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Everblades on a Tear

December 23, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Beating Pensacola three times in three days, Florida extended its winning streak to four games and moved into a tie for second place in the Southeast Division with Pee Dee, one point behind leader South Carolina.

The Everblades are 6-0-1 in their last seven games and 8-0-2 in their last 10 games. Florida is 3-0-1 in its last four road games and 8-5-3 overall on the road. The Everblades are 6-0-3 in their last nine home games and 7-1-4 overall at TECO Arena.

Florida returns to the road this week visiting Greenville on Friday and Saturday, and Pee Dee on Saturday. The Everblades are 2-0-1 against the Grrrowl with all three meetings played at Greenville. Florida is 3-2-1 against the Pride with both regulation losses coming at Pee Dee.

Laurent Meunier scored the game-winning goal in Sunday's 4-2 win against Pensacola closing out a weekend that saw him score four points (2g-2a) in three games. In his first professional season, the native of Grenoble, France has three goals, including two game winners, and five points in his last four games and 12 points (5g-7a) in his last 10 games. He has 20 points (7g-13a) in 24 games for Florida and leads the Everblades with four game-winning goals which ties him for the lead among ECHL rookies.

Marty Johnston and Rob Zepp both returned to Florida on Thursday after a week with Lowell of the American Hockey League. On Thursday, Zepp was named the starting goaltender for the 2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game, hosted by the Everblades on January 21 at TECO Arena, while Johnston was named to the Southern Conference roster.

Johnston scored a pair of goals, including the game winner on Saturday, and had an assist in two games, missing Sunday's game because of illness. Under contract to Lowell, the 24-year-old leads Florida with 17 assists and 26 points in 24 games.

Under contract to Carolina of the National Hockey League, Zepp went 3-0 with a 3.00 goals against average over the weekend. The 21-year-old is 11-3-4 and leads the ECHL with a 1.98 goals against average while ranking second with a .934 save percentage in 18 games.

Ryan Murphy scored a pair of goals in Friday's 4-3 win at Pensacola and added another in Saturday's 5-4 win over the Ice Pilots. Also under contract to Carolina of the NHL, the 23-year-old Murphy leads the Everblades with 11 goals and is tied for the team lead with four power-play goals in 21 games.

Generals' Hodson, Cottonmouths' Bishai Represent ECHL at Spengler Cup

Greensboro goaltender Jamie Hodson and Columbus center Mike Bishai have been chosen to play for Team Canada in the Spengler Cup, a round-robin tournament held December 26-31 in Davos, Switzerland.

In addition to Team Canada and host HC Davos, the tournament will feature the Cologne Sharks from Germany, Sparta Prague from the Czech Republic, and HPS Turku from Finland.

Under contract to Toronto of the National Hockey League, who selected him in the third round (69th overall) in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft, the 22-year-old Hodson is 6-3-1 with a 2.40 goals against average and a ..937 save percentage. He is 24 minutes shy of the 600 minutes required to rank among ECHL leaders, but his 2.40 goals against average would rank second while his ..937 save percentage would tie for the ECHL lead.

Under contract to Edmonton of the NHL, the 23-year-old Bishai ranks sixth among ECHL rookies in scoring with 27 points (11g-16a) and was named to the Southern Conference All-Star Team in his first full professional season.

Stingrays' Taylor Only Six Points Shy of All-Time ECHL Scoring Record

South Carolina's Rod Taylor had an assist on Friday and two goals on Saturday giving him 679 career points, six shy of the East Coast Hockey League record of 685 points held by Darryl Noren. Taylor already holds the ECHL records for most games played (654) and most goals (365). In 11 games with South Carolina, Taylor has scored five goals and nine points. He played for Hampton Roads for nine seasons (1991-2000), for Richmond in 2000-01 and 2001-02 and for Roanoke in 2001-02. Noren played for Greensboro for four seasons and for Charlotte for six seasons (1994-2000). He ranks third all-time with 390 assists and fifth all-time with 549 games played.

Corvo Becomes 202nd ECHL Player in the NHL

Former Hampton Roads defenseman Joe Corvo became the 202nd former East Coast Hockey League player to advance to the National Hockey League when he made his debut with the Los Angeles Kings on December 14 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Selected by Los Angeles in the fourth round (83rd overall) in the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, Corvo was scoreless in five regular season games and had an assist in four postseason games with Hampton Roads in 1998-99.

The 25-year-old Corvo began the season with Manchester of the American Hockey League and he was leading AHL defensemen with 26 points (8g-18a) when he was called up to Los Angeles. Corvo has not scored on eight shots and is +1 in five games with the Kings.

He becomes the ninth ECHL player to make his NHL debut in 2002-03, joining Fedor Fedorov (Vancouver) Vern Fiddler (Nashville), Ryan Kraft (San Jose), Brett McLean (Chicago), Cody Rudkowsky (St. Louis), Curtis Sanford (St. Louis), and Tim Thomas (Boston). There have been 53 former ECHL players that have played in the NHL in 2002-03 and 23 of the 30 teams in the NHL have affiliations with teams in the ECHL. In 2001-02, there were 83 former ECHL players that played in the NHL, including 18 that played in their first NHL game with five of those playing in both the ECHL and NHL during the season.

InGlasCo ECHL Player Of The Week

David Inman Charlotte

GP:2 G: 2 A: 0 PTS: 2 +/-: +1

ECHL Goalie Of The Week

Mathieu Chouinard Peoria

GP: 2 W-L: 2-0 GAA: 1.00 PCT: .955

2003 Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game

January 21, 2003 at TECO Arena

Estero, Florida

7:30 p.m. ET

Ticket Information

(239) 948-7825 or visit www.ticketmaster.com

Feature Games Of The Week

Northern Conference

Roanoke at Richmond Thursday, 7:35 ET

- Renegades are 2-1 against Express, 1-1 at home.

- Jason Jaffray has four points against Richmond.

Charlotte at Greensboro Saturday, 7:30 ET

- Greensboro is 3-0-1 against Charlotte, and with a win can clinch the first Carolina Cup in the Generals' four-year history.

Southern Conference

Florida at Greenville Friday 7:05 ET

- Everblades are 2-0-1 against the Grrrowl.

- Greenville beat Florida, 3 games to 2, in 2002 Kelly Cup Playoffs Southeast Division Semifinals.

Jackson at Mississippi Sunday, 5:05 CT

- Game 8 of 12 in the Nextel Cup Series.

- Sea Wolves are 5-1-1 against Jackson, including 3-0 at home.

Check out the ECHL Statistics



ECHL Stories from December 23, 2002


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