SPHL Fayetteville Marksmen

Roberts, Collins Lead Way for FireAntz Over Weekend

February 9, 2005 - SPHL (SPHL)
Fayetteville Marksmen News Release


[Fayetteville, N.C.]-- The Fayetteville FireAntz of the Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) extended their SPHL-high winning streak to seven games, sweeping three games over the weekend. That brings their record to 23 wins and 16 losses (2nd), and have 12 wins in their last 14 games (the only losses were in overtime.)

Friday February 4th (vs. Columbus): The FireAntz played host to the Columbus Cottonmouths in a game that pitted two teams that were tied in the standings with 40 points.

Steve Roberts got things going for the FireAntz as well as himself, scoring at the 10:35 mark of the first period. Chad Peck and Tyler Perry assisted on the goal. Peck would have three assists on the night and Perry would finish with four. Then at 13:19 Mike Fournier (3rd) attempted to dump the puck into the Cottonmouths zone but the puck took a bad bounce off the boards and beat goaltender Chad Rycroft, as he had gone behind the net to play the puck.

Leading 2-0 in the 2nd period Roberts batted a rebound out of mid-air from behind the net for his second of the game at 2:08. At 8:26 goalie Chad Collins sent a pass to the far blue line to George Nistas who then fed it to Nick Kormanyos (8th) who slid it past Rycroft to give the FireAntz a 4-0 edge. At 10:01, with the FireAntz on the power play, Roberts took a pass from Kory Baker on a two-on-one and beat Rycroft for his third of the night. Tim Green of Columbus would finally beat Collins on the power play at 12:59 to bring the score to 5-1. Nistas (15th) would tack another one on for the FireAntz before the end of the period, at 19:17, to give the FireAntz a comfortable 6-1 lead going into the 3rd period.

The FireAntz would keep attacking in the 3rd and Roberts tallied his fourth of the game at 1:03. Then at 2:55 Roberts would net his fifth and final goal of the evening to give the FireAntz a 8-1 lead. Roberts' 5 goals was a SPHL record for goals in a game and it brought his total to 28 goals for the season. Each team would add a goal and the final would be 9-2.

The FireAntz outshot Columbus 44-34.

FireAntz 21-16 on the season, (3-3 vs. Columbus.)

Saturday February 5th (at Knoxville): The FireAntz traveled to Knoxville to take on the league-leading Ice Bears. The FireAntz had won the three previous contests.

In the 1st period Knoxville jumped out first on power play goals by K.J. Voorhees and David Bagley to take a 2-0 lead at 7:04. Tyler Perry (17th) answered back with a power play goal of his own at 8:25 to cut the lead in half at 8:25.

Trailing 2-1 Jeff Coulter notched his 2nd of the season at 3:46 of the second period to tie the game at 2. George Nistas (16th) gave the FireAntz a 3-2 lead at 5:57. Voorhees tallied his second of the game at 8:48 to tie the game at 3 and send the game to overtime.

There would be no goals in overtime and Knoxville outshot the FireAntz 7-0.

In the shootout, the first two shooters from each team missed. The FireAntz' third shooter, Steve Roberts, beat Terry Dunbar and Knoxville's Kevin Swider beat Chad Collins to even it up. Kory Baker beat Dunbar and Collins stopped Todd MacIsaac to seal the FireAntz shootout victory.

Both teams had 43 shots.

FireAntz 22-16 on the season, (4-2 vs. Knoxville.)

Tuesday February 8th (vs. Huntsville): The FireAntz returned home for a rare Tuesday night game at the Crown Coliseum to take on the Huntsville Havoc.

The FireAntz got off to a shaky start as Josh Liebenow scored just 53 seconds into the contest. That would be the only goal of the first period.

In the 2nd period Sean Edwards (9th) banged home a rebound of a Josh Welter shot to knot the game at 4:41. Kory Baker gave the FireAntz a 2-1 lead at 10:09, finishing on a great pass from George Nistas. Dan Buccella tied the game at 2 at the 15:39 mark. The FireAntz would regain the lead before the period ended on a power play goal by Chad Peck (9th) at 17:57.

The 3rd period would be all FireAntz as Baker (2nd, 10th), Steve Roberts (29th), and Jake Gibson (7th) all tallied for the FireAntz to clinch the 6-2 victory for the FireAntz.

The FireAntz outshot Huntsville 50-34.

FireAntz 23-16 on the season, (3-1 vs. Huntsville.)

3 Stars of the Weekend:

Steve Roberts: 6G, 4A, 1Goal in Shootout, +3

Kory Baker: 3G, 4A, 1 GWG Goal in Shootout, +3

Chad Collins: 3-0, stopped 104 of 111 shots, .937%, 2.27 GAA

Recent Notes:

1/7 D Andrew Dickson injured; out 6-8 weeks.

2/9 G George Alves waived

2/9 G Glen Ridler added

Noteworthy:

The FireAntz have won 7 in a row and 12 of 14 (both losses were in overtime.)

Chad Peck has a 10 game point scoring streak (16 points.)

Tyler Perry is now 3rd in the SPHL in scoring with 54 points (17G, 37A.)

The FireAntz next home games are February 18 (vs. Asheville) on church night and February 19 (vs. Macon) on Nascar Night. Great seats remain for both games. Call the FireAntz office at (910) 321-0123 for more information.

Corporate Partners for Nascar Night:

Sprint

The Phone Network

Lane Automotive

Miracle Ear/ Baker Hearing Ctr.

Cashwell Appliances

Dorman Cadillac/GMC

Allstate Insurance Company (David Hales Insurance)

Best Western

Tony & Susan Caines

Check out the Fayetteville Marksmen Statistics



SPHL Stories from February 9, 2005


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