Sports stats



Grizzlies Avoid Roadrunner Sweep, 4-3

by Andrew Nordmeier
October 23, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


Brad Herauf scored twice, his second goal coming with 10:14 left in the third period, to give the Utah Grizzlies a 4-3 win and avoid being swept in a three-game weekend series by the Phoenix Roadrunners Sunday afternoon at the US Airways Center.

The game-winning goal came off of a broken play when Herauf found a loose puck at the top of the crease and slipped it between the legs of Roadrunners' netminder Josh Tordjman.

After being saddled down with a myriad of penalties, the game had nearly six minutes of consistent five-on-five action. That was until referee Travis Smith called Phoenix defensman Nikita Korovkin for hooking penalty with 1:22 left and killed any chance of a Roadrunner rally.

"I'm building a team for the stretch and a playoff team so we might as well learn those lessons now as opposed to the end of the season," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said.

Utah (1-2-0) started off by putting Phoenix (2-1-0) in a two-goal for the second time in three games.

Herauf started the scoring by beating Phoenix netminder Josh Tordjman at 3:49 of the opening period and Blake Robson lit the lamp at 7:25 to give Utah the early edge.

"We knew that Utah's a hard-working team and they will score their goals. We just have to be ready and tonight, early on we weren't," Filion said, "Tonight was a big mistake. We took them for granted. They battled hard and ended up with the two points."

Phoenix responded with three straight goals, all on the power play, to take the lead. Justin Aikins scored before the first period ended to make it a 2-1 game. Lance Monych scored his first goal of the season at 4:53 of the second period to knot the score.

Yannick Tifu lit the lamp at 15:07 of the second period when he beat Utah Grizzlies' netminder Rob McVicar to give Phoenix its only lead of the game at 3-2. Tifu also assisted on the other two power play goals and finished with a three-point night.

Tifu said he would have given up the individual success to get the win and he saw positives all around.

McVicar finished with 37 saves on 40 shots while Tordjman turned aside 22 of 26 Utah shots. Phoenix finished 3-of-16 on the power play while Utah went 2-of-12 with the man advantage.

"I'm sure it's not going to be like this after 10 games," Tifu said, "We've got to make sure we learn the rules quickly."

For the weekend, Phoenix finished 8-of-42 on the power play while Utah 6-of-43 with the man advantage.

The Roadrunners continue their six-game homestand with a Tuesday night tilt against the Las Vegas Wranglers before hosting the Fresno Falcons Friday and Saturday night.

"We have a few banged up bodies and guys need to rest Monday and come back to work Tuesday," Filion said.

Three Stars of the Night

3. Wirll-UTA Goal and two assists

2. Tifu-PHX Goal and two assists

1. Herauf-UTA Two goals including game winner

Notes: With the injury to netminder Sean Fields, the Utah Grizzlies sent out Tim Mouser as its emergency backup goaltender. Mouser was an executive with the Grizzlies from 1995-2002 during their seasons in the International Hockey League...Aaron Slattengren came off of the 3-day injured reserve and made his professional debut for Phoenix...Attendance was 2,646.



ECHL Stories from October 23, 2006


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Phoenix RoadRunners Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central