Phoenix Finishes Second ECHL Season with a Record of 27-40-5

Published on April 9, 2007 under ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners were defeated in three straight games by the Victoria Salmon Kings last week to conclude the 2006-07 regular season, but clinched their first playoff berth in team history Wednesday. As the #8 seed in the National Conference, the RoadRunners will open the 2007 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs Tuesday at US Airways against the #1 seed and Brabham Cup Champions Las Vegas Wranglers in a best-of-seven National Conference Quarterfinal.

Wednesday, the RoadRunners clinched their first ever berth in the ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs despite a 6-4 defeat to the Victoria Salmon Kings before a crowd of 4,212 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. The RoadRunners advance because of Long Beach's 4-2 loss to the Las Vegas Wranglers Wednesday at the Long Beach Arena.

The two teams traded goals in an up-and-down first period. Victoria (34-32-4) opened the scoring at 12:40 when Robin Gomez stuffed Patrick Coulombe's rebound in front behind RoadRunners goalie Cody Rudkowsky for a 1-0 lead. Phoenix (27-38-7) wasted little time netting the equalizer as Mathew Deschamps beat Salmon Kings net-minder Julien Ellis with a wrist shot from the left-wing boards at 13:45 to tie the game at 1-1.

The Salmon Kings jumped ahead 3-1 on goals by Milan Gajic at 2:07 and Mike Stutzel at 8:08 of the second period respectively. The RoadRunners countered by scoring twice 35 seconds apart in the 16th minute of play to tie the contest at 3-3. Tommy Maxwell drove the net and beat Ellis with a shot under the elbow at 15:25 to cut the deficit to 3-2. Jeff Kyrzakos potted the game-tying goal 35 seconds later when he re-directed Greg Hornby's shot from the right-wing boards past Ellis at 16:00. However, it was Victoria who would have the period's final say as Kiel McLeod deflected Steve Lingren's point shot over the shoulder of Rudkowsky at 17:44 to give Victoria a 4-3 lead at the end of the second frame.

Gajic recorded his second of the game as he took a perfect lead pas from Coulombe and stuffed the puck into the upper corner of the net 9:38 into the third period to make it 5-3 Victoria. Brock Hooton got the RoadRunners back to within a goal 33 seconds later when he beat Ellis to the short side at 10:11, but Phoenix would come no closer. McLeod sealed the win for Victoria with an empty-net goal at 19:54.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix 39-29. Rudkowsky stopped 33 shots but fell to 10-21-2 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play but held Victoria to 0-4 on the man-advantage.

Friday, Bryan Bridges stopped 32 shots and four different skaters tallied goals to lead the Victoria Salmon Kings to a 4-1 win over the Phoenix RoadRunners before a crowd of 5,349 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Victoria (35-32-4) opened the scoring in the first two minutes of play as Derek Krestanovich worked the puck around a RoadRunners' defenseman and slipped it through the pads of goalie Mike Morrison at 1:28 of the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Kiel McLeod made it 2-0 at 6:06 of the second period as he received the drop pass from Patrick Coulombe at the right-wing circle and beat Morrison with a slap shot over the shoulder. Victoria struck again at 14:17 of the period when Paul Ballantyne connected with Darryl Lloyd on a perfect lead pass, and Lloyd whipped a shot off Morrison's stick and in for a 3-0 advantage.

Jeff Kyrzakos tallied the lone goal for the RoadRunners (27-39-5) at 18:37 of the third period breaking up what would have been Bridges' first professional shutout. Milan Gajic sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 19:27.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix 41-33. Morrison stopped 37 shots but fell to 9-12-3 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play but held Victoria to 0-5 on the man-advantage.

Saturday, six different skaters potted goals and goaltender Julien Ellis stopped 27 shots to propel the Victoria Salmon Kings to a 6-1 win and a three-game sweep of the Phoenix RoadRunners before a crowd of 7,006 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Victoria (36-32-4) blitzed the RoadRunners with a four-goal first period. Ryan Wade opened the barrage at 3:45 when he received the puck from Wes Goldie in the slot and tucked it past goaltender Cody Rudkowsky for a 1-0 lead. Derek Krestanovich made it 2-0 at 12:59 re-directing Phil Cole's shot from the right point underneath Rudkowsky's pad. Marc-Andre Bernier scored late on the Salmon Kings' second power play from just inside the right-wing circle at 18:43 to extend Victoria's lead to a commanding three goals. Goldie then tallied his 42nd goal of the year, but just his first goal in six games against Phoenix when he beat Rudkowsky with a slap shot off his own rebound at 19:02 to make it 4-0 Salmon Kings after 20 minutes.

Former RoadRunners' defenseman Paul Ballantyne tallied his fifth goal of the year 5:37 into the second period to give the Salmon Kings a 5-0 cushion. The RoadRunners (27-40-5) would finally crack the scoreboard at 12:24 of the second when Justin Aikins potted his team-leading 27th goal of the season over the left shoulder of Victoria goalie Julien Ellis.

Darryl Lloyd finished off the scoring with his 11th goal at 11:06 of the third period.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix 49-28. Rudkowsky stopped 30 shots in two periods of work and took the loss to fall to 10-22-2 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play but held Victoria to 1-7 on the man-advantage.

A SEASON OF IMPROVEMENT: While not only clinching their first playoff berth in team history, the RoadRunners also enjoyed a 14-point improvement from their inaugural 2005-06 season and finished higher in nearly every team statistical category. Phoenix produced more than a half-goal increase in goals per game averaging 2.79 compared to 2.17 last season, and was stingier defensively surrendering just 3.54 goals per game compared to 3.65. The RoadRunners power play tallied 31 more goals in 2006-07 and finished at 16.5% compared to 13.5% in 2005-06, and not only surrendered by less power play goals but improved their penalty kill efficiency from 79.6% to 82.6%. Phoenix also finished the year with five more home wins and two more road victories, and also increased their average attendance by a half percent from 3,694 to 3,711.

AIKINS A MODEL FOR CONSISTENCY: Following a tremendous rookie season with 59 points in 67 games, forward Justin Aikins nearly duplicated those numbers in his sophomore year by posting a career-high and team-leading 27 goals and 57 points in 70 games. Forward Lance Monych and defensemen Dusty Demianiuk and Alexandre Rouleau also recorded new career-highs in point totals, while center Cam Paddock was on a pace to break his previous marks with 31 points in 46 games before he was loaned to San Antonio for the remainder of the season.

PENALTY KILL STILL SHINING: The RoadRunners penalty kill continued to be a bright spot during the team's season-ending seven-game road trip. Phoenix has allowed just three power play goals in their last seven games (37-40), and over their last nine road games has killed off 49 of the opposition's 52 man-advantage opportunities.

NEWS & NOTES: Center Jeff Kyrzakos finished the year with six points (4G-2A) in his last 11 games...Center Tyler Redenbach was transferred to the 30-day injured reserve Sunday following an injury in Friday's game...Forward Tommy Maxwell led all ECHL rookies with 213 penalty minutes and finished third with 13 fighting majors.

ROADRUNNERS TO BROADCAST PLAYOFFS ON KMVP-860 AM: The RoadRunners will broadcast all Kelly Cup Playoff games either live or joined in progress on KMVP-860 AM beginning Tuesday. Broadcast time begins with "RoadRunners Countdown" twenty minutes prior to face-off.

"10 MINUTES IN THE BOX" ON 106.7 KWSS-FM: Join your favorite RoadRunners at 9:10 a.m. each and every Wednesday for "10 Minutes in the Box", a new weekly segment devoted entirely to your Phoenix RoadRunners on 106.7 KWSS-FM and online at www.kwss1067.com. "10 Minutes in the Box" will air weekly as part of the "Driving with Gass" radio show hosted by Kevin Gassman, which can be heard Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

WATCH THE 'RUNNERS LIVE IN '06-07: The RoadRunners have teamed up with B2 Networks to bring you live action of Phoenix RoadRunners hockey in 2006-07. 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 36 RoadRunners home broadcasts will be available in addition to over 25 road games in Alaska, Idaho, Las Vegas, Stockton, Utah, and Bakersfield. A cable or DSL Internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 are required to view the games.

UP NEXT: The RoadRunners will host the Las Vegas Wranglers in Games One and Two of the National Conference Quarterfinals at 7:11 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday at US Airways Center. Games Three and Four will take place at 7:05 p.m. Friday and Saturday at the Orleans Arena. Individual game tickets for the opening round of the 2007 Kelly Cup Playoffs start as low as $7 and are on sale now at the US Airways Center Box Office and at all Ticketmaster outlets including Ticketmaster.com. For more information, call (602) 462-GOAL.

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ECHL Stories from April 9, 2007


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