Men Set to Begin Playoffs in Toledo
March 31, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Burlington News Release
Lexington, KY-The Men O' War will hit the road for the best of five first round of the playoffs against the regular season champion Storm. Rupp Arena is booked for the first two weeks of April so the Men will be forced to play all first round games at the Toledo Sports Arena against the Toledo Storm. The series gets underway on Wednesday.
Friday, March 28th-Reading 2 at Lexington 5
The Lexington Men O' War ended the home portion of their inaugural season on Friday with a 5-2 win over the Royals. Brett Draney scored two goals, including the game-winning goal for the Men. Mike Smith earned his 11th win of the year in his first game back in Lexington after a recall to Utah. Ben Storey, Van Burgess and Ryan Fultz also added markers for the Men.
Saturday, March 29th-Lexington 3 at Greensboro 4
The Men started their season the same way it began-with a loss to the Greensboro Generals. Pete Gardiner's goal just 39 seconds into the third period gave the Generals the 4-3 win. Brett Draney assisted on all three Lexington goals in the loss. Mike Smith took the loss in net stopping 36 of 40 Generals shots as the Men lost two separate two-goal leads. Jesse Cook scored his first professional goal just 2:50 into the first period. Van burgess and Ryan Fultz also scored for the second consecutive game.
Playoff Preview
The Men are 4-5-0 vs. the Storm this year including two wins at the Toledo Sports Arena. On January 18th, the Men won a shootout 3-2 over the Storm. The Men returned to Toledo on February 1st and came away with a 4-1 win.
Toledo finished the regular season with the best record in the ECHL at 47-15-10 (.722). Toledo's 104 points secured the Braham Trophy for the league's best regular season record. Toledo posted a league best 29-3-4 record at the Toledo Sports Arena this year. Lexington and Cincinnati are the only two teams in the league to win more than once at the Sports Arena.
Matt Ellis and Tim Verbeek lead the series in scoring with ten points (4g, 6a) in nine games. Ben Storey leads MOW scorers with nine points (3g, 6a) in eight games. Mark Smith has seven points (5g, 2a) in eight games vs. the Storm.
Mike Smith has recorded a 2-3-0 record with a .917 save percentage and 2.62 goals against average in five games against the Storm. Dan Murphy is 2-2-0 with a .925 save percentage and 2.71 goals against average in four games vs. the Storm.
MOW Tracks
Van Burgess finished the season as the Men's leading scorer. Burgess recorded 55 points (21g, 34a) in 71 games to lead the MOW in points...Mark Smith lead the team in goals with 22 markers in 65 games. Smith also finished second in points with 54...Joe Vandermeer finished the season as the seventh highest scoring defenseman in the Coast with 51 points (9g, 42a)...Ben Storey's 18 goals are the second most goals amongst ECHL d-men, and Storey finished first among defensemen with 293 shots....Mike Smith finished the season with the fourth best GAA in the Coast (2.55)...Dan Murphy finished with the 16th best GAA (2.85) and the league lead in shootout wins (7).
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