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Inferno Wins Fifth Straight

February 10, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


Entering the weekend tied for first place in the Southeast Division with Pee Dee, Columbia won three games in three days, including a 3-2 win over Pee Dee on Saturday, and extended its winning streak to five games. The Inferno begins the week atop the division with 65 points (32-19-1), five points ahead of Florida (25-14-10) and six points ahead of Pee Dee (27-16-5).

Columbia hosts Florida on Thursday and Cincinnati on Friday before traveling to Greenville on Saturday.

The five consecutive wins is two shy of Columbia's team record seven-game winning streak set January 10-23. The Inferno has won four consecutive road games, two shy of its team record six consecutive road wins set October 11-November 15. The Inferno is 15-12-1 on the road equaling the total road wins it had in its inaugural season in 2001-02 (15-11-10), and is four wins shy of the 36 wins it had in 2001-02 (36-22-14).

Patrick Couture made 31 saves in a 3-0 win against Columbus on Friday and 27 saves in a 3-2 win against Pee Dee on Saturday improving to 3-0 with a 1.67 goals against average during the current winning streak. Couture leads the ECHL in goals against average with 2.39 and is tied for the ECHL lead with three shutouts. He is tied for second in the ECHL with 21 wins and tied for fourth in save percentage with .918.

Rejean Stringer has scored 10 points (4g-6a) during the winning streak and leads the Inferno in goals (26), assists (44), points (70), game-winning goals (8) and shorthand goals (5). Among the ECHL leaders, he is tied for second in scoring, is third in game-winning goals, is tied for third in shorthand goals, and is fourth in assists. Stringer has broken his own team season records for points (57) and assists (43) and has also broken the team season records for game-winning goals (6 by Joel Trottier) and shorthand goals (3 by Matt Ulwelling). He has also tied the team season record for most goals (26 by Trottier).

Columbia has allowed an ECHL low 31 power-play goals and leads the ECHL on the penalty kill with 87.34 percent (214-for-245), and ranks eighth on the power play with 20.52 percent. The Inferno ranks sixth in scoring with 3.54 goals per game and is eighth in goals allowed with 2.96 goals per game.

Cincinnati's Fukufuji Is First Japanese-Born Goalie in ECHL

Becoming the first Japanese-born goaltender to play in the East Coast Hockey League, Cincinnati's Yutaka Fukufuji won his North American debut with a 3-2 shootout win at Johnstown on Friday. Activated from the 30-day injured reserve on Friday, Fukufuji made 26 saves in regulation, including five in the third period as the Cyclones scored twice to tie the game, and four saves in overtime before stopping three of the four shooters in the shootout. Born in Hokkaido, Japan, Fukufuji returned to the ice in Saturday's 4-2 win at Dayton allowing one goal and making 16 saves in the third period.

The 20-year-old Fukufuji played last season with the Kokudo Bunnies of the Japan Hockey League posting a 2.94 goals against average. He traveled with Cincinnati on its preseason exhibition tour of Europe posting a 5-4 win over the defending Italian Champion Milan Vipers.

Fukufuji is the second Japanese-born player in the ECHL in 2002-03, joining Charlotte's Takahito Suzuki. Fukufuji and Suzuki were teammates on both Kokudo and Team Japan in the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships. The other two players born in Japan that played in the ECHL are Hiroyuki Miura, who played six games with the Wheeling Thunderbirds in 1993-94, and Hideji Tsuchida, who played five games with Dayton in 1996-97.

Suzuki helped the Northern Conference to an 8-2 win in the Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game on January 21 in Estero, Fla. Also born in Hokkaido, Suzuki leads Charlotte with 17 goals and seven power-play goals and is tied for 18th among ECHL rookies in scoring with 32 points (17g-15a).

Grrrowl Goes For YMCA World Record

Greenville will attempt to break the world record for most people doing the YMCA dance when its hosts Columbia on Saturday at the 14,108-seat BI-LO Center. The record, as listed in the Guinness Book of Records, is 13,588 set July 4, 2001 at an Omaha Spikes baseball game.

Allen Posts Back-To-Back Shutouts

Andrew Allen became the third East Coast Hockey League goaltender in 2002-03 to post back-to-back shutouts after making 14 saves in a 1-0 overtime win against Toledo on Wednesday and 29 saves in a 5-0 win at Charlotte on Friday in his first two games with Trenton.

The Titans host Greensboro on Friday and Johnstown on Saturday before traveling to Reading on Sunday.

Allen began the season with Dayton and was 5-9-3 with a shutout, a 3.48 goals against average and a .882 save percentage in 19 games for the Bombers. The back-to-back shutouts move him into a tie for the ECHL lead with three shutouts while improving his record to 7-9-3 and lowering his goals against average to 3.12 and raising his save percentage to .892.

Columbia's Patrick Couture posted back-to-back shutouts on January 16 and 17 while Louisiana's Kyle Kettles posted back-to-back shutouts on January 4 and 9. Couture won his next start 2-1 at Richmond while Kettles lost his next start 4-3 at Arkansas.

Bullies Rookie Henkel Extends Scoring Streak To 19 Games

Registering a pair of assists in Friday's 4-0 win against Toledo and the game-winning goal and an assist in Saturday's 3-2 win against Toledo, Atlantic City rookie Jim Henkel extended his ECHL season-high scoring streak to 19 games. He has scored 32 points (11g-21a) during the streak that began December 18 when Henkel scored a power-play goal in a 4-2 win against Roanoke. The Bullies are 13-3-3 during the streak.

Henkel also has a 13-game road scoring streak that ties him with teammate Kevin Colley for the longest road scoring streak in the ECHL in 2002-03. Henkel has 21 points (11g-10a) during the road streak that began with a shorthand goal in a 4-3 overtime loss at Richmond on December 1.

The 23-year-old Henkel is tied for second among ECHL rookies with 52 points, three shorthand goals and five game-winning goals while ranking third with 23 goals and tied for fifth with 29 assists. Henkel, who has also played two games with Cleveland of the American Hockey League, had an assist and was +2 while helping the Northern Conference to an 8-2 win in the Compuware/ECHL All-Star Game on January 21 in Estero, Fla.

InGlasCo ECHL Player Of The Week

Brad Church Richmond Renegades

GP: 2 G: 3 A: 4 PTS: 7 +/-:+6

ECHL Goalie Of The Week

Andrew Allen Trenton Titans

GP: 2 W-L: 2-0 GAA: 0.00 PCT: 1.000

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ECHL Stories from February 10, 2003


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