Inferno Weekly

Published on March 17, 2003 under ECHL (ECHL)
Columbia Inferno News Release


Thursday, March 20th vs. Florida Carolina Coliseum 7:05pm

The Inferno are 3-2-0 against the Everblades this season and 6-6-1 all-time. This is the seventh meeting for both teams. The Inferno will travel to face Florida next week for two games to end the 2002-2003 season.

Friday, March 21th vs. Richmond Carolina Coliseum 7:05pm

This is the last home game for the Inferno. Columbia is 1-1-0 this season and 2-2-0 all-time against the Renegades. Richmond is tied for sixth place, along with Reading, of the Northeast Division with 67 points.

Saturday, March 22nd @ Pee Dee Florence Civic Center 7:35pm

The Inferno travel to face off against the Pee Dee Pride for the last time this season. Columbia is 5-2-1 against the Pride this year and 9-5-1 all-time. The Pride is in third place of the Southeast Division

LAST WEEK

Thursday, March 13th COLUMBIA 4 Pee Dee 0 @ Columbia

Josh Blackburn was the first star of the night as he recorded his second shutout of the season, stopping 30 shots on goal. Tim Smith started the scoring off early when Shawn Wansborough found him the front of the net to score his first goal of the game at 26 seconds into the first period. Robin Carruthers added a shorthanded goal at 2:27, unassisted. Smith scored his second goal of the night at 16:55 with a pass from Sean Owens to give the Inferno a 3-0 lead at the end of the first period. After a scoreless second period, the Pride turned up the heat but they could not find a chink in Josh Blackburn's armour. At 5:19 of the third period, Darrell Hay scored his first goal this season with Carruthers on the assist.

Friday, March 14th COLUMBIA 3 Columbus 2 @ Columbia

Chris St. Croix started the scoring off on the power play at 4:04 of the first period with Robin Carruthers and Darrell Hay assisting. At 6:03 of the second period, St. Croix scored his second goal of the night, shorthanded, with passes from Rejean Stringer and goaltender Josh Blackburn. At 10:18, Tim Smith, on a breakaway, passes the puck to Carruthers as he scores his 19th of the season to give the Inferno a 3-0 lead. Columbus would keep fighting as they scored two goals in the third period to inch closer to the Inferno. Josh Blackburn stopped 32 of 34 shots for his 18th win of the season.

Saturday, March 15th COLUMBIA 3 Augusta 2 @ Augusta

Barrie Moore skated away with two goals as the Inferno beat the Augusta Lynx 3-2. Augusta went on the board first with a goal by Jay Leach at 6:16 of the first period. Moore's first goal of the game came at 13:36 with assists from Robin Carruthers and Rejean Stringer. Tim Smith increased the lead to 2-1 only 27 seconds later with a pass from Shawn Wansborough. Augusta's Leach scored his second goal of the night at 17:15 to tie the game at two. Moore scored the game-winning goal for the Columbia Inferno at 8:37 of the third period. Carruthers and Corey Hessler had the assists. Inferno goaltender Patrick Couture, his first game back from the Manitoba Moose, stopped 38 of 40 shots.

Overall Record: 44-21-2

Position: 1st Place in

Weekly Record: 3-0-0

Southeast Division (90 points)

INFERNO NUMBERS

Record: 44-21-2

Home: 25-9-0

Road: 19-12-2

Goals: 30 – Rejean Stringer

Assists : 57 – Rejean Stringer

Leading Scorer: 87 – Rejean Stringer

Power Play: 22.2% (4th in ECHL)

Power Play Goals: 12 – Corey Hessler

Penalty Kill: 86.6% (1st in ECHL)

Short Handed Goals: 5 – Rejean Stringer

Game Winning Goals: 9 – Rejean Stringer

Plus/Minus: +32 – Dennis Vial

Goaltending: Patrick Couture, 25-10-0, 2.42 GAA, .916 save percentage

INFERNO STREAKS & HIGHLIGHTS

Robin Carruthers has six points (2g-4a) in his last three games...Tim Smith has ten points (3g-7a) in his last six games...Goaltender Josh Blackburn recorded his second shutout of the season on Thursday, March 13th vs. Pee Dee Pride...Shawn Wansborough has nine points (5g-4a) in his last seven games...Rejean Stringer is ranked third in the league among leading scorers with 87 points...Patrick Couture is the number two goaltender in the ECHL with a 2.42 GAA, .916 save percentage, 25-10-0, and is second among goaltenders with four shutouts...Trevor Demmans is third in the league as a defenseman with 49 points (8g-41a)...

TRANSACTIONS

3/13/2003 Add MIKE WILLERDING (G) added to roster 3/14/2003 Add PATRICK COUTURE (G) returned from Manitoba (AHL) 3/15/2003 Delete MIKE WILLERDING (G) released

NOMINATED PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Robin Carruthers, 3 games, 2 goals, 4 assists, +3, 1 game-winning goal and 1 shorthanded goal.

NOMINATED GOALIE OF THE WEEK: Josh Blackburn, 2 games, 2-0-0, 1.00 GAA, .969 save percentage.

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