Inferno Weekly

March 1, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Columbia Inferno News Release


INFERNO FAN REMINDERS
***Get your camera's ready...The Kelly Cup will be at the Carolina Coliseum on Friday, March 5th and Saturday, March 6th. Take your picture with the Kelly Cup.



***On Friday, March 5th and Saturday, March 6th, the Colonial Center will be holding the High School Finals Basketball Tournament. Parking may be a problem. Please grab any parking space you can find on both days (Saturday will be worse).



***St. Patty's Day Jersey Auction: The Inferno will be wearing special St. Patrick Day jerseys on Tuesday, March 16th against the Charlotte Checkers. After the game, the jerseys will be auctioned off at Calloway's Bar and Grill located on Augusta Highway across from the Bi-Lo in West Columbia. The entire team will be there. Come support your Inferno and purchase a limited commemorative jersey.



THE WEEK AHEAD
Thursday, March 4th @ Roanoke Express 7:00pm Roanoke Civic Center

This is the fourth meeting between these two teams. The Inferno is 1-0-2 against the Express this season and 3-0-2 all-time. Roanoke is in sixth place in the Southern Division with 60 points (27-26-6).



Friday, March 5th vs. Louisiana IceGators 7:30pm Carolina Coliseum

The Inferno faced Louisiana in December and lost both games. This is the first trip for the Ice Gators to the Carolina Coliseum in Inferno franchise history. Louisiana is in first place in the Central Division of the Western Conference with 76 points (37-15-2).



Saturday, March 6th vs. Greensboro Generals 7:30pm ; Carolina Coliseum

The Inferno is 4-2-0 against the Generals this season and 5-5-3 all-time. Last time these two teams met was on February 24th where the Inferno won 5-3. The Generals are in third place in the Southern Division with 67 points (33-23-1).





LAST WEEK
Tuesday, February 24th INFERNO 5 Greensboro 3

The Columbia Inferno scored three unanswered goals in the second period to beat the Greensboro Generals 5-3.
On the power play, Barrie Moore started the scoring for the Inferno at 3:23 of the first period with passes from Derek Eastman and Robin Carruthers. Terry Harrison scored his 14th goal of the season at 12:40 from Jesse Schultz and Tim Smith to give the Inferno a 2-0 lead. Greensboro's Mike Bayrack scored on the power play at 17:33 to bring them within one goal to end the first period.

At the start of the second period, Mark Turner scored his first goal of the night to tie the game at 2:42. Turner then gave the Generals a 3-2 lead, with his second goal of the night, as he slipped the puck passed goaltender Josh Blackburn on a penalty shot at 7:26. Columbia takes the lead and never looks back as they scored three unanswered goals. Carruthers scored his 25th goal of the season at 15:03 with assists to Ulwelling and Moore. Ulwelling then scored at 18:23 with help from Moore. Alex Burrows scored 20 seconds later as he notches his 25th goal of the season with passes from Mike Hanson and Eric Labelle. The Inferno end the second period leading 5-3 that would become our final after a scoreless third period.





Friday, February 27th INFERNO 9 Florence 2

The Columbia Inferno set a new franchise record by scoring six goals in the second period as they pummel the Florence Pride 9-2. Columbia was on the board first at 4:34 of the first period as Paul Cabana, first game back from his injury, scored top shelf over the right shoulder of Florence goaltender Sebastien Laplante. Barrie Moore and Robin Carruthers set him up. At 8:33, Mike Hanson flipped the puck in the net off of a Greg Amadio shot to give the Inferno a 2-0 lead. Terry Harrison had the other assist. Florence's Josh Piro scored at 10:50 from above the crease to cut Columbia's lead in half. Less than two minutes later, Derek Eastman scored on the power play with a one-timer at the blue line from a cross pass by Mike Roemensky and Matt Ulwelling. That would end the scoring in the first period as the Inferno lead 3-1.

In the franchise record setting second period, Tim Smith scored his first goal of the night only 44 seconds into the period as he skated in on the Pride goaltender and shot it through the five-hole. At 5:06, Smith scored his second goal of the night top shelf with a pass across the crease from Alex Burrows to give the Inferno a 5-1 lead. Cabana scored his second of the night, 24th of the season, only twenty seconds later as he redirected the puck in the net off of a Sean Owens slapshot. Ryan Petz had the second assist. Florence scored their second goal at 6:15 on the power play by Wes Goldie. Eastman scored his second goal of the night at 12:04 with a pass from Hanson and Ulwelling. Dennis Vial scored at 14:39, scoring his 5th goal of the season with a slapshot from the blue line off of the face-off. Matt Ulwelling had the assist. Smith scored his third goal of the night, his first hat trick of the season, at 17:41 with assists to Jesse Schultz and Vial. The Inferno went back in the locker room leading 9-2 after two periods.

After a scoreless third period, shots on goal were in favor of the Pride 40-29. The Inferno improves their record to 35-16-6. Rob McVicar was reassigned to Columbia from the Manitoba Moose and stopped 38 of 40 shots on goal for his 11th win of the season.



Saturday, February 28th Inferno 1 Florence 2

The Columbia Inferno dropped 2-1 to the Florence Pride in a Saturday afternoon game at the Carolina Coliseum in front of 4,127 fans. In what seemed to be a goalie battle between Inferno goalie Rob McVicar and Pride goalie Sebastien Laplante, the Florence Pride was on the board first at 11:51 of the first period with a goal by Eric Naud on the power play. Alex Burrows scored at 7:06 of the second period with his 26th goal of the game as Tim Smith passed him the puck across the middle to tie the game at one a piece. Florence scored at 10:40 of the third period that ended up to be the game-winning goal by Kyle Kidney. The Inferno outshot the Pride 36-22 but Florence skated off with the win. The Inferno drop to 35-17-6 and the Pride improve to 22-28-7.



Overall Record: 35-17-6 Position: 1st Place (76 points)
Weekly Record: 2-1-0 Southern Division



INFERNO NUMBERS
Record: 35-17-6
Home: 17-8-4
Road: 18-9-2
Goals: 27 – Tim Smith
Assists: 48 – Tim Smith
Leading Scorer: 75 – Tim Smith
Power Play: 19.5% (9th in ECHL)
Power Play Goals: 7 – Tim Smith
Penalty Kill: 80.5% (24th in ECHL)
Short Handed Goals: 3 – Robin Carruthers
Game Winning Goals: 5 – Barrie Moore
Plus/Minus: +28 – Tim Smith
Goaltending: Josh Blackburn 40 games, 22-8-4, 2.83 GAA, .907 save percentage


INFERNO HIGHLIGHTS
Derek Eastman has five points (3g-2a) in his last four games...Mike Hanson has six points (1g-5a) in his last four games...Jesse Schultz has 17 points (10g-7a) in his last 11 games...Tim Smith is on an eight game points streak with 16 points (7g-9a) and leads the ECHL in scoring with 75 points...Alex Burrows has 12 points (5g-7a) in his last eight games...Matt Ulwelling has seven points (1g-6a) in his last four games...Paul Cabana scored two goals in his last two games and leads ECHL rookies in shots (196) and goals with 24.

TRANSACTIONS
2/23/04 Delete MIKE WILLERDING (G) released
2/24/04 Add CLINT MYLYMOK (G) emergency backup
2/25/04 Delete CLINT MYLYMOK (G) emergency back-up goaltender
2/25/04 Delete ADAM STEFISHEN (C) traded to Texas
2/25/04 Delete ERIC LABELLE (RW) placed on 7-day IR
2/27/04 Add PAUL CABANA (RW) activated off IR
2/27/04 Add ROB MCVICAR (G) assigned by Manitoba (AHL)


COACH'S SHOW
Sean Owens will be the guest on the Scott White Coach's Show. The show can be heard on ESPN 1230am from 7pm - 8pm. It will be held live at Calloway's Bar and Grill located at 2410 Augusta Road in West Columbia every Monday night until the end of the season. Come by or listen in to find out the latest on Inferno Hockey.



NOMINATED PLAYER OF THE MONTH
Tim Smith – 12 games, 9 goals, 10 assists, 19 points, +10, 2 power play goals, 1 game-winning goal, including a hat trick


NOMINATED ROOKIE OF THE MONTH
Jesse Schultz – 12 games, 8 goals, 9 assists, 17 points, +15, 3 power play goals, 1 game-winning goal, including a natural hat trick



ECHL Stories from March 1, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central