Smith Stymies All-Stars
January 21, 2003 - ECHL (ECHL)
Burlington News Release
Estero, FL- Lexington rookie goaltender Mike Smith made a lasting impression on the entire ECHL with his performance in last night's Skills Competition. Smith will play for the Northern Conference All-Stars tonight in the mid-season classic. Smith split the Outstanding Goaltender Award with Richmond's Dean Lombard. Smith represented the Northern Conference, which defeated the Southern Conference 12-9 in the skills competition.
Smith took part in two of the skills competition events. His first event was the Rapid Fire Competition. The event consisted of two shooters at opposite sides of the ice shooting on the goaltender. Each shooter took five shots in a total of 12 seconds. Smith stopped Columbia's Rejean Stringer and Mississippi's Jim Baxter on four of eight attempts.
In the second event Smith stole the show in the Breakaway Relay. Six shooters skated in attempting to score a breakaway goal on the Men O' War goalie. Each goal was worth one point in the total competition standings. Smith stuffed Judd Medak of Greenville, J.J. Hunter of Columbus, Kent Davyduke of Mississippi, Rod Sarich of Louisiana and Marty Johnston of Florida. The only shooter to score of the six was Mississippi's Jim Baxter. The goaltender that accumulated the most saves over both competitions won the ITECH Goaltender award. Smith and Lombard each finished the competition with nine saves on 14 shots.
The rookie goalie is second in the ECHL with a 2.44 GAA. Smith also ranks in the top-10 in save percentage (.915). He holds a 9-7-3 record in 20 games with the Men O' War. On October 26th vs. the Dayton Bombers at Rupp Arena, Smith became the first goalie ever to record his first pro win, get a shutout and score a goal on the same night. In addition to his accomplishments with the MOW, Smith has played three games with the AHL's Utah Grizzlies. In those three games Smith has a 2-1 record with a 2.62 GAA and a .934 save percentage.
The All-Star game is set for a 7:30 face-off at TECO Arena. Anyone needing information during the game event may contact the Florida Everblades Press Box at (239)-948-7825 ext. 1534. Dan Guenther is the Director of Media Relations for the Everblades.
• Discuss this story on the ECHL message board...
ECHL Stories from January 21, 2003
- Catch a rising star - OSC Original by Jason S Rufner
- Ianiero Scores as Northern Conference Wins, 3-2 - Dayton Bombers
- Sarich, Southern Conference fall 8-2 - Louisiana IceGators
- North Wins ECHL All-Star Game, 8-2 - ECHL
- Ice Dogs Sign 2000-01 WCHL MVP Lyons - Long Beach Ice Dogs
- National Anthem Auditions Land Lucky 20 - Alaska Aces
- Nailers Waive Nelson - Wheeling Nailers
- Hodson Makes His Way to the NHL - Greensboro Generals
- Wings Stadium and Chamber Celebrates Kalamazoo - Kalamazoo Wings
- Ianiero, Northern Conference Prevail in Skills Competition - Dayton Bombers
- Who's Got the Real Diamond?... The Search Continues February 2 - Dayton Bombers
- Lombard Shines in Skills Competition - Richmond Renegades
- Three 'Gades to Play in All-Star Game - Richmond Renegades
- Sgroi Heading Out West - Burlington
- Smith Stymies All-Stars - Burlington
- Komets waive Duffus - Fort Wayne Komets
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
