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Phoenix Opens Three-Game Week Thursday vs. Utah at Home

December 15, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners were swept by the Victoria Salmon Kings in a pair of games Friday and Sunday at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in British Columbia. With a record of 11-10-2 and 24 points, the RoadRunners still remain in fourth place in the West Division and sixth in the National Conference.

Friday, the Victoria Salmon Kings scored four-times in the second period and cruised behind goalie Todd Ford to a 7-0 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 4,249 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

The Salmon Kings (15-9-2) scored on the second shift of the game when former RoadRunners' forward Sean O'Connor re-directed Tim Wedderburn's shot from the left point past goalie Craig Kowalski 16 seconds into the first period for a 1-0 lead.

Victoria opened their second period assault when Chris St. Jacques put back Dylan Yeo's rebound behind Kowalski 1:55 into the frame for a 2-0 advantage. Jacob Dietrich added to the lead scoring his fourth goal of the year at 5:00 to make it 3-0. Darryl Lloyd then got into the scoring act at 14:34 when a RoadRunners turnover behind the net turned into a goal as Lloyd put back St. Jacques rebound to increase the Salmon Kings lead to 4-0. Curtis Billsten put an end to Kowalski's night with his fourth goal of the season scoring an unassisted shorthanded goal at 15:53 to make it 5-0 Victoria after 40 minutes.

Lloyd put away any thoughts of a RoadRunners comeback when he scored his second goal of the game 54 seconds into the third period. Yeo capped the scoring with a power play goal at 19:44 of the third.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix (11-9-2) 39-26. Kowalski stopped 22 shots and took the loss to drop to 8-7-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 with the power play while Victoria was 1-10 with the man-advantage.

Sunday, Wes Goldie tallied three goals and Olivier Filion chipped in with a goal and two assists to lead the Victoria Salmon Kings to a 6-2 win over the Phoenix RoadRunners and a sweep of the two-game weekend series before 4,339 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre.

Victoria (16-9-2) jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead getting a power play goal from Goldie at 4:46 of the opening period. Goldie added a second tally at 16:12 of the first picking up his own rebound and jamming it through the pads of RoadRunners' goalie Kyle Jones to make it 2-0. The RoadRunners (11-10-2) would counter though less than a minute later when Brett Peterson converted on a power play goal at 17:06 to cut the Salmon Kings lead to 2-1 after twenty minutes.

Goldie needed just 3:19 into the second period to complete his hat-trick when Dylan Yeo found him off the side of the cage and Goldie stuffed it short side through Jones to increase the Salmon Kings lead to 3-1. Filion jumped into the offensive act when he finished off a two-on-one rush with Dan Gendur scoring at 10:46 of the period to make it a three-goal Victoria lead. The RoadRunners grabbed one back when Peterson found a streaking Kimbi Daniels with a pass on the back door and Daniels tipped it past Victoria goalie Julien Ellis at 14:38 to cut the deficit to 4-2. But Matt Kelly tallied the Salmon Kings' fifth goal of the night scoring at 17:57 to make it 5-2 after two periods.

Shaun Landolt netted a late power play goal at 19:17 of the third period to complete the scoring.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix 34-27. Jones stopped 28 shots and dropped to 1-2-0 on the season. The RoadRunners went 1-4 with the power play while Victoria was 2-9 with the man-advantage.

BLAME CANADA? One week after dispatching the defending National Conference Champion Las Vegas Wranglers in a pair of games, the RoadRunners quickly lost their momentum in the one place where they cannot seem to find a win: Canada. After coming away victorious in their first two visits ever to Vancouver Island, Phoenix is now winless in 10 straight games in Victoria dating back to Jan. 28, 2006, and was outscored by a whopping 26-3 margin in the four games this season at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre. However, while the RoadRunners were a minus-23 in goal differential in their four games in Victoria, they are only a minus-three in their other four road games to date, which certainly shows they are more than capable of holding their own away from US Airways Center.

LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING HOME: That being said, the RoadRunners are glad to return to the friendly confines of the "Purple Palace" where they are tied for the ECHL's best home record at 9-4-2 with 20 points. Phoenix is outscoring their opponents 54-47 at home, maintain the league's 10th best home power play at 16.7%, and the league's third best home penalty kill at 89.8%. In their three seasons since joining the ECHL, the RoadRunners have never won more than 15 games in a single year on their home ice.

MILESTONES ACHIEVED AND ON DECK: Defenseman Brett Peterson skated in his 300th professional game Friday, and then made his 301st game a special one with a goal and an assist for his first multiple-point effort in a RoadRunners uniform. Peterson leads the RoadRunners with a plus-eight rating in 18 games this season. Meanwhile, the next victory for goalie Craig Kowalski will be the 100th in his five-year career. Kowalski is 99-55-16 in 175 career games with eight shutouts.

WELCOME ABOARD: Four new RoadRunners' suited up for the first time in the blue and yellow last weekend in Victoria. Forwards John McNabb, Matt Jones, and Mark O'Leary, and defenseman Jeremy Swanson each made their Phoenix debuts Friday. McNabb is a former five-time all-star who has 552 points in 611 games. Jones was re-assigned to the RoadRunners by San Jose from AHL Worcester for a conditioning stint after missing six weeks with an injury. O'Leary signed with the RoadRunners on Dec. 8. Phoenix is O'Leary's fourth team already this season after spending time with Reading, Trenton, and Augusta. Swanson was acquired by the RoadRunners from Victoria on Nov. 23 in exchange for future considerations.

NEWS & NOTES: Forward Kimbi Daniels recorded his sixth multiple-point game of the season with a goal and an assist Sunday. Daniels leads the RoadRunners in scoring and is averaging nearly a point per game with seven goals and 22 points through 23 games...Rookie forward James McEwan is third in the ECHL with 11 major penalties...The RoadRunners are only one of two unbeaten teams in regulation in one-goal games with a record of 7-0-2. The Wheeling Nailers are the other at 1-0-5...Phoenix is 5-1-0 when leading after the first period and 7-1-0 when leading after the second period...Forward Ashton Rome has eight goals and 13 points in his last 10 games.

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 return to US Airways Center at 7:05 p.m. Thursday and Friday when they welcome the Utah Grizzlies for a two-game series. Phoenix will conclude the week with a visit to Ontario at 8:00 p.m. Saturday. Catch Saturday's game live on Indpendent 1310 KXAM and all three broadcasts 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 December 15, 2008


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