Sports stats



RiverBlades Match Best Start in Team History

November 4, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Arkansas RiverBlades News Release


Last week... The Arkansas RiverBlades matched the best start in franchise history by going 2-0-1 last week to catapult the Blades to a record of 6-2-2 with 14 points through the first ten games. Arkansas now sits in 2nd place in the Southwest Division, just two points behind the first place Mississippi Sea Wolves. Arkansas started the week with a come from behind win in Biloxi against the Sea Wolves . After spotting Mississippi a two- goal lead, Arkansas' special team led the charge back. Two second-period goals, a power-play goal by Dean Stork and a shorthanded goal by Ernie Hartlieb tied the game at two. Jason Bermingham put Arkansas in front in the third with his third goal of the year only to watch as Travis Lisabeth tied the contest. Then with only 2:48 left to go in regulation play, Terry Marchant fired a back handed saucer pass to a breaking Mike Cirillo for the one ­time tap in for the game winner. It was Cirillo's 3rd goal in 7 games since joining the RiverBlades.... Saturday night Jason Saal stole a point for Arkansas as the Columbia Inferno outshot Arkansas by a count of 42-21. The netminder from Brighton, Michigan kept his team alive with several spectacular saves in the third period to keep the game tied at 2. In overtime. Dennis Vial gave Columbia the win just 34 seconds into the extra frame. Kyle Kos and Terry Marchant scored the goals for Arkansas, and both were on the power play... Sunday was another night for late heroics. Arkansas trailed 4-3 going into the third period, but Ernie Hartlieb scored twice including the game winner with 23.6 seconds left to play as Arkansas pulled out a 5-4 win over Columbia. Jason Saal got his 5th win of the season, this one in relief of Jimi St. John. Saal stopping all 16 shots he faced in the last period to get the victory.

Who's hot... The RiverBlades win over Columbia on Sunday was the team's first ever victory over an opponent from the state of South Carolina.. Before the win, Arkansas was 0-10-1 against teams from the Palmetto State... Dean Stork has scored three goals in his first ten games this season, last year he only had two goals all year long... Terry Marchant has scored a point in 9 of 10 games this season and leads the team with 13 points (5-8-13)...For those of you who like photo finishes, consider this- all three games last weekend were decided by the winning team's final shot on net. Friday, Mike Cirillo at 17:12 of the 3rd at Mississippi, Dennis Vial 34 seconds into overtime on Saturday and Ernie Hartlieb at 19:36 of the 3rd on Sunday night.

Week Ahead...The RiverBlades will get very familiar with the teams from the Bayou State this week, playing all three games against foes from Louisiana. Thursday night in Lafayette is a makeup game for the October 13th contest canceled by Hurricane Lili as the RiverBaldes look for their first win of the season against the Louisiana IceGators. The two teams will have a rematch Saturday night in the Alltel Arena, with both games starting at 7:05 pm. Sunday it's a trip to Baton Rouge for the first meeting of the year between the Blades and the Baton Rouge Kingfish. Gametime on Sunday is at 4:05pm.... All games can be heard live on the CSN Radio Network and through the Internet at WWW.RiverBlades.com.

• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...

ECHL Stories from November 4, 2002


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Arkansas RiverBlades Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central