ECHL ECHL

Steelheads Perfect At 5-0-0, Lead League

Published on October 31, 2005 under ECHL (ECHL) News Release


The Idaho Steelheads are off to their best start since joining the ECHL in 2003-04 following a pair of wins at Fresno, 7-6 in a shootout on Saturday and 5-3 on Sunday. Idaho is 5-0-0 and one point ahead of Alaska (4-1-1) in the West Division. The Steelheads, who lead the league in scoring averaging 4.80 goals per game, continue their five-game road trip visiting Phoenix on Thursday and Saturday and Long Beach on Friday. Idaho opened the season with a three-game sweep of Long Beach at Qwest Arena.

The losses were the first of the season for Fresno which is 3-1-1 and leads the Pacific Division with seven points, three points ahead of Bakersfield (2-2-0). The Falcons, who are 2-1-1 at home and 1-0-0 on the road, will host Stockton on Friday and Bakersfield on Sunday while traveling to Long Beach on Saturday.

Fresno's Luke Curtin is tied for second in the league with five goals and 10 points, including an ECHL team record four goals and five points on Friday. The Falcons' Brett Jaeger is 2-1-1 with a goals-against average of 3.43 and a save percentage of .896 and ranks third in the league with 245 minute in four games.

D'Arcy McConvey has scored in every game and leads the Steelheads with nine points and is tied for the team lead with three goals and six assists. David Bararuk is tied for the ECHL lead with two game-winning goals and is tied for the team lead with three goals and tied for second on the team with eight points while Scott Burt is tied for the team lead with six assists and tied for second with eight points. Leading the league in wins, Matthew Yeats is 4-0-0 with a goals-against average of 2.01 and a save percentage of .929.


Nailers Take Early Command Of North

Following a 5-4 overtime win at Johnstown on Wednesday and a 4-3 shootout loss to Dayton on Friday, Toledo beat Johnstown 6-2 on Saturday to improve to 3-1-1 and sits atop the North Division with seven points.

The Storm is led offensively by Scooter Smith and Ken Magowan, who both have four goals, six assists and 10 points. Smith and Magowan are tied for second in the league in assists and scoring and tied for fifth in goals. Smith is tied for the ECHL lead with two game-winning goals.

After winning its home opener 6-5 in a shootout against Reading on Friday, Wheeling beat Dayton 4-2 at home on Saturday and then won 4-3 at Dayton on Sunday and is 3-1-0 and sits in second place in the North Division with six points.

Leading the Nailers offensively is Sean Collins who leads league rookies in assists with six and plus-minus rating with +5 and he is tied for the rookie lead with 10 points and three power-play points while being tied for second in goals (4), power-play goals (2) and game-winning goals (1). Andy Chiodo is 3-1-0 with a goals-against average of 3.43 and a save percentage of .878 and he is tied for second in the league with three wins and tied for fourth with 244 minutes.


Gulls Expect Sellout Saturday,
Checkers Open New Home Sunday


The San Diego Gulls are expecting a capacity and team ECHL record crowd of 12,920 for their home opener on Saturday when they host the Stockton Thunder at ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena. The Charlotte Checkers will get their first look at the new Charlotte Bobcats Arena on Sunday when they host the South Carolina Stingrays for their home opener.

Located in downtown Charlotte, the $200 million arena has a listed capacity of 6,800 for Checkers games, but additional sections can be opened to accommodate larger crowds. The state-of-the-art facility opened October 21 and is the home of the Checkers, the Charlotte Bobcats of the National Basketball Association and the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA.

San Diego drew 11,922 for its home opener in 2004, the first of three crowds over 10,000 for the team in the 12,920-seat ipayOne Center at the Sports Arena. The Gulls were 23-8-5 at home in 2004-05 and are 53-13-6 in two seasons at home in the ECHL.

The first 21 home openers have drawn 119,350 for an average of 5,683 per game, including a sellout crowd at the Toledo Sports Arena on October 21. Bakersfield has the largest home-opening crowd with 8,263 on October 22 while Dayton, Fresno, Reading, South Carolina and Trenton all drew crowds over 7,000 for their home openers. Florida had over 12,000 for its first two home dates which were postponed following Hurricane Wilma.

The Victoria Salmon Kings will play their first game in the new Save-On-Foods Centre on November 10 when they host the Stockton Thunder, who will open the new Stockton Arena on December 10 when they host Phoenix.

South Race Remains Tight After Week 2

Following the first two weeks of play the top six teams in the South Division are separated by five points and only three points separates the top four.

Columbia posted a 4-3 overtime win against Charlotte on Friday and a 4-3 win at Greenville on Saturday to move into first place in the South Division with nine points. The Inferno closed out the weekend with a 4-2 loss against South Carolina, which was 2-0-1 last week to improve to 2-1-2 and fourth place in the division with six points.

The Stingrays will host Greenville on Tuesday, Gwinnett on Friday and Charlotte on Saturday before traveling to Charlotte on Sunday. Defenseman J.F. David leads the Stingrays with eight points and is tied with Brad Parsons, who ranks second on the team with seven points, for the team lead in assists with six. Ty Morris is tied for second among ECHL rookies with four assists and ranks third in scoring with six points.

Columbia travels to Pensacola on Friday and Saturday to meet the defending Brabham Cup Champion Ice Pilots (0-3-1). Leading Columbia with five assists and six points, Derek Eastman is tied for third among league defensemen in scoring and tied for fourth in assists.

Following a 4-3 overtime loss at Columbia on Friday, Charlotte won 5-4 in overtime on Saturday to improve to 3-0-1 and is tied with Augusta for second place with seven points. Charlotte rookie goaltender Jeff Glass is 1-0-1 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.87 and a save percentage of .949 in two games.

Following a 4-2 loss at South Carolina on Tuesday and a 4-3 overtime loss at Gwinnett on Friday, the Lynx won 3-2 at Pensacola to improve to 3-1-1. Augusta concludes its current five-game road trip on Friday and Saturday when it plays at Florida, which is 1-1-0 after splitting its season-opening home series with Las Vegas.

In its only game of the week, Gwinnett beat Augusta 4-3 in overtime to improve to 2-0-1 and fifth place in the division with five points. The Gladiators opened the season with a 1-0 shootout loss against Charlotte that saw rookie goaltender Tuomas Tarkki make 30 saves in regulation, four saves in overtime and stop four of five shooters in the shootout. Sean Fields is 2-0-0 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.44 and a save percentage of .950. The Gladiators will play at South Carolina on Friday and on Saturday travels to Greenville, which is in sixth place at 2-2-0.

Did You Know?

The first 12 overtime/shootout games in 2005-06 were all in the American Conference.


Feature Games Of The Week

North Division
Toledo at Wheeling - Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET
* First-place Storm visits second-place Wheeling.
* Nailers have won three straight and Toledo is undefeated in regulation the last three games.

West Division
Bakersfield at Fresno - Friday at 7:00 p.m. PT
* First-place Falcons host second-place Bakersfield.
* Condors finished ahead of Fresno for fourth and final playoff spot in 2004-05.

South Division
Gwinnett at South Carolina - Friday at 7:05 p.m. ET
* South Carolina is undefeated in regulation its last four games.
* Gwinnett has scored 10 goals in its last two games.

Pacific Division
Idaho at Phoenix - Thursday at 7:11 p.m. PT
* Idaho has won five in a row while Phoenix has won its last two home games.
* First-ever meeting between Steelheads and Phoenix.

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ECHL Stories from October 31, 2005


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