RoadRunners Take Overtime Point in Stockton to Close out the Week

Published on March 27, 2006 under ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners News Release


Phoenix, Ariz. - WEEK RECORD: 0-3-1 - SEASON RECORD: 19-44-4 - 6th WEST DIVISION

‘RUNNERS REWIND: The Phoenix RoadRunners snapped a season-worst 10-game pointless streak by taking a point in their 4-3 overtime loss at Stockton Sunday. It ended the week on a positive note after the RoadRunners suffered losses to Victoria, Bakersfield, and San Diego.

Monday, Seth Leonard tallied a pair of goals and added an assist and goaltender Rob McVicar stopped all 24 shots he saw to lead the Victoria Salmon Kings to a 5-0 shutout victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,139 at US Airways Center.

Following a scoreless first period, Victoria (22-34-8) poured on three goals in middle frame. Jade Galbraith opened the scoring just 49 seconds into the period when he slipped behind the Phoenix defense in the slot, accepted a pass from Steve Roberts, and beat RoadRunners goaltender Zach Sikich with a wrist shot to give the Kings a 1-0 lead. Lanny Gare made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 5:49. Off a RoadRunners turnover, Gare collected Leonard's rebound in the slot and slipped the puck into the net for the tally. Leonard gave the Kings a commanding 3-0 lead at 17:54 when he picked off a Phoenix clearing attempt and beat Sikich with a shot from the right-wing circle.

Roberts diminished any chances of a RoadRunners (19-42-3) comeback at 6:22 of the third period when he wrapped the puck around Sikich and into the net to extend Victoria's lead to 4-0. Leonard capped the scoring with his second goal of the net from just inside the right-wing circle at 17:04.

Victoria out-shot Phoenix 39-24. Sikich stopped 35 shots, but fell to 1-2-0 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play and held the Salmon Kings without any power play goals on five chances.

Wednesday, Brad Mehalko scored the go-ahead and eventual game-winning goal 9:16 seconds into the third period on the power play to lead the Bakersfield Condors to a 5-3 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,716 at US Airways Center.

The RoadRunners (19-43-3) jumped out of the gate quickly to a 2-0 lead. Kevin Ulanski fed Shawn Snider charging up the right-wing, and Snider fired a shot off Bakersfield goaltender Ryan Munce's blocker that trickled into the net at 8:02 of the first to give Phoenix a 1-0 advantage. Justin Quenneville doubled the lead when he tipped Mike Ouellet's cross-ice pass by Munce at 11:57. Mathieu Brunelle got the Condors on the board at 15:44 when he beat RoadRunners goaltender Zach Sikich with a slap shot from the right-wing circle to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into the first intermission.

Bakersfield (34-23-5) tallied the equalizer at 16:05 of the second period to tie the game at 2-2. On a power play, Brunelle ripped a one-time slap shot from the right-wing circle off the glove of Sikich and into the net for the tally. Phoenix regained their one-goal lead less than two minutes later when Jake Riddle collected Adam Kostichka's rebound and slapped it home at 18:04 to give the RoadRunners a 3-2 lead. But the Condors found a way to tie the game when Joel Irving found Dave Bonk alone in front of the net and Bonk slipped the puck around Sikich and into the cage at 18:42 to tie the game once again at 3-3.

Mehalko scored the game-winner off a disputed offensive zone face-off. Josh Liebenow won the draw back to Kevin Kotyluk. Kotyluk slipped a pass into the slot where Mehalko lifted a one-timer by Sikich at 9:16 to give the Condors a 4-3 lead. Mehalko sealed the victory with an empty-net goal at 19:02.

Bakersfield out-shot Phoenix 41-22. Sikich stopped 36 shots and fell to 1-3-0 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-5 on the power play while the Condors were 2-6 with the man advantage.

Saturday, Rob Flynn broke a 1-1 tie with a power play goal 44 seconds into the third period to lift the San Diego Gulls to a 3-1 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 8,096 at the ipayOne Center.

Following a scoreless first period, the RoadRunners (19-44-3) tallied the game's opening goal at 10:30 of the second period. Former Gull Patrick Levesque collected Nick Ganga's rebound in front of the net and slipped a backhander past San Diego goaltender Kris Mayotte to give the RoadRunners a 1-0 lead. San Diego (31-27-6) would net the equalizer at 16:31 with a shorthanded goal. Off a Phoenix turnover at the Gulls blue line, Alex Kim fed a streaking Steve Hildenbrand up the right wing and Hildenbrand ripped a slap shot over RoadRunners goaltender Zach Sikich's glove to tie the game at 1-1.

Flynn gave the Gulls their first lead of the game when he jammed home Grady Moore's rebound in front of Sikich just 44 seconds into the third period on the power play. Kim sealed the win with his 15th goal of the season on a nice coast-to-coast move at 11:43.

San Diego out-shot Phoenix 38-32. Sikich stopped 35 shots in dropping to 1-4-0 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-4 on the power play while the Gulls were 1-6 on the man advantage.

Sunday, Joel Irwin scored with 26.1 seconds left in overtime to lift the Stockton Thunder to a 4-3 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 5,450 at Stockton Arena.

The teams traded power play goals in the opening period. Phoenix (19-44-4) struck first for a third consecutive game as Jake Riddle re-directed Kevin Ulanski's shot from the right-wing circle past the stick of Stockton goaltender Jake Moreland at 6:58 to give the RoadRunners a 1-0 lead. Stockton (15-38-2) would storm right back on their first power play attempt. Ned Havern batted Aaron MacInnis' rebound out of mid-air and past RoadRunners net-minder Ryan Cyr at 10:01 to tie the contest at 1-1.

Stockton took their first lead of the game just 2:52 into the second. Havern potted his second of the night with a slap shot from the right-wing circle to give the Thunder a 2-1 advantage. But the RoadRunners would have the period's final say. Riddle fed Ulanski out in front of the net and Ulanski worked a backhand shot around Moreland at 18:14 to tie the game at 2-2.

The RoadRunners battled to regain the lead with a two-man advantage power play goal 5:55 into the third period. Ulanski from the end line played the puck off Moreland's pads and into the net for the tally and a 3-2 lead. But the Thunder would net the equalizer with less than four minutes to play in regulation as Jeff Lang beat Cyr with a slap shot from the left-wing circle at 16:49.

Irwin scored at 4:34 following an 8-shot overtime period by the Thunder.

Stockton out-shot Phoenix 54-43. Cyr stopped a career-high 50 shots in the overtime defeat and fell to 0-11-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 2-6 on the power play and held the Thunder to just a single power play goal on five chances.

FIFTY NIFTY: Goaltender Ryan Cyr became the first RoadRunners goaltender in their brief ECHL history to make 50 or more saves in a single game following his 50-save outing Sunday at Stockton. Cyr faced a RoadRunners season-high 54 shots on goal including 23 in the third period and overtime. Despite a solid 3.58 goals against average and .909% save percentage in his 12 outings with the RoadRunners, Cyr is still looking for his first professional win.

THREE'S COMPANY: The RoadRunners have struck for the game's opening goal in each of their last three outings. It's just the second time this season that Phoenix has scored first in three straight games. They'll look to tie their season-high of four consecutive games with the opening goal Friday at Fresno. Despite their three straight defeats this week, the RoadRunners are 11-7-1 overall when scoring first.

RIDDLE ME THIS: Forward Jake Riddle collected his first two multiple-point outings of the season this week. Riddle tallied a goal and added an assist Wednesday against Bakersfield, and followed it up with a three-point game (1 goal, 2 assists) Sunday at Stockton. Riddle has eight goals and 22 points in 58 games and leads the RoadRunners with a career-high 212 penalty minutes.

FRESH CONTRIBUTIONS: Forward Kevin Ulanski, acquired from Long Beach in the Dave Cousineau and Ben Knopp trade, tallied his first two goals as a member of the RoadRunners Sunday at Stockton. The rookie from Madison, Wis. has two goals and six points in his 10 games with Phoenix and eight goals and 24 points in 61 games this season. Ulanski wrapped up a sparkling four-year collegiate career at NCAA Division I Denver University last season and finished with a 33 goals and 112 points in 151 games to lead his class in career scoring.

UPCOMING ROADRUNNERS PROMOTIONS: The first annual Phoenix RoadRunners Booster Club End-of-Season Awards Banquet will be held at 6PM on Tuesday, March 28 at Alice Cooper'stown. Join your entire inaugural RoadRunners team for a night of awards and fun. There will be a 50/50 raffle and door prizes. Admission is free and your only cost will be whatever you eat or drink that night. For more information, contact Dena Lacroix at (602) 977-7727 or email the RoadRunners Booster Club at boosterclub@cox.net.

Tuesday, April 4, the RoadRunners play their regular season home finale as they host the Las Vegas Wranglers at 7:11PM. It's "Harley Davidson Night" as the RoadRunners will wear special themed Harley Davidson jerseys. These game-worn jerseys will be available for purchase through a live auction to be held immediately after the game at Stoudemire's restaurant located across the street from US Airways Center on 2nd Street. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Save the date on Wednesday, April 5 as the RoadRunners host their first annual "Celebrity Waiters" event at Alice Cooper'stown located on Jackson Street behind US Airways Center. RoadRunners players will be all hands on deck as they serve your favorite Cooper'stown meals beginning at 7:30PM! Also, test your poker skills in a celebrity Texas Hold'em Poker Tournament against your favorite RoadRunners. A portion of the proceeds from the dinner and poker tournament will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

For more information or to order tickets, call (602) 462-GOAL.

WATCH THE ‘RUNNERS LIVE IN '05-06: The RoadRunners have teamed up with B2 Networks to bring you live action of Phoenix RoadRunners hockey in 2005-06. 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 36 RoadRunners home broadcasts will be available in addition to over 25 road games in Alaska, Idaho, Pensacola, Las Vegas, San Diego, Utah, and Bakersfield. A cable or DSL Internet connection and Windows Media Player 9 are required to view the games.

UP NEXT: The RoadRunners continue a four-game road trip with visits to Fresno at 8PM MST Friday and Bakersfield at 8PM MST Saturday. Catch both games live on News Talk Radio 1100AM KFNX and Pro Sports Radio beginning with "RoadRunners Countdown" 20 minutes prior to the opening face-off.

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