Pivotal third game in two of four series up next

April 25, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Augusta Lynx News Release


Kelly Cup Playoffs Update 4/25/05

Weekend Action

American Conference

Gwinnett vs. Charlotte – Gwinnett leads 1-0

Joe Bourne netted the overtime game winner for the Gwinnett Gladiators on Sunday as they edged past the Charlotte Checkers in Game One of their American Conference Semi Final series 2-1 on Sunday, despite an ECHL playoff record 60 saves from Charlotte netminder Alex Westlund.

Kris Goodjohn broke the ice by putting Gwinnett up 1-0 at 7:14 of the first period. Lane Manson and Jeff Campbell drew the assists on the goal for the Gladiators.

Charlotte would tie things up on Eduard Pershin's second goal of the playoffs at 12:07 of the second stanza. Pershin knocked in his own rebound in a goalmouth scramble contested by the Gladiators. After consulting with his officiating crew, referee David Banfield allowed the goal to stand, tying the game at 1-1 and setting the stage for overtime.

Bourne's overtime winner came at 17:21 from Mike Vigilante and Pascal Pelletier, spoiling Westlund's performance and giving the win to Adam Berkhoel, who stopped 33 shots in the contest.

Game Two will come right back on Monday night at the Arena at Gwinnett Center, with faceoff slated for 7:05 pm.

Florida vs. Greenville - Florida leads 1-0

The Florida Everblades spread out the scoring among four difference players to defeat the Greenville Grrrowl 4-1 in a penalty-filled affair on Friday night in Game One of their American Conference Semi Final series.

Greenville took an early 1-0 lead on a Simon Ferguson marker at 14:12 of the opening frame, but from there Florida would dominate on offense.

Paul Cabana, Damian Surma, Ernie Hartlieb, and David Lundbohm each tallied a goal to put the Everblades ahead 4-1 early in the third period.

Late in the frame, Krys Barch was involved in a collision at the Everblades net with goaltender Tyler MacKay. The incident touched off a donnybrook that featured nine fighting majors (Barch received two fighting majors) including one for MacKay. That shift alone counted 147 minutes in penalties, and eight ejections. For his part in the melee, Barch has been suspended one game by the ECHL.

That brawl was followed by an Adam Nightingale vs. Simon Tremblay scrap at 15:16 to bring the roughhousing to an end.

In all, the game featured 197 PIMs

MacKay did chalk up the win with 31 saves, and Craig Kowalski saw his first playoff action after MacKay's ejection, making one save in 5:11 of work. Mike Brodeur went the distance for Greenville, stopping 30 shots.

Game Two will commence Monday night at 7:30 pm.

National Conference

Alaska vs. Long Beach – Alaska leads 2-0

The Alaska Aces find themselves in a familiar position, up two games to none once again in the 2005 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoffs.

Due to scheduling conflicts at their home arena, the Aces had to open up their best-of-five playoff series against the Long Beach Ice Dogs on the road. But it didn't seem to hamper their play whatsoever, as Alaska registered a 2-1 OT win in Game One followed by a 4-2 victory in Game Two.

Long Beach kicked off Game One in the proper fashion, scoring first at 8:50 of the opening frame during a five-on-three power play advantage. Evan Cheverie's goal from Chris Kenady and Marco Rosa was later matched by a Mike Jones four-on-four marker in the second period, tying the game at 1-1 and plunging the contest into sudden death mode.

As has happened often this post-season, the overtime winner came early. Ryan Bast's OT winner found the twine exactly three minutes into the extra session, with Ryan Gaucher and B.J. Young carding the helpers to put the Aces up 1-0 in the series.

Peter Aubry made 34 saves for the win compared to Sebastien Centomo's 30 in recording the loss.

Game Two came the very next night on Saturday. A back and forth first period saw the two teams trade goals twice, exiting with a 2-2 tie after 20 minutes.

A scoreless second period would then add to the drama of the final frame, where Alaska scored twice to ice the win. B.J. Young's go-ahead goal at 12:19 was followed just 1:07 later by a Joe Talbot marker for a 4-2 final. Despite an empty net for the final 1:27 of regulation, Long Beach could not score.

Olivier Michaud received the starting nod for the Ice Dogs in lieu of Centomo, who was out with the flu. Michaud turned aside 21 shots in the loss, while Aubry was once again the defensive backbone of the Aces, making 36 saves.

Game Three shifts the scene to Anchorage and a 7:15 pm local time (11:15 EST) start Monday night.

Reading vs. Trenton – Series tied 1-1

Playoff dictum indicates that if a team can earn a split on the road to open any series, they have negated the home ice advantage of the other team. The Trenton Titans did just that by going 1-1 against the Royals in Reading to open their National Conference Semi Final series over the weekend.

Game One saw Reading grab a 2-0 lead on a Preston Mizzi shorthanded marker and a Beau Geisler even strength goal after the first period of play.

Trenton responded to open the second period just 36 seconds in as Rick Kowalsky scored an unassisted marker to make it 2-1. But the one goal deficit was as close as the Royals would allow the Titans to get. Rob Hisey made it 3-1 followed by Mizzi's second of the game to make it 4-1 before Michael Schutte ended the second period with an unassisted power play goal to pull Trenton to 4-2.

No further scoring would occur as Reading netminder Barry Brust shut the door with 10 saves in the third period, and 22 in all. Andrew Allen stopped 29 shots in the loss.

Game Two turned out to be much closer to the vest, a 2-1 affair in favor of the Titans.

Trenton opened the scoring just 1:31 into the game when B.J. Abel scored an unassisted goal to make it 1-0 after one period of play. Reading tied the game in the second stanza, with Geisler notching his second of the series from Graig Mischler and Eric Fortier on the power play at 13:44, but the Titans responded with a power play goal of their own off the stick of Rick Kowalsky at 18:52 to seize the lead for good.

Once again, Andrew Allen was solid for the Titans in making 30 saves for the win. Brust was saddled with the loss in a 25 save performance.

Game Three will be played on Wednesday night back in Trenton at 7 pm.

National Conference - West Division Finals (Best-of-Five)

Alaska Leads Series 2-0

No. 2 Long Beach Ice Dogs (43-20-9) at No. 1 Alaska Aces (45-19-8) 7:15 p.m. AT

· Nine players registered a point in the Aces 4-2 win in Game 2 on Saturday.

· Ice Dogs' Even Cheverie has a four-game scoring streak, including a goal and an assist in Game 2.

· B.J. Young and Joe Talbot scored the only two goals in the third period in Alaska's win on Saturday.

· Long Beach is 2-0 and has outscored its opponents 11-4 on the road in the postseason.

· Aces return home to Sullivan Arena where they are 3-0 and have outscored opponents 14-5 in the playoffs.

· Charles Linglet leads all playoff scoring with 10 points (4g-6a) in seven games.

· Long Beach went 1-1-1 at Alaska in the regular season as two of three games were decided by one goal.

· Ice Dogs have killed the last 14 power plays, and are ranked sixth in the ECHL playoffs at 86.4 percent.

American Conference Semifinals (Best-of-Five)

No. 3 Charlotte Checkers (39-26-7) at No. 2 Gwinnett Gladiators (40-24-8) 7:05 p.m. ET

Gwinnett Leads Series 1-0

· Alex Westlund had a Checkers team record 60 saves in a 2-1 loss in overtime in Game 1.

· Defenseman Joe Bourne scored the game winner 17:21 into overtime for Gwinnett in Game 1.

· Gwinnett's Adam Berkhoel made 33 saves, including six in overtime, for a Game 1 win.

· Charlotte's last two games have gone to overtime.

· Gwinnett has 16 players who have scored at least one point in the playoffs.

· Checkers are 1-3 on the road, the win coming in Game 5 of the American Conference Quarterfinals.

· Gladiators' Adam Berkhoel is 4-0 and leads the league with a 0.93 goals-against average in the playoffs.

· Checkers lead the playoffs with the fewest penalty minutes per-game with 14.5.

No. 4 Greenville Grrrowl (39-28-5) at No. 1 Florida Everblades (42-20-10) 7:30 p.m. ET

Florida Leads Series 1-0

· Florida scored four unanswered goals in Game 1 as the teams combined for 197 penalty minutes.

· Grrrowl's Mike Brodeur allowed four goals in Game 1, raising his goals-against average from 0.88 to 1.84.

· Everblades are tied for the league lead with 10 goals scored in the second period during the playoffs.

· David Herring (2g-2a) and Dylan Stanley (1g-3a) lead the Grrrowl with four points each on the road.

· Florida's David Lundbohm has scored in all five games of the playoffs (5g-3a).

· Greenville went 4-1-0 with a 1.58 goals-against average against Florida during the regular season.

· Defenseman Matthew Pagnutti led the Everblades with five points against Greenville in the regular season.

· Greenville went 10-1-2 in the last 13 games in the regular season against South Division opponents.

Upcoming Kelly Cup Playoffs Games

National Conference - North Division Finals (Best-of-Five)

Series Tied 1-1

No. 2 Trenton Titans (42-21-9) at No. 1 Reading Royals (43-22-7)

Game 3 is Wednesday, April 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET



ECHL Stories from April 25, 2005


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