Men O\' War Face Defending Champs Friday at Rupp

Published on January 16, 2003 under ECHL (ECHL)
Burlington News Release


The 2001-2002 ECHL Kelly Cup Champion Greenville Grrrowl will visit Rupp Arena on Friday for the only time this season. The game marks the only meeting of the season between these two clubs. Lexington enters the contest 8-1-1 in their last 10 home games. Lexington is 12-6-3 (.643) at the friendly confines of Rupp Arena. Greenville comes to Lexington 1-9-0 in their last 10 games overall. The Grrrowl have one road win dating back to December 14th. Greenville is 8-12-4 overall on the road. The Grrrowl is not the same team that won the cup last season. Only six players remain on the roster from the team that won the title last season.

"They are playing pretty desperate hockey right now if they are only 1-9 in their last 10. We have not played these guys before so hopefully it will be an exciting night for us," said leading scorer Mark Smith.

"We don't know anything about them. We are not going to take anyone for granted and we don't want them to take us for granted. We are just going to see what they have in the first period Friday night," said Captain Kevin Knopp.

Greenville is coming off a 5-0 loss in Richmond Sunday. The Men are coming off a 4-1 win at home over Cincinnati, moving Lexington to within four points of the third-place Clones. The Men O' War will try to build off of this weekend's win on Sunday to help get ready for the defending Champs. Friday night's game will be the second of six match-ups with Southern Conference team.

"The teams in the southern conference like to dangle a bit, they like to pass, and they don't like to play the body as much as the guys in our division. They are going to come out flying and they are going to want to beat us. We need to be at the top of our game, " added Smith.

The Men O' War will gladly welcome back leading scorer Mark Smith who was injured on Saturday by a slash in Johnstown. Smith has a team-leading 17 goals, 20 assists for 37 points in 36 games played. After sitting out Sunday against Cincinnati Smith will be in the line-up Friday against Greenville.

"I took a pretty wicked slash on Saturday. It was bothering me pretty bad on Sunday so we just decided to take the night off and rest is so I could be ready to go this weekend, " said Smith.

While Smith leads Lexington in scoring, Matt Demarski leads the Grrrowl with 35 (14G-21A) points in 40 games played. Jonathan Roy (Wah) and Mikko Sivonen each lead the team with 16 goals. Tyler Deis is leading the team with 24 assists. Demarski also leads the team with a (-14) +/- rating. Greenville has been outscored by their opponents 147-122. Lexington has been outscored by their opponents 117-101. The Men are one of five teams in the league to be outscored by their opponents this season and still have a .500 record or above. Lexington's defense ranks 8th best in the league giving up only 3.00 goals per game.

Face-off is set for 7:30 tomorrow night. The game will feature Chick-Fil-A "Eat Mor Chickin" night. Every fan will receive a coupon for a free chicken sandwich compliments of Chick-Fil-A.



ECHL Stories from January 16, 2003


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