Petkoff Leads The Aces To Victory

January 15, 2005 - SPHL (SPHL)
Asheville Aces News Release


Joel Petkoff's hat trick sparked the Aces to their first victory in seven games over a surging Winston Salem squad tonight in front of 2,121 fans at the Asheville Civic Center. With the Aces up 1-0 on a shorthanded goal by Peter Bournazakis, Petkoff broke loose and buried the puck past Polar Twin starter Jomar Cruz. It was to be Petkoff's night as he lit the lamp two more times in the third period for the hat trick.

But Petkoff was not the only Ace ready to put the puck in the net on this night. Recent addition Chad Brandimore potted two goals of his own and also added an assist and Captain Peter Bournazakis was definitely on his game tonight with four assists in addition to his goal to open the scoring.

In net, Mark Scally was exceptional again stopping 43 of the 47 shots thrown at him for the win. Winston Salem goalie Jomar Cruz (19 saves on 23 shots) was replaced after the Aces made it 4-1 by Rick Nichol who played very well in relief but, like Cruz, had very little support from his team. Nichol allowed four goals on 21 shots.

Also contributing to the Aces scoring tonight were Brett Roat and new addition R.J. Roy who showed the kind of heart, grit and character Coach Brubaker has been searching for over the past few weeks. On an offensive zone face-off, the Aces won the draw and the puck went to point man Martin Viazanica who ripped a slap shot towards the net. The shot hit Roy in the back of the leg and he fell to the ice in obvious pain. Seeing that the Aces were still in possession of the puck, Roy got back on his feet, received a pass from line mate Jan Kentos, hobbled towards the Polar Twin net and made a great move to beat Nichol. After he scored, he skated to the Aces bench bent over in agony.

And it was that kind of night for the Aces. Defenseman Dan Pszenyczny was hit hard into the boards and after being attended to on the ice for quite some time, was helped off to the dressing room. Five minutes later, he returned to the game and did not miss a step for the rest of the evening. Greg Snitowski was involved in a serious knee to knee collision with Polar Twin Rhett Dudley leaving both players needing medical attention - neither player returned. Like his teammates, Snitowski does not plan on missing any action tomorrow night.

With tonight's win, the Aces remain in seventh place in the SPHL with 24 points. Knoxville comes to the Civic Center tomorrow night for what should be a great hockey game. Puck drop is 7:30 p.m. The house will be rocking as KISS Country and Asheville Fun Depot are distributing ThunderStix to the first 1000 fans through the doors.



SPHL Stories from January 15, 2005


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