Salmon Kings Slap Roadrunners 5-0

by Andrew Nordmeier
March 21, 2006 - ECHL (ECHL)
Phoenix RoadRunners


The misery continued for the Phoenix Roadrunners as they fell 5-0 to the Victoria Salmon Kings Monday night at the US Airways Center. The good news is that the 19-42-3 Roadrunners certainly went down swinging against the 22-34-8 Salmon Kings. Phoenix set an ECHL record for the most shutouts in a season with their 11th goose egg of the year in the team's eighth straight loss.

"There was no effort. There was nothing positive," Phoenix Head Coach Ron Filion said, "They embarrassed themselves, this organization and the fans."

The highlight of the night for Phoenix was goaltender Zach Sikich taking out his frustrations on Victoria defenseman Ryan Thrusell after he crashed the net. Sikich dropped his glove and blocker and charged at the Victoria defenseman, running him into the corner and flailing away. That led to a fight between Jake Riddle and Adam Huxley at the same time, 7:22 into the third period when the Salmon Kings had a 4-0 cushion.

Sadly, that was about the only fight in the Roadrunners on this night as Victoria scored three times in the second period to break open a scoreless game.

Jade Galbraith got Victoria on the board 49 seconds into the middle period when he beat Sikich with a wrister from the low slot. Lanny Gare's shorthanded goal that trickled over Sikich and in at 5:49 made it 2-0. Seth Leonard picked off a Roadrunner pass and rammed it behind Sikich at 17:54 for an unassisted tally.

Victoria added two more goals in the third period to complete thrashing. Steve Roberts beat Sikich on a wraparound at 6:22 and Leonard struck for his second goal of the night when a soft shot deflected off Sikich's pads and in at 17:04.

"They showed up to play and we didn't," Filion said, "We had no emotion. Everyone thought they were better than the system."

Victoria outshot Phoenix 39-24. Neither team converted on the power play; Phoenix went 0-for-4 on the power play while Victoria went 0-for-5 on the man advantage.

Phoenix will have just a day to recover from this loss before the Bakersfield Condors come in for a visit Wednesday night's Fan Appreciation Night at the US Airways Center. Before they do, the Roadrunners are going to have a heavy day of practice on Tuesday.

"I don't care if we're out of the playoffs, this kind of effort is unacceptable," Filion said, "I'm going to skate them until they understand how to obtain success."

Three Stars
3. Galbraith-VIC Goal and an assist
2. McVicar-VIC 24-save shutout
1. Leonard-VIC Two goals and an assist

Notes: Victoria's win helped the Salmon Kings' avert a six-game season series sweep at the hands of the Roadrunners...Victoria had been shutout seven times this year, but this was the first shutout the Salmon Kings pitched this season...Of the 15 goals scored by Victoria in the season series, 11 of them came in the second period...Phoenix forward Shawn Snider was a -5 in this game...Phoenix has lost eight straight, 14 of its last 15 and 18 of 21 since the five-game winning streak in late January...Victoria played without defenseman Steve Lingren who was recalled and signed with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL...Attendance was 3,139.



ECHL Stories from March 21, 2006


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