 at Columbia on Nov. 23 and is 1-0-0 this season and 13-10-5 all-time against the Inferno.

Columbia, which is 4-2-0 in its last six games, travels to Gwinnett on Tuesday and Charlotte on Wednesday before hosting Toledo on Friday and Florida on Saturday. The Inferno won 5-4 in a shootout at home against Gwinnett on Saturday to improve to 1-0-0 at home and 8-4-1 all-time against the Gladiators. Columbia is 2-0-0 against Charlotte, winning 4-3 in overtime against Charlotte on Oct. 28 and 1-0 at Charlotte on Dec. 6, and 18-6-4 all-time against the Checkers. The Inferno and Toledo have met once previously with the Storm winning 3-2 at Columbia on Jan. 9, 2004.

Greenville will host Gwinnett on Friday and South Carolina on Saturday. The Grrrowl beat Gwinnett 5-4 at home on Nov. 5 and won 5-3 at Gwinnett on Nov. 18 to improve to 7-5-2 all-time against the Gladiators. Greenville is 1-3-0 against South Carolina this season, winning 3-2 in a shootout at South Carolina on Nov. 1, and 26-32-3 all-time against the Stingrays. Goaltender Mike Brodeur has started 20 consecutive games for the Grrrowl and leads the ECHL with 11 wins and 1,211 minutes. Gwinnett, which is 3-0-1 in its last four games, hosts Columbia on Tuesday and Toledo on Saturday

while traveling to Pensacola on Wednesday and Greenville on Friday. The Gladiators are 1-0-0 at Pensacola and 3-0-0 overall this season, outscoring Pensacola 20-5, to improve to 5-2-1 all-time against the Ice Pilots. Rookie right wing Guillaume Desbiens, who tied the Gladiators team record with four assists against Augusta on Dec. 6, has an eight-game scoring streak (4g-10a) while Pascal Pelletier has two game-winning goals and seven points (4g-3a) in his last four games.

South Carolina, which is 5-1-1 in its last seven games, hosts Augusta on Friday and travels to Greenville on Saturday. The Stingrays are 0-1-1 at Augusta and 1-1-1 overall season to improve to 29-17-7 all-time against the Lynx. South Carolina has won the last three meetings with Greenville, improving to 3-1-0 overall and 1-0-0 at Greenville, and is 35-20-7 all-time against the Grrrowl. Brad Parsons has a six-game assist and point streak (9a) while Marty Clapton has a four-game goal and point streak (4g-3a) and Matt W. Reid has two game-winning goals and seven points (4g-3a) in the last six games.

Augusta, which has won two of its last three games, hosts Florida on Wednesday and Charlotte on Saturday while traveling to South Carolina on Friday. Nicolas Corbeil has scored three points in each of the last three games (4g-5a) and has a two-game goal streak (4g) and an eight-game scoring streak (7g-8a).

Aces Streaking Towards Record

Sweeping three games from Pacific Division leader Fresno, the Alaska Aces extended their team record winning streak to 11 games and improved to an ECHL-leading 17-3-2. The Aces won three one-goal games against the Falcons, including an overtime win on Friday and a shootout win on Saturday.

Chris Beckford-Tseu and Matt Underhill, who have each won Goaltender of the Week during the streak, have combined for a 1.52 goals-against average and a .941 save percentage in the last 11 games. Defenseman Ryan Gaucher has a five-game assist streak (9a) and an eight-game scoring streak (4g-11a) while Barrett Heisten also has an eight-game scoring streak (4g-9a) and Chris Minard has a five-game scoring streak (6g-4a).

The ECHL record for consecutive wins is 14 games set by Knoxville (Dec. 28, 1993-Jan. 29, 1994) and tied by Louisiana (Nov. 23-Dec. 22, 2001). The third-longest streak for consecutive wins is 12 games set by Erie in 1989-90 and tied by Chesapeake (Feb. 14-Mar. 13, 1998), Florida (Dec. 14, 1999-Jan. 13, 2000), Wheeling (Feb. 20-Mar. 12, 2004) and Pensacola (Jan. 22-Feb. 19, 2005).

The Aces will play at Victoria on Friday and Saturday, the first meeting of the season between the two teams. Alaska has won the last seven meetings and is 5-0-0 at Victoria and 9-1-0 overall against the Salmon Kings.

Keeping pace with Alaska is Las Vegas which has won its last five games and is unbeaten in regulation in its last 11 games (10-0-1) to improve to 16-4-2 and move past Idaho (14-6-1) and Utah (13-8-1) into second place in the West Division. The Wranglers went 4-0-0 against the North Division last week, including back-to-back road wins at Toledo and a win at Wheeling. The Wranglers, who are 6-4-1 on the road, conclude their five-game road swing at Stockton on Friday and Saturday.

Marc Magliarditi was 3-0-0 with a goals against of 1.29 for the week and picked up his second shutout of the season, tying him for the league lead. Rookie Mike McKenna won his sixth start in a row to improve to 6-0-1 with a goals against of 2.10 and a save percentage of .918.

Victoria won back-to-back games for the first time this season with a pair of wins at Idaho to improve to 9-15-1. Rookie Adam Taylor had a game-winning goal and four points (3g-1a) for the Salmon Kings, who will host Alaska on Friday and Saturday.

Phoenix won on the road last week at San Diego and Stockton to improve to 3-1-0 in its last four road games. The RoadRunners host Bakersfield on Friday and Sunday and visit Long Beach on Sunday.

Royals Hang On To Lead in North

Reading leads the North Division with 29 points (14-4-1), one point ahead of Wheeling (13-6-2) and five points ahead of defending champion Trenton (11-9-2), which is one point in front of Toledo (10-7-3).

The Royals host Wheeling on Tuesday and play at Wheeling on Friday before returning home to host Pacific Division leader Fresno (10-4-7) on Saturday and Sunday. Reading lost 6-5 in a shootout at Wheeling on Oct. 28 and is 16-11-6 all-time against the Nailers. Winning his last seven games, Cody Rudkowsky is 10-1-0 and ranks second in the league in wins, goals-against average (1.90) and save percentage (.935). Rookie Greg Hogeboom has a five-game goal-scoring streak (5g) and an 11-game scoring streak (8g-13a), tying the ECHL season high for consecutive games with a point. Mike Pandolfo has a 10-game scoring streak (7g-7a) and Jon Francisco has scored in each of his last nine games (6g-7a).

Wheeling will play at Reading on Tuesday and at Dayton (7-13-2) on Thursday before hosting Reading on Friday and Johnstown on Saturday. The Nailers are 17-13-3 all-time against the Royals and 63-31-7 all-time against the Bombers, including 2-0-0 at Dayton and 4-0-0 overall this season. Wheeling is 1-0-1 at home and 3-0-1 overall against Johnstown this season to improve to 65-39-14 all-time against the Chiefs. Wheeling rookie Kurtis McLean is tied for the ECHL lead with 15 goals and is tied with fellow Nailers rookie Sean Collins, who leads league rookies and is tied for third overall with 18 assists, for the rookie lead and for fifth overall in scoring with 27 points.

After traveling to Johnstown on Wednesday, Trenton will return home to host Dayton on Friday and Saturday. The Titans are 2-1-0 at Johnstown and 4-1-0 overall this season and 33-15-4 all-time against the Chiefs. Trenton has won the last two meetings and is 2-0-0 at home and 2-1-0 overall this season and 26-7-2 all-time against the Bombers.

Toledo will travel to Columbia on Friday and Gwinnett on Saturday. The Storm is 1-0-0 all-time against the Inferno and 2-1-0 all-time against the Grrrowl.

Stanley Cup Tour

The Stanley Cup Tour of the ECHL makes its final four scheduled stops this week, visiting Gwinnett on Tuesday, Augusta on Wednesday, Charlotte on Friday and Greenville on Saturday.

The Stanley Cup was unable to make the scheduled appearances at the Columbia Inferno and South Carolina Stingrays but the NHL and HHOF will work to reschedule the visits in the near future.

The NHL and the HHOF have toured the most prestigious trophy in hockey throughout the ECHL since Oct. 26 to raise awareness and donations for hurricane relief efforts. The Tour has already visited Bakersfield, Dayton, Idaho, Johnstown, Las Vegas Long Beach, Pensacola, Phoenix, Reading, Toledo, Trenton, Utah, Victoria and Wheeling

All ECHL teams were given an opportunity to host the Stanley Cup and 20 of the 23 teams who submitted requests were included in the original schedule and the NHL and HHOF are finalizing visits to San Diego and Stockton in conjunction with the Stanley Cup's annual visit to the ECHL All-Star Game which is being hosted by the Fresno Falcons at Save Mart Center on Jan. 25.

Did You Know ... Royals' Greg Hogeboom (8g-13a) has a 11-game scoring streak, Mike Pandolfo (7g-7a) has a 10-game scoring streak and Jon Francisco (6g-7a) has a nine-game scoring streak.

Feature Games Of The Week

North Division

Reading at Wheeling - Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* Royals are one point ahead of Wheeling for North Division lead.
* Nailers won last meeting 6-5 in shootout on Oct. 28.

South Division

Florida at Columbia - Saturday at 3:05 p.m. ET
* Teams are tied for South Division lead with 26 points.
* Florida shut out Inferno in last meeting 3-0 on Nov. 23.

West Division

Utah at Idaho - Saturday at 7:10 p.m. MT
* Grizzlies trail Idaho by two points in West Division.
* Idaho is 2-0-0 and averaging six points a game against Utah.

Pacific Division

Long Beach at San Diego - Friday at 7:35 p.m. PT
* Gulls are three points behind Long Beach for second place in Pacific Division.
* In first two meetings the home team has won.

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