RiverBlades On A Roll

January 27, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Arkansas RiverBlades News Release


The Arkansas RiverBlades went 2-0 last week, and are now tied for second place in the Southwest Division with a record of 24-13-8. The RiverBlades' 56 points rank third in the Southern Conference as well.

Last week...Arkansas kicked off their week with the first of two straight home match-ups with the Baton Rouge Kingfish on Thursday. Jason Bermingham scored two goals, while Buddy Smith tallied a goal and two assists to lead the Blades to a 3-0 victory over the Fish. Jimi St. John made 22 saves to earn his first career shutout.

The next night, the Blades again hosted the Kingfish on "NASCAR Night" at the Alltel Arena. Ernie Hartlieb scored two goals and two assists, and Damon Whitten added a goal and three assists as the Blades trounced the Kingfish 7-3 before a crowd of nearly 6,000 at the Alltel. Buddy Smith added a goal and two assists for the Blades, who also got two goals from Mike Sandbeck and a goal and an assist from Terry Marchant. Jason Saal made 35 saves to earn his 18th victory of the season.

Team Leaders... With his two assists Friday, Buddy Smith set a new team record for assists in a season with 46, breaking the old record of 44, set by Mark Cadotte in 2000-2001. Smith's next assault on the RiverBlades' record book will be for most points in a season. The current record of 81 was also set by Mark Cadotte in 2000-2001. With 67 points, Smith leads the ECHL in scoring, and is just 14 points from the mark. Jason Bermingham leads the team with 25 goals, and ranks second with 53 points. Bermingham has 10 goals and 17 points in the month of January, and also leads Arkansas with 12 power-play goals and 171 shots on goal. Ernie Hartlieb has 10 points in his last 5 games. Hartlieb has scored 6 power-play goals, one short-handed goal, and 3 game-winners, and is tied for second on the team with 53 points. Matt Pagnutti leads all Blades' defensemen with 36 points. Pagnutti has a career-high 11 goals already this year, including 9 on the man advantage. Captain Eric Long ranks 5th on the team with 27 assists. Long, who has 6 power-play goals, one short-handed goal, and one game-winner, also leads the Blades with a +15 rating. Terry Marchant is third on the team with 31 assists. Marchant has been on the attack on each side of the special teams, producing 5 power-play goals and 3 short-handed goals, while racking up 2 game-winners. Jason Saal is 3-0-1 in his last 5 games, with a 2.98 goals-against-average and a .923 save percentage.

A look ahead...The RiverBlades return to action this weekend at the Alltel Arena, hosting the Jackson Bandits in a pair of division games on Friday and Sunday. Faceoff Friday is set for 7:05 p.m., and Sunday, the puck drops at 6:05 p.m. All games can be heard on the CSN radio network, FM 101 The River, and on the Internet at www.RiverBlades.com.



ECHL Stories from January 27, 2003


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