Florence Pride Weekly

Published on January 12, 2004 under ECHL (ECHL)
Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz News Release


LAST WEEK: The Pride had by far their best week of the season, completing a perfect 3-0-0 weekend with home wins over Florida and Toledo and a road victory at South Carolina. Florence is 13-17-5 for 31 points and remains in seventh place in the Southern Division, and trails Roanoke by 11 points for the final playoff spot in the division. The Pride have two games in hand on the Express.

Friday, January 9 v. Florida PRIDE 3 Everblades 2 (OT)

The Pride ended their four-game winless skid with a 3-2 overtime triumph over the Everblades. Ryan Gaucher started the scoring, lighting the lamp 7:09 into the first period in his first game with the Pride. Florida tied it with a little over two minutes remaining in the opening period on a Matt Pagnutti power-play goal. It stayed tied until the 13:42 mark of the final period when Jack Baker scored his first goal in a Pride sweater to put Florence back on top. But, the Everblades were not done yet, as they tied the game with 3:30 left on a Chad Larose tally. In overtime, the Pride were given a power-play opportunity when Peter Reynolds was called for holding. On the ensuing power play, Wes Goldie continued his hot streak, finding the back of the net at the 3:47 mark of the extra session to give the Pride the win.

Saturday, January 10 @ South Carolina PRIDE 4 Stingrays 2

The two teams combined for a wild first period, scoring four goals in the first 10:54 of the game, and combining for 32 shots on goal. Ed Courtenay and Andy Powers scored for the Stingrays, while Luke Earl and Allan Sirois connected for the Pride, for a 2-2 tie after one. It stayed that way until late in the second period, when Wes Goldie tallied a power-play goal at the 17:10 mark to give Florence its first lead of the night. With 1:37 remaining in regulation, South Carolina called for a stick check on the stick of Tim Donnelly. The stick was found to be illegal, giving the Stingrays a power play. South Carolina pulled goaltender David Brumby for a 6-on-4 advantage, but it would be the Pride capitalizing, as Mike Torney hit the empty net for his first goal of the season to seal the win for Florence. After allowing two goals on the first three shots he faced, Matt Underhill was perfect the rest of the night, turning aside the next 36 shots on net.

Sunday, January 11 v. Toledo PRIDE 2 Storm 0

Florence completed its three-game weekend sweep with a 2-0 shutout of Toledo. Matt Underhill was once again stellar in net, as he stopped all 42 shots he faced to pick up his first professional shut out. Tim Donnelly and Jeff Szwez (power play) provided all of the offense for the Pride, as the team won three games in a row for the first time this season.

THIS WEEKS' GAMES

Wednesday, January 14 @ Greensboro 7:00 p.m. Coverage on WDAR Sunny 105.5 at 6:40

The Pride and Generals meet for the third time this season. Greensboro has won both meetings thus far. The Generals enter the week in third place in the Southern Division with a record of 21-15-1 for 43 points.

Friday, January 16 v. Columbus 7:30 p.m. Lion's Den

This is the second of seven meetings this season between the Pride and Cottonmouths. Columbus won the first meeting, 1-0, at the Lion's Den on December 6. Since that game, the Cottonmouths have been the hottest team in the ECHL, posting a 13-3-1 record. For the season, Columbus is 18-18-3 for 39 points, and is in fifth place of the Central Division.

PROMOTIONS: It's Parrothead Night at the Lion's Den. Nationally-known entertainer Barrie Cunningham will be on hand to perform a post-game concert, featuring his tribute to Jimmy Buffett. In addition, all fans who come dressed in Parrothead attire will receive a FREE ticket to a future Pride home game.

Saturday, January 17 v. Columbia 7:30 p.m. Lion's Den

The Pride and Inferno meet for the fifth of eight times this season. Florence is 1-2-1 against Columbia (1-0-1 at home), and in the last meeting on December 26, ended an 11-game winless streak against the Inferno. Columbia remains in first place in the Southern Division with a 22-11-4 record for 48 points.

PROMOTIONS: Paws will welcome his mascot friends to the Lion's Den on Mascot Night. During the first intermission, all of the mascots in attendance will take part in a mascot hockey game on the ice.

PRIDE IN THE COMMUNITY

Monday, January 12

The Pride will help raise funds for the Florence Family YMCA at Cold Stone Creamery, on W. Palmetto St. A portion of the days' sales will be donated to the YMCA. Jack Baker, Ken Goetz, Wes Goldie, Ryan Knox, Sebastien Laplante and Allan Sirois will be at Cold Stone from 6:00-8:00 to serve ice cream.

Thursday, January 15

Various players and staff members will be at Francis Marion University's Welcome Back Party in the University Center from 1:00-5:00 p.m. There will be drawings throughout the day for Pride tickets and merchandise.

David Bagley and Ken Goetz will be at Wallace Gregg Elementary School at 1:15 to sign autographs and to speak to students about good character.

PRIDE NOTES

- After allowing two goals on the first three shots he faced Saturday at South Carolina, Matt Underhill rebounded to have a great weekend. Underhill stopped each of the next 36 shots he faced Saturday, and on Sunday he turned aside all 42 Toledo shots to record his first professional shut out. In all, Underhill stopped 78 consecutive shots, and has a shutout streak of 113:16.

- Allan Sirois brings a five-game scoring streak into this week's action. Sirois has one goal and six assists during the streak.

- The Pride are on their first three-game winning streak of the season.

- Playing three games in three days does not seem to be a problem for Florence this season. The Pride have a record of 5-2-0 in the third game of such occurrences. They do not have another three-in-three until February 6-8.

- After entering the weekend in a 1-for-30 slump on the power play, the Pride had a little better luck in the three games, scoring one power-play goal in each game, including the game-winner on both Friday and Saturday. For the weekend Florence was 3-for-15 (20.0%) on the man advantage.

- The Pride penalty kill also had a good week. Florence killed off 16 of 17 opposition chances on the power play (94.1%). For the season, the Pride have moved up to 17th in the ECHL, killing off 83.0% of opponents' power-play chances.

PRIDE LEADERS Goals Goldie 18
Assists Sirois 23
Points Sirois 29
+/- Baker/Donnelly +2
Penalty Minutes Goetz 105
Shots Goldie 95
Power Play Goals Goldie 8
Shorthanded Goals Goldie 3
Game-Winning Goals Goldie 4

PRIDE ON THE AIR

All Pride away games can be heard on WDAR Sunny 105.5 FM and on-line at www.florencepride.com with the Voice of the Pride, Joe Babik. Each broadcast begins 20 minutes prior to faceoff with the Palmetto Chiropractic Pre-Game Show.

PRIDE TICKETS

Tickets for all Pride home games can be purchased at the Florence Civic Center Box Office (10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Saturday; through the second period on game nights), all TicketMaster outlets, by phone at (843) 679-9333 or on-line at www.ticketmaster.com. The Pride also have group tickets available for all remaining home games. For more information, contact Director of Ticket Operations Neil Broome at (843) 669-7825.

YARD SIGNS

The Pride would like to thank all of their fans who have been placing their yard signs on game days. If you do not have a yard sign, they are available at the Pride office from 8:30 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. The Pride's next two home games are Friday, January 16 against the Columbus Cottonmouths and Saturday, January 17 against the Columbia Inferno.

ECHL ALL-STAR GAME BROADCAST

Pride fans have two different opportunities to catch the 2004 ECHL/Par-a-Dice Casino All-Star Game, which includes Pride defenseman Mark McRae. The game takes place on Wednesday, January 21 at Carver Arena in Peoria, Illinois. The audio broadcast, which includes the Voice of the Pride Joe Babik, will be available through Yahoo! Broadcast at www.broadcast.com. The broadcast starts at 8:15 EST and the game starts at 8:30. The television broadcast is available as part of the NHL Center Ice Package, and will start at 8:30.

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