Inferno Weekly

December 30, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Columbia Inferno News Release


Friday, January 3rd at Florida TECO ARENA 7:30pm

Saturday, January 4th at Florida TECO ARENA 7:30pm

The Inferno travel to Florida to play the Everblades in back-to-back games at Teco Arena. The Inferno is 1-1-0 this season against the Everblades and 4-5-1 all-time. The Everblades are in first place with 43 points and a record of 18-6-7.

LAST WEEK

Thursday, December 26th COLUMBIA 6 Augusta 3

The Columbia Inferno ended their five game losing streak as they take the 6-3 win over the Augusta Lynx. Augusta started the scoring at 6:52 with a goal by Lance Galbraith he lifted one past goaltender Patrick Couture. Barrie Moore scored at 11:14 of the first period with Eric Labelle and Erik Adams assisting to tie the game at one. Sean Owens scored his second of the season just 54 seconds later with an assist from Rejean Stringer. Columbia was on the penalty kill when Chris Pittman scored to put the Inferno ahead by two goals, assist going to Stringer. Matt Ulwelling, on the power play, scored over goaltender David Brumby's shoulder at 18:15 of the second period and Pittman scored his second of the night at 19:06 to give the Inferno a 5-1 lead going into the third period. Ulwelling scored his second of the night with passes from Sean Owens and Erik Adams at 11:03. The Lynx scored two more goals but it wasn't enough to stop the Inferno. Inferno goaltender Couture stopped 21 out of 24 shots.

Friday, December 27th COLUMBIA 3 South Carolina 2

Columbia Inferno came back from a 2-1 deficit going into the third period. Corey Hessler scored the game-winning goal with less than six minutes left in the third period to give the Inferno a 3-2 win over the Stingrays. Chris St. Croix tied the game at two on a two-man advantage halfway through the third period. Tim Smith had the first goal for Columbia in the first period. Josh Blackburn had 26 saves to record his sixth win for the Inferno.

Saturday, December 28th COLUMBIA 3 South Carolina 2 (OT)

Chris St. Croix scored the game winning goal in overtime at the 2:35 mark with Rejean Stringer and Justin Morrison assisting. Matt Ulwelling scored the first goal of the game 8:39 into the first period. Corey Hessler and Barrie Moore assisted on Ulwelling's goal. Matt Desrosiers scored just over two minutes later to tie the game for the Stingrays. Denis Martynyuk scored his eighth goal of the season at 16:12 of the first period with passes from Sean Owens and Erik Adams to put the Inferno up by one. After a scoreless second period, Desrosiers scored his second goal of the night to tie the game for the Stingrays at 14:53 of the third period. Inferno goaltender Patrick Couture stopped 43 of 45 shots. Total penalty minutes for the game was 8 combined minutes versus over 100 last home game against the Rays.

Overall Record: 18-13-1 Position: 4th Place in

Weekly Record: 3-0-0 Southeast Division

INFERNO NUMBERS

Record: 18-13-1

Home: 9-4-0

Road: 9-9-1

Goals: 16 – Justin Morrison, Rejean Stringer

Assists : 28 – Rejean Stringer

Leading Scorer: 44 – Rejean Stringer

Power Play: 21.7% (6th in ECHL)

Power Play Goals: 8 – Corey Hessler

Penalty Kill: 87.7% (1st in ECHL)

Short Handed Goals: 3 –Rejean Stringer

Game Winning Goals: 3 – Justin Morrison, Rejean Stringer, Corey Hessler

Plus/Minus: +14 – Dennis Vial

Goaltending: Patrick Couture 11-5-0, 2.86 GAA, .903 SPCT

INFERNO STREAKS & HIGHLIGHTS

The Inferno are on a three game winning streak, going 3-0-0 last week against the Augusta Lynx and beating the South Carolina Stingrays twice...Chris St. Croix has five points (3g, 2a) in four games, including a game winning goal on Saturday in overtime against the Stingrays...Corey Hessler has one point in each of his last five games (3g, 2a)...Barrie Moore has five points (2g, 3a) in his last four games...Hessler is among the top defenseman in the league as he leads with 8 power play goals, 3 game winning goals and also a total of 11 goals.

TRANSACTIONS

12/24/2002 Delete ROBIN CARRUTHERS (F) placed on IR
12/26/2002 Add PATRICK COUTURE (G) activated off IR
12/26/2002 Delete JASON BROWN (G) waived

INFERNO PROMOTIONS

Thursday, January 9th: Christian Artist Natalie Grant will be performing after the Inferno game against the Trenton Titans.



ECHL Stories from December 30, 2002


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