
Four Teams Remain Undefeated After Week Two
November 1, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release
Only four undefeated teams remain after the second week and each of the
four divisions has a team without a loss. Trenton (2-0-0) in the North,
Pensacola in the South (2-0-0), Charlotte (4-0-0) in the East and
Bakersfield (3-0-0) in the West. The league record for consecutive wins to
open the season is eight games, set by Dayton (Oct. 19-Nov. 4, 1994) and
tied by Trenton (Oct. 12-26, 2001).
There are five additional teams that have not suffered a regulation loss -
Toledo (3-0-1), Johnstown (1-0-3), Las Vegas (1-0-1), South Carolina
(3-0-1) and Gwinnett (3-0-3). Toledo leads the North Division with seven
points, one point ahead of Trenton and Dayton (3-2-0) while Gwinnett leads
the South with nine points, three points ahead of Florida (3-2-0) and
Mississippi (3-2-0).
Bakersfield will host Alaska (2-3-0) on Tuesday and San Diego (2-2-1) on
Saturday. Pensacola will play at Mississippi on Tuesday and at Louisiana on
Saturday while hosting Louisiana (1-1-0) on Friday and Augusta (1-2-0) on
Sunday. Charlotte will host Trenton on Friday and South Carolina (3-0-1) on
Saturday. Trenton visits Charlotte on Friday and will host Johnstown
(1-0-3) on Saturday.
Charlotte has set a team record with its start, surpassing its 3-0-0
start in 1996-97. The Checkers lead the league with three road wins and
improved to 5-6-1 in home openers with a 5-4 win over Columbia on October
30. Eduard Pershin leads the Checkers with four assists and seven points in
four games. Alex Westlund is 3-0-0 with a .908 save percentage and a
goals-against average of 2.28 while Kelly Guard is 1-0-0 with a .931 save
percentage and a goals-against average of 1.99.
Trenton goaltender Andrew Allen is 3-0-0 with a save percentage of .958
and a goals-against average of 1.33. Matt Zultek leads the Titans with
three assists while Brent Robinson and Leon Hayward are tied for the team
lead with two goals. Hayward, Robinson and Zultek are tied for the team
scoring lead with Rick Kowalsky (1g-2a).
Jordan Krestanovich leads Pensacola with four assists and five points
while defenseman Corey Neilson leads the team with two goals and ranks
second with three points. Frederic Cloutier is 2-0-0 with a save percentage
of .909 and a goals-against average of 3.00.
Bakersfield's Chris Twerdun leads league rookies and defensemen with four
goals, including two power-play goals which leads league defensemen and is
tied for the lead among rookies. Playing in North America for the first
time since 2002-03, Mike Hofstrand leads the Condors with four assists and
five points.
Aces, Gladiators Help Increase League Attendance
Back-to-back standing-room-only crowds in Alaska and a record crowd of
8,586 for the home opener in Gwinnett on Friday allowed the ECHL to
continue its strong start at the turnstile. Alaska's crowd of 6,453 for its
home opener on Friday is the largest in the 10-year history of the Aces,
who last had back-to-back sellouts in 1999.
In its first 25 home openers, the ECHL is averaging 6,045 per game and has
had eight sellouts compared to six sellouts in the first two weekends in
2003-04. In addition to Alaska, home openers produced record sellout crowds
in Columbia (6,231), Reading (7,248) and Toledo (5,361) as well as the
seventh-largest crowd in San Diego history (11,922) and the largest
season-opening crowd in 23 years of professional hockey in Peoria (7,593).
Home openers played Friday and Saturday were Atlantic City (4,486),
Charlotte (7,311), Dayton (5,118), Pensacola (4,004), Texas (5,084) and
Wheeling (4,754).
The ECHL has drawn 270,138 for 57 games, an average of 4,739 per game
which is up almost 13 percent from last season when the league averaged
4,199 per game in the first two weeks.
Las Vegas will host Long Beach for its home opener on Tuesday while
Louisiana will host Pensacola for its home opener on Saturday. In 2003-04,
the Wranglers had 7,208 for their home opener while Louisiana had 6,025.
Everblades Surma Is Offensive Leader
Florida left wing Damian Surma scored nine points (4g-5a) in three games
last week and the 23-year-old leads the ECHL with seven goals, 12 points
and a plus-minus rating of +9 and is tied for the league lead with three
power-play goals. Surma's teammate Reggie Berg is second in the league with
11 points and is tied for the league lead in assists with six and tied for
second in goals with five.
In a 6-3 win against Mississippi on October 29, the 5-10 and 205-pound
Surma scored his first hat trick as a pro and added an assist giving him a
career professional best four points. Surma had an assist in regulation and
scored in the shootout in Florida's 4-3 shootout win against Gwinnett on
October 26 and had three points (1g-2a) and was +4 in a 5-4 loss at
Pensacola on October 30.
Selected in the sixth round (174th overall) by Carolina in the 1999 NHL
Entry Draft and under contract to the Hurricanes, Surma was one of three
players who played in the ECHL, the American Hockey League and the National
Hockey League in 2003-04. Surma had 15 points (6g-9a) in 18 regular season
games and nine points (5g-4a) in 16 games in the Kelly Cup Playoffs for the
Everblades in 2003-04. He scored eight points (3g-5a) in 48 regular season
games with Lowell of the AHL and had one assist in one game with Carolina
in the NHL. The others who played in the ECHL, the AHL and the NHL were
goaltenders Dan Ellis (Idaho, Utah and Dallas) and Adam Munro (Gwinnett,
Chicago and Atlanta).
Games Going Past Regulation
Fourteen of the 28 games played in the ECHL last week went past regulation
with 11 decided in a shootout and three determined in overtime. Of the 57
games played there have been five games decided in overtime (nine percent)
and 13 games determined in a shootout (23 percent). In 1,116 games in
2003-04, there were 75 games that were won in overtime (seven percent) and
143 that went to a shootout (13 percent).
Gwinnett lost three of its four games in a shootout last week and the
Gladiators have been involved in a league-high four shootouts (1-3).
Dayton, Mississippi and Wheeling are all undefeated and lead the league
with two shootout wins each. Charlotte is undefeated in overtime and leads
the league with two overtime wins while Columbia has not won in overtime
and has a league-leading two overtime losses.
ECHL Feature Games Of The Week
North Division
Reading at Johnstown
Friday at 7 p.m. ET
* First meeting since Reading upset Johnstown in the Northern Division Wild
Card Game.
* Chiefs were 6-3-1 against Reading last season.
East Division
Trenton at Charlotte
Friday at 7 p.m. ET
* Both teams are undefeated.
* Charlotte has not beat the Titans since 2002-03.
South Division
Louisiana at Pensacola
Friday at 7:05 p.m. CT
* Louisiana's Todd Gordon returns to Pensacola, who he coached from
2001-04, to face Dave Farrish, who coached Louisiana from 2000-04.
West Division
Victoria at Idaho
Friday at 7:05 p.m. MT
* This is the first of nine games between the Salmon Kings and the
Steelheads.
* Victoria lost both preseason meetings with Idaho.
ECHL Stories from November 1, 2004
- Condors Head to Casa Loma School; Election Night Gala Tuesday; Retirement Party on Saturday - Bakersfield Condors
- Four Teams Remain Undefeated After Week Two - ECHL
- Ice Dogs Weekly - Long Beach Ice Dogs
- Fresno Falcons Weekly Update - Fresno Falcons
- Gators get 1st win of the season, look forward to the home opener - Louisiana IceGators
- Steelheads launch FanDesktop Network service - Idaho Steelheads
- Rivermen fall beyond regulation in games against Toledo, Dayton - Peoria Rivermen
- ECHL This Week - ECHL
- Steelheads weekly update - Idaho Steelheads
- ECHL Transactions - ECHL
- Lynx Notch First Win - Augusta Lynx
- Gulls Weekly Update - San Diego Gulls
- Pride Players to Adopt Schools - Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz
- Ice Pilots Weekly - Pensacola Ice Pilots
- Nailers week in review - Wheeling Nailers
- Titans still perfect at 3-0 - Trenton Devils
- Lees and Bogas Waived - Dayton Bombers
- Dayton Bombers weeklyThis week, Dayton hosts Wheeling on Friday and Atlantic City on Sunday afternoo - Dayton Bombers
- Johnstown Chiefs Weekly Report - Johnstown Chiefs
- Forward Robert Busch Chooses Retirement - Victoria Salmon Kings
- Mississippi Takes Two Of Three - Mississippi Sea Wolves
- ECHL Today - ECHL
- Pee Dee Pride Weekly - Myrtle Beach Thunderboltz
- Florida Everblades Weekly - Florida Everblades
- Three-Way Split - Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies
- Aces lose 5-2 - Alaska Aces
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