Lynx Tackling Longest Road Stretch

Published on January 20, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Augusta Lynx News Release


Beginning tonight against the South Carolina Stingrays, the Augusta Lynx will tackle their longest stretch of the season away from home, competing in seven straight contests away from the Augusta-Richmond County Civic Center.

The team will travel to Charleston, SC tonight for a 7:05 pm faceoff followed by a game Saturday night in Florida against the Everblades at 7:30 pm.

This season the Lynx and Stingrays have battled back and forth on the scoreboard, with the Lynx owning a 5-3-0 advantage over South Carolina this season. Three of those games have come on the road for Augusta, and the team has won two of those contests. Last time the two clubs faced off, the Lynx skated off with a 3-2 shootout win. Brian Passmore and Joe Pereira bookended a pair of Stingrays goals in regulation for the 2-2 tie. In the shootout, the Lynx marked on their first two opportunities while Jason Wolfe (30 saves) stopped four of five shooters for the win.

"We were happy to battle back in that game and get the two points," said Lynx head coach Bob Ferguson during the Behind the Bench Coach's Show from the Wild Wing Café Monday night. "At the same time, I'd like to see us take advantage of chances to put games away on other teams instead of having to battle late to tie the game. We've got to start putting games away."

The Lynx will head to Florida on Saturday where they have earned only a single point in three tries against the American Conference's best home team (14-2-1). In fact, the Lynx hold a 0-4-1 mark against the Everblades this season.

"We've had our chances against Florida," said Ferguson. "It all ties into what I said before about putting games away. We had them down 3-0 in their own building before. We just failed to put the game away, and that has to change."

With a lineup that is missing defenseman Eric Lundberg, and top two scorers Nicolas Corbeil (14-22-36) and Joel Stepp (9-19-28), the Lynx will head into the weekend somewhat shorthanded. But with scoring talent available in Brian Passmore (9-17-36), Dan Sullivan (11-14-25), BJ Gaustad (7-20-27) and Anthony Battaglia (10-16-26), Augusta figures to be able to put pucks in the net.

"Right now would be a great time for (Jason) Wolfe to pick up the ball and run with it," said Ferguson. "We've been waiting for a goaltender to get hot and win a few in a row, and this is a perfect time for that to happen."

Wolfe is likely to start both games this weekend with Mike Wall still in Portland of the American Hockey League for an undetermined amount of time. This year Wolfe has a solid .901 save percentage and 3.08 GAA despite his 6-10-0 record. He earned ECHL Goaltender of the Week honors last time the Lynx were this shorthanded. The team relied on replacement players but still found a way to win two out of three games Thanksgiving Weekend, with most of that thanks given to Wolfe and his back-to-back wins on 53 and 42 save performances.

Follow all the Lynx hockey action this weekend on your Home for Lynx Hockey, NEWSTALKSPORTS 1630, as well as on the web at www.augustalynx.com. The Classic Stucco and Stone Pre-Game Show kicks off one half-hour before faceoff. Augusta's next home game will be Friday, February 10th against the Charlotte Checkers at 7:35 pm.

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ECHL Stories from January 20, 2006


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