Phoenix Continues Playoff Drive with a Three-Game Week at Home

March 2, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners split a busy four-game week going 2-2 and earning victories against Las Vegas and Ontario. With a record of 25-26-3 and 53 points, the RoadRunners sit in fifth place in the West Division four points behind fourth place Utah, and in ninth place in the National Conference.

Monday, the Phoenix RoadRunners outshot the Las Vegas Wranglers 46-23 and tied an ECHL club record with their 15th home win of the season as they defeated the Wranglers 2-1 in front of 1,949 fans at US Airways Center.

The RoadRunners (24-24-3) got on the board first but not until the second period when Kimbi Daniels netted the puck past Wranglers' goalie Matt Keetley at 1:47. Dan DaSilva and Merit Waldrop assisted. Ashton Rome gave Phoenix a 2-0 lead when he scored from the left circle off a rebound by Dane Crowley at 13:04 on the power play. Jeremy Swanson also assisted as the RoadRunners outshot the Wranglers 38-13 and took the two-goal lead into the locker room at second intermission.

"It's been in our game plan to get pucks and bodies on the net," RoadRunners' Head Coach Brad Church said of outshooting the Wranglers. "We just need to work on finishing more."

Las Vegas (26-23-6) came within a goal of Phoenix at 6:46 of the third period when Tyler Mosienko scored glove side on RoadRunners' goalie Kyle Jones on the power play. Mike Madill and Peter Ferraro had the assists as the Wranglers were unable to tie up the game despite pulling Keetley in the final minute.

"We had a good save by Jones," Church said of the pressure Las Vegas put on the RoadRunners in the last minute of play. "Then Carefoot made sure the puck got out past the blue line."

Jones made 22 saves to earn the win and improve to 5-10-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 1-2 on the power play while Las Vegas was 1-1 on the man-advantage.

Thursday, Bud Holloway scored three goals as he led the Ontario Reign past the Phoenix RoadRunners 4-2 in front of 2,603 fans at US Airways Center.

The Reign (31-20-4) scored first when Andrew Martens bounced the puck in the net off the crossbar at 13:29 of the first period. Dan Knapp and Jon Rheault assisted. Ontario took a two-goal lead at 17:47 when Denny Johnston centered a pass to Holloway from behind the net. Rheault also assisted as the Reign would take the lead into the locker room at intermission.

"It was the first bad period we've had in a long time," RoadRunners' Head Coach Brad Church said, adding that the team seemed sluggish. "I'm not sure we were 100 percent here to play."

The RoadRunners (24-25-5) narrowed Ontario's lead to one goal 41 second into the second period when Mitch Carefoot set up Mark O'Leary who scored from the left circle. Holloway gave the Reign a 3-1 lead at 5:20 when he scored to the right of RoadRunners' goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu. Johnston and Rheault assisted as the score would stay the same through second intermission.

"(Beckford-Tseu) hasn't played a whole lot the last few weeks but he was fine tonight," Church said. "We've got to be better in front of him."

Dan DaSilva narrowed Ontario's lead again to one goal at 9:15 of the third period when he scored top-shelf on Reign goalie Jeff Zatkoff from the slot. T.J. Campbell assisted. The Reign were able to seal the victory with 11 seconds left, however, when Holloway scored an empty net goal, giving the team a 4-2 win.

"We've got to be ready to play," Church said of the RoadRunners' next game Friday night at Ontario. "We can't afford to be lingering on losses; we have to be ready to play the next game."

Phoenix out-shot Ontario 29-27. Beckford-Tseu stopped 23 shots but fell to 0-1-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-3 on the power play while Ontario was 0-5 with the man-advantage.

Friday, Gino Guyer broke a 4-4 tie with 9:32 left in regulation and the Phoenix RoadRunners snapped a six-game losing streak to Ontario as they toppled the Reign 6-4 before 4,492 at Citizens Business Bank Arena.

The RoadRunners (25-25-3) dominated the first period out-shooting Ontario (3-21-4) 20-6 and took a 2-1 lead to the locker room after 20 minutes. Daniel Sisca opened the scoring for Phoenix at 8:53 when he caught Reign goalie Jeff Zatkoff leaning off to his left and he wrapped the puck around the right post and into the back of the cage for a 1-0 lead. Ashton Rome extended the lead to two just minutes later at 11:57 when he beat Zatkoff through the pads and in with a shot from the left-wing circle. Ontario cut the RoadRunners' lead in half at 15:46 of the first as Dan Knapp centered a pass from the left corner to Mike Howe at the top of the crease and Howe pushed the puck past RoadRunners goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu to make it 2-1.

The RoadRunners wasted little time re-gaining their two-goal lead early in the second as Kimbi Daniels netted his 16th goal of the season just 1:40 into the middle period. But Ontario's Bud Holloway scored the next two goals to tie the game at 3-3 midway through the second. Holloway used a terrific individual effort to get around the defense and score his first goal shorthanded at 6:59. He later punched home Denny Johnston's rebound past Beckford-Tseu at 10:52 to even the score at 3-3. Dan DaSilva gave Phoenix a brief 4-3 lead when he collected Jim Jorgensen's carom off the end-boards and snuck a backhand shot top shelf over Zatkoff's right shoulder and in at 12:42. But the Reign would have the periods' final say as Johnston put Jon Rheault's rebound off the right side of the net though Beckford-Tseu's stacked pads at 17:34 to once again tie the game at 4-4 heading into the final period.

Guyer gave the RoadRunners the lead for good when his shot off the left-wing boards found a seam through Zatkoff and trickled into the net at 10:28 of the third. Rome scored his second goal of the evening just moments later at 13:47 when his shot deflected off Darren McMillan's stick and ricocheted past Zatkoff to cap off the scoring.

Phoenix out-shot Ontario 45-30. Beckford-Tseu stopped 26 shots to earn his first victory with the RoadRunners and improve to 1-1-1 overall on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-7 on the power play while Ontario was 0-4 with the man-advantage.

Saturday, Mike Wirll had three goals and two assists as he led the Bakersfield Condors over the Phoenix RoadRunners 6-3 in front of 3,292 fans at US Airways Center.

The RoadRunners (25-26-3) opened up scoring at 3:08 of the second period when Dan DaSilva scored off a rebound by Jim Jorgenson on the power play. Daniel Sisca had the other assist. The Condors (23-28-7) tied up the game at 1-1 when Mark Derlago scored five-hole on RoadRunners' goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu at 4:52 on the power play. Wirll and Jay Langager assisted.

Bakersfield took a 2-1 lead at 18:14 when Derlago fed the puck across the slot to Wirll who scored to the right of Beckford-Tseu with a two-man advantage. Dave Bonk had the other assist. Then just over a minute later Donny Grover gave the Condors a 3-1 lead, again with a two-man advantage, when he scored from the right circle at 19:17. Derlago and Wirll assisted as the score would hold through the second intermission.

"We got emotionally involved in the second period and it cost us penalties," RoadRunners' Head Coach Brad Church said. "The three power play goals in the second ended up being the difference in the game."

The Condors took a commanding three-goal lead at 1:26 of the third period when Chris Kaufman capitalized on a RoadRunners' turnover and rifled a shot past Beckford-Tseu from the left circle. Wirll then gave Bakersfield a 5-1 lead at 5:36 when Derlago fed him a pass from the top left circle. Bonk also assisted.

"We played three games in three nights with travel and only played with five defensemen," Church said. "Fatigue was definitely a factor."

Jorgenson cut the Condors' lead at 7:40 when he scored a shorthanded goal from Sisca from the high slot. Sisca then narrowed Bakersfield's lead to two goals at 17:16 when he tipped in a shot from T.J. Campbell on the power play. John McNabb had the other assist. The RoadRunners pulled Beckford-Tseu with over a minute to play but Wirll finished off his hat trick with 10 seconds left in the game to give the Condors a final 6-3 victory.

"We didn't quit," Church said of the RoadRunners play in the third period. "The guys worked pretty hard, but we still need a little more."

Phoenix out-shot Bakersfield 32-29. Beckford-Tseu stopped 23 shots but suffered the loss to fall to 1-2-1 overall on the season. The RoadRunners went 2-6 on the power play while Bakersfield was 3-7 with the man-advantage.

BREAKING THE ONTARIO CURSE: The RoadRunners earned their first win last week over Ontario since a 2-0 victory back on Nov. 1 at Citizens Business Bank Arena. With six goals in the game, the RoadRunners equaled half of their entire goal total for the previous eight match-ups against the Reign. Eight of the RoadRunners' 18 goals against Ontario this year have come in the first period alone. Despite the lopsided results in the series, Phoenix has out-shot Ontario in eight of the nine meetings between the teams and has averaged 37.3 shots on goal against the Reign this season.

WELCOME ABOARD: With Craig Kowalski still on loan to Norfolk of the American Hockey League, the RoadRunners added an impact goalie Monday with the addition of former Alaska Aces net-minder Chris Beckford-Tseu. Beckford-Tseu compiled a record of 46-17-5 with six shutouts, a goals against average of 2.24, and a save percentage of .921% in 72 regular season ECHL games prior to this season. He has been named the RBK Hockey ECHL Goaltender of the Week five times during his career and was selected as starter for the 2006 ECHL All-Star Game played in Fresno. Beckford-Tseu was selected by the St. Louis Blues in Round Five (#159 overall) at the 2003 NHL Entry Draft and became the 350th ECHL player to advance to the NHL when he debuted for the Blues on Feb. 21, 2008 at Los Angeles.

30 OR LESS: The RoadRunners extended their current streak of holding an opponent to 30 shots or less to 10 games last week. Phoenix has not allowed more than 30 shots on goal in a game since Feb. 7. Friday, Ontario did not record a shot on goal until the 12:26 mark of the first period. By that point, the RoadRunners already had recorded 18 shots. Phoenix has lowered their shots allowed per game average from a season-high of 37.65 back on Dec. 5 to 33.89.

PRODUCTION FROM THE BLUE LINE: Rookie defensemen Jim Jorgensen and T.J. Campbell have stepped up their offense in the absence of blue-line leading scorer Brett Peterson. Jorgensen collected two goals and six assists with three multiple-point efforts during the month of February, and now has five goals and 17 points in 48 games to lead all RoadRunners' defensemen in scoring. Meanwhile, Campbell is riding a season-high three-game scoring streak heading into play this week and registered his first career multiple-point game Friday with a pair of assists at Ontario.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Center Daniel Sisca notched consecutive multiple-point games over the weekend after posting a goal and an assist Friday and returning Saturday with his first three-point effort of the season with a goal and two assists. Sisca matched his best offensive month in February after tallying three goals and 10 points in 14 games. The veteran center ranks third on the RoadRunners in scoring with 23 assists and 32 points in 51 games.

NEWS & NOTES: Forward Dan DaSilva is riding a season-high six-game scoring streak with three goals and four assists since Feb. 10...The RoadRunners finished the month of February with a 7-7-0 record...Phoenix snapped a 2-31 stretch on the power play over their last six games Saturday with a pair of goals on the man-advantage...Monday's win against Las Vegas ensured the RoadRunners their first non-losing season in four years against the Wranglers...Phoenix surpassed their entire win total from the 2007-08 season with Friday's win. The RoadRunners need just one more home victory to set an ECHL club record for single season wins at US Airways Center...Kimbi Daniels needs just 11 points in the final 18 games to break Daniel Sisca's ECHL club record for points in a single season.

WATCH THE 'RUNNERS LIVE IN '08-09: The RoadRunners have teamed up with B2 Networks to bring you live action of Phoenix RoadRunners hockey in 2008-09. RoadRunners fans will be able to click the "Watch Online" link at www.phxroadrunners.com to view and listen to the game. These broadcasts are available to fans for a charge of $6 per game. All 72 RoadRunners broadcasts will be available on-line. A cable or DSL Internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 are required to view the games.

UP NEXT: The RoadRunners continue their current four-game home-stand at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday against the Stockton Thunder and at 5:05 p.m. Sunday against the Utah Grizzlies. Catch all three games live at www.phxroadrunners.com beginning with "RoadRunners Countdown" twenty minutes prior to face-off. Information on season tickets, half-season packages, and flex plans for the 2008-09 season of Phoenix RoadRunners Hockey are available by calling (602) 462-GOAL.



ECHL Stories from March 2, 2009


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