RoadRunners Claw into Grizzlies Lead

February 9, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


'RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners took two of three games from the Utah Grizzlies to commence their season-high eight-game road trip after dropping a home decision to Ontario Tuesday at US Airways Center. With a record of 20-21-3 and 43 points, the RoadRunners sit in fifth place in the West Division two points behind fourth place Utah, and in eighth place in the National Conference.

Tuesday, Jon Rheault scored the game-winning goal with three seconds remaining in regulation and Kellen Briggs had 45 saves to lift the Ontario Reign over the Phoenix RoadRunners 2-1 in front of 1,861 fans at US Airways Center.

The RoadRunners (18-20-3) got on the board first at 13:33 of the first period when Kimbi Daniels scored in front of the net off a rebound on the power play. Brett Peterson and Dane Crowley assisted. The Reign (24-16-4) countered at 16:53 when David Walker scored from the point, tying the game at 1-1. Andrew Martens and Tim Kraus assisted as the tie would hold through the first intermission.

"We did some good things all night long and battled hard 5-on-5," said RoadRunners Head Coach Brad Church. "We only had two penalties which is good, but our power play was not effective."

The second period would remain scoreless as Phoenix outshot Ontario 12-6. Then, as it looked like the game was heading to overtime, Rheault scored a breakaway goal on RoadRunners' goalie Kyle Jones from the slot with three seconds left in the game to give Ontario a 2-1 victory. Walker assisted.

"We made a huge mistake at the end and it cost us," Church said, adding that the team's goal scorers were unable to score. "Jones has been unbelievable the last two games and I feel bad because he deserves better."

Phoenix out-shot Ontario 46-33. Jones stopped 31 shots but suffered the loss to fall to 1-7-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 1-8 on the power play while Ontario was 0-2 with the man-advantage.

Wednesday, Ashton Rome netted the equalizer with 2:04 remaining in regulation and Captain Mitch Carefoot scored in the sixth round of the shootout lifting the Phoenix RoadRunners to a 4-3 shootout victory over the Utah Grizzlies before 2,479 at the "E"-Center.

The RoadRunners (19-20-3) dominated the first period as they out-shot the Grizzlies 19-7, yet could only muster a 1-1 tie after twenty minutes. Phoenix scored on the opening shift of the game when P.J. Fenton wrapped the puck around the net of Utah goalie Dan Turple and out to Daniel Sisca who tapped it into the back of the cage on the short side 23 seconds in for a 1-0 lead. The Grizzlies (15-14-13) responded with the equalizer at 8:04 when James Sixsmith found Evan Kotsopoulos in the slot and Kotsopoulos slid the puck past RoadRunners' goalie Craig Kowalski to tie the score at 1-1.

The RoadRunners reclaimed the lead at 2-1 6:01 into the second period when Kimbi Daniels banged home a five-on-three power play goal in front of the net. But the Grizzlies responded with two goals in the final seven minutes of the period to take a 3-2 lead into the second intermission. Rob Hennigar pounced on a rebound left out by Kowalski at the left-wing circle and snapped it by the RoadRunners' net-minder at 13:40 to knot the game at 2-2. Ryan Kinasewich gave Utah their first lead of the night in the final minute of the period when he received a nifty feed in the slot from Tim Verbeek behind the RoadRunners net and shot it past Kowalski at 19:09.

The game would remain tied throughout the third period until the RoadRunners were awarded their third power play of the period. Rome cruised out from his own zone and made a terrific individual effort to get around the defense of Tim Maxwell and tipped the puck through Turple at 17:56 to tie the contest at 3-3.

After a scoreless five-minute overtime, Kowalski stopped five of six shooters in the shootout and Sisca and Carefoot scored in the fourth and sixth rounds respectively to give Phoenix the win.

Phoenix out-shot Utah 46-31. Kowalski stopped 28 shots to earn the win and improve to 16-12-1 the season. The RoadRunners went 2-8 on the power play while Utah was 0-5 with the man-advantage.

Friday, the Phoenix RoadRunners scored three times in a stretch of 1:48 seconds in the second period and tallied six unanswered goals to rout the Utah Grizzlies 6-1 before 3,395 at the "E"-Center.

Utah (15-15-13) opened the scoring at 3:12 of the first period when Tom May turned a RoadRunners' turnover into a two-on-one transition rush, and May beat goalie Craig Kowalski with a shot along the ice to give the Grizzlies a 1-0 lead.

The RoadRunners (20-20-3) responded 4:31 into the second period as Gino Guyer fired a shot from the right-wing circle past Utah goalie Peter Mannino to tie the score at 1-1. P.J. Fenton gave the RoadRunners their first lead of the game 28 seconds later moving a backhander from the slot past Mannino along the ice at 4:59. Guyer netted his second tally of the game 1:20 seconds later when Mark O'Leary fed him the puck at the left-wing circle and Guyer ripped a shot over the left shoulder of Mannino and in at 6:19 for a 3-1 advantage. Ashton Rome later scored on a penalty shot at 17:23 to give the RoadRunners a 4-1 lead going into the second intermission.

Guyer and Dan DaSilva added tallies at 2:47 and 3:04 respectively of the third period to close out the scoring.

Phoenix out-shot Utah 35-34. Kowalski stopped 33 shots to earn the win and improve to 17-12-1 the season. The RoadRunners went 0-2 on the power play while Utah was 0-5 with the man-advantage.

Saturday, James Brannigan recorded his first hat-trick of the season to propel the Utah Grizzlies to a 6-1 win over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 5,362 at the "E"-Center.

Utah (16-15-3) jumped out to a 2-1 first period lead. The RoadRunners (20-21-3) actually opened the scoring at 4:19 on the power play when Mitch Carefoot deflected Dane Crowley's shot from the right point past Grizzlies goalie Peter Mannino for a 1-0 lead. Utah responded less than six minutes later as Brannigan finished off a two-on-one rush with Evan Kotsopoulos and worked the puck over the shoulder of RoadRunners goalie Kyle Jones and into the net at 10:32 for his first goal of the night to tie the game at 1-1. Tom May gave the Grizzlies their first lead of the evening less than three minutes later when he scooped up a bouncing puck in the slot and fired a shot past Jones and in at 12:42 of the period.

Brannigan and Kotsopoulos teamed up again early in the second period to build the Utah lead to two goals. With Daniel Sisca checking out of the penalty box, Kotsopoulos found Brannigan with a cross-ice pass at the left-wing circle and Brannigan snapped the puck over Jones' shoulder and into the back of the net at 8:45 making it 3-1. Brannigan completed the hat-trick at 15:55 of the second when he squeaked the puck through Jones' pads from the left-wing boards to increase the Grizzlies lead to 4-1.

Mark Pavli and Tim Verbeek added power play goals at 2:07 and 6:31 of the third period respectively to cap the scoring.

Utah out-shot Phoenix 33-25. Jones stopped 27 shots but suffered the loss and fell to 1-8-1 season. The RoadRunners went 1-5 on the power play while Utah was 2-6 with the man-advantage.

KOWALSKI SETS THE MARK: Goalie Craig Kowalski set a new RoadRunners' ECHL single season record for wins when he earned his 16th victory of the year Wednesday. Kowalski is 17-12-1 in 30 appearances with a 2.90 goals against average and a .919% save percentage. He is on a pace to break all the current RoadRunners' goalie records by the end of the season.

HATS OFF! Center Gino Guyer registered his first career professional hat-trick and first professional four-point effort with three goals and an assist Friday. Guyer has 10 goals and 23 points in 43 games this season and has 23 goals and 62 points in 92 career games with the RoadRunners since being acquired from Alaska back on Dec. 14, 2007.

POWER BREAKTHROUGH: The RoadRunners snapped a 2-33 stretch on the power play by going 3-15 (20%) on the man-advantage in their three-game series at Utah. Phoenix is currently 20th in the ECHL on the power play at 13.8%.

WHO MAKES THIS SCHEDULE? The RoadRunners are currently in the middle of a season-high eight-game road trip that will take them a total of 4,751 miles through Utah, Las Vegas, Idaho, and Las Vegas again and Ontario over the next 12 days. The RoadRunners don't return home until Feb. 21 when they will welcome in the Alaska Aces.

NEWS & NOTES: Phoenix had won three consecutive shootouts over Utah before Saturday's loss...The RoadRunners put a season-high tying 46 shots on goal Wednesday for the second straight game after their 46-shot effort Tuesday against Ontario...Kowalski is now 15-16 in shootouts this season and overall is 7-1 in his last eight starts...The RoadRunners enjoyed their seventh game of the year Wednesday with multiple power play goals...Sisca's first period goal Wednesday was his first in 18 games dating back to Dec. 18... Defenseman Jeremy Swanson was placed on the three-day injured reserve prior to Saturday's game.

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 continue their season-high eight-game road trip at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday at Las Vegas and at 7:10 p.m. Friday and Saturday at Idaho. Catch Friday's and Saturday's action live on Independent 1310 KXAM and all three games 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 February 9, 2009


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