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ECHL Toledo Walleye

Storm Tracks

November 11, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


The Storm's 11-1-1 record gives the team the most points (23) in the league standings, as well as the highest current win percentage in the league (.885).

Toledo's 11-1-1 start is the best opening thirteen games in the history of the organization. The best record in franchise history over fifteen games is 13-2-0, which was put together by the 1993-94 Storm-a team that went on to win the organization's second consecutive Riley Cup championship.

The Storm has won five games in a row, which ties the longest for the team thus far this season (10/18-10/27/02). The longest winning streak in franchise history is ten games, which has been done three times over the course of the twelve year history of the club.

The Storm has now won eight consecutive games (8-0-0) at the Toledo Sports Arena. The franchise record for wins at home is eighteen, which ran over a span from the latter stages of the 1992-93 season through the early stages of the 1993-94 season (02/14/93 - 11/12/93).

In all three games this week, the opposing team scored the first goal of the game. Wednesday night's 4-3 shootout victory over Cincinnati marked the first time this season that Toledo won despite giving up the game's first goal to the opponent. In Friday night's 5-2 win over Peoria and Saturday night's 3-2 win over Lexington, the Storm picked up victories despite (again) giving up the game's first goal to the opposition. Toledo is now 3-1-1 when the opponent scores first.

In all three games this week, the Storm outshot the opponent. Toledo has now outshot the opposition in nine of the thirteen games that the team has played, and the Storm has compiled a record of 8-0-1 in those games.

The Storm currently averages 36.23 shots on goal per game, which is third amongst the 27 teams in the ECHL.

Cincinnati's first goal on Wednesday night was scored by Mike Casselman (who had 39 goals for the Storm in 1991-92; and played 3 games the following season with Toledo), while the Cyclones held a five-on-three skater advantage. That was the fourteenth five-on-three that the Storm has faced this season. Toledo killed off the first twelve such two-man dis-advantages the team faced; but with this goal by Casselman, the Storm PK gave up its second consecutive five-on-three goal against. (The first was in Wheeling last Saturday night.)

In Wednesday's 4-3 shootout win in Cincinnati, the Storm entered the third period trailing the Cyclones, 1-0. This marked the fourth time this season that the Storm entered the third period trailing and, in three of those games, Toledo has earned at least one point (2-1-1). The two victories that the Storm has pulled out after entering the third period trailing the opponent were both against the Cincinnati Cyclones.

Alex Jacques scored Toledo's first goal at 4:59 of the third period on Wednesday night to tie the game at one. That extended Jacques' goal scoring streak to three games (which was ended in Friday night's game-although Jacques did get an assist in that game to continue his point scoring streak-which is currently active at five games: 5g-3a=8pts). That ties the longest goal scoring streak of the season for the Storm. Nick Parillo had a three game goal scoring streak earlier in the season (10/11-10/19/02); and Erik Anderson had scored a goal in three consecutive games prior to being re-called to the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League on October 26, i.e. that streak is still active.

Matt Ellis scored the Storm's second goal at 6:57 of the third period in Wednesday's game, which gave Toledo its first lead of the game at 2-1. Ellis ' goal was scored while the Storm was short-handed. That was the second short-handed goal of the season for the Storm-and the first for Ellis in his pro career

In Wednesday night's game, Matt Ellis had nine shots on goal. That ties the team high for the season. (Alexandre Jacques had nine shots on goal in Toledo's 4-2 win over the Johnstown Chiefs on October 18.)

The Storm's third goal on Wednesday night was scored by Darryl Bootland at 12:43 of the third period. That marked the second consecutive game in which Bootland scored for the Storm.

Toledo's power play went 0 for 7 in Cincinnati on Wednesday night. That marked the third time this season that the Storm power play was blanked. All three of those games were on the road. The Storm has scored two power play goals in thirty-four chances on the road this season, which ranks the team twenty-sixth in the league.

Toledo gave up two power play goals to the Cyclones on Wednesday night. That marked the second consecutive game that the Storm had given up two power play goals in a single game-and those are the only two games in which that has occurred thus far this season.

Wednesday's game against Cincinnati marked the first time this season that the Storm has gone to the shootout. Alexandre Jacques went first for the team and scored; Grady Moore went second and was stopped; Matt Ellis went third and was stopped; and Nick Parillo went fourth and scored. Goaltender, Doug Teskey, stopped all four Cincinnati shooters.

The first goal in Friday's 5-2 win over the Peoria Rivermen was scored by Peoria. It was a short-handed goal scored by Darren Clarke 4:40 into the first period. That was the fourth short-handed goal given up by the Storm this season. Toledo is one of five teams that have given up that many short-handed goals at this stage of the season.

Toledo's first goal on Friday night was a power play goal scored by Nathan Lutz at the 8:12 mark of the first period. That was Lutz's second goal of the season and both of them have been scored while the team was on the power play. Lutz also picked up two assists (and a fighting major) in Friday night 's game. That was the first multi-point performance of Lutz's pro career.

The Storm's second goal of the game on Friday night (which put the team ahead, at 2-1) was scored by Matt Ellis with 47 seconds remaining in the first period. Ellis also scored the Storm's fifth goal (with 7:13 remaining in the game). That was the first time in Ellis' pro career that he has scored two goals in a single game. Between those two goals, Ellis assisted on two others for the Storm, thus registering his first four point performance as a professional.

Nick Parillo scored the Storm's third goal on Friday night. That goal turned out to be the game winner. Parillo has three game winners for Toledo this season, which leads all rookies in the league-and is tied for the overall lead in that category. Parillo also assisted on the game winner on Saturday night against the Lexington Men O'War.

Goaltender, Doug Teskey, assisted on Parillo's game winning goal on Friday night with a beautiful tape-to-tape feed from deep in the defensive zone to Alexandre Jacques who was waiting outside the defensive blueline and who, in turn, ripped an equally accurate feed to the breaking Parillo. That was the first assist of the season for a Storm goaltender.

Nick Parillo currently leads the Storm in scoring with seven goals and ten assists (seventeen points). That places him in second place in the rookie scoring race-and in a tie for twelfth in the overall scoring race.

Tim Verbeek scored the fourth goal for the Storm on Friday night. It was scored while the Storm was on the power play. That was Verbeek's second goal of the season and his first power play goal.

The Storm scored three power play goals on Friday night. That marks the third time this season that the Storm has scored three power play goals in a single game. The Storm scored two power play goals in seven chances on Saturday night against the Lexington Men O'War at the Sports Arena. Toledo has now scored 16 power play goals in 57 chances at home this season-a 28.1% scoring ratio, which is fourth in home power play in the ECHL

Overall, the Storm's power play unit has scored 18 goals in 91 chances, a 19.8% scoring ratio, which is thirteenth in the league.

The Storm penalty kill blanked the power play unit for the Rivermen on Friday night (on five tries) and did the same thing to the Lexington Men O' War on Saturday night in seven opportunities. The Storm's PK has blanked the opposition in six of the thirteen games that the team has played thus far. Four of those six games were at the Toledo Sports Arena. The Storm has only allowed four power play goals against in fifty four chances at home this year, which is a 92.6% kill ratio-which ranks the Storm fourth in the league in home penalty kill.

Overall, the Storm's penalty killing unit has allowed 9 goals in 88 chances for the opposition, a 89.8% kill ratio, which is fourth in the league.

In Saturday night's 3-2 win over the Lexington Men O'War, the Storm killed off a long (1:41) five-on-three power play for the Men O'War, which came about just thirty-six seconds into the hockey game. That marked the fifteenth time that the Storm has faced a five-on-three disadvantage; and, after giving up consecutive goals on the last two five-on-threes that the team had faced, the Storm PK stopped this one.

Toledo was the beneficiary of 1:41 worth of five-on-three later in that first period and capitalized on both ends of the power play. Trevor Read scored at 16:44 of the first (to tie the game at one) with the Storm two skaters up; and then Jeff Mitchell scored 37 seconds later on the back end of that power play. That marked the first time this season that the Storm has scored a five-on-three power play goal; as well as the first time this year that the team has scored on both ends of a five-on-three power play sequence.

Trevor Read's power play goal at 16:44 of the first period that tied the score at one on Saturday night was the first goal of Read's professional career. He had just been activated off the injured reserve list earlier that day.

Grady Moore assisted on Trevor Read's power play goal. For Moore that was his seventh assist of the season. When added with his three goals, Moore's ten points places him tied for sixth in scoring amongst defensemen in the league and tied for twelfth in rookie scoring. Over the course of the season, Moore has now taken forty-eight shots on goal, which is second amongst rookies and fourth amongst defensemen.

In Saturday's game, the Storm entered the third period leading by a score of 2-1; but Lexington tied the game with Mark Smith's second goal of the game at 3:38 of the third. The Storm went on to win the contest and currently has a record of 9-0-0 when leading after two periods.

Alexandre Jacques scored the game winner on Saturday night with just 4:47 remaining. That was Jacques' second game winner of the season for the Storm. Last season, Jacques had five game winners in 71 games with the Storm.

Doug Teskey was the winning goaltender for the Storm in all three games this week. His record is currently 6-1-1. Doug Teskey has also appeared in three other games over the course of this season that the Storm won; but he was not the goaltender of record (i.e. he was not in net at the time that the game winning goal was scored) in those games.

After Saturday's game, Nick Parillo became the third player who started the season with the Storm to be called up to the American Hockey League, when the Milwaukee Admirals called him up. Parillo is currently on a five game point streak with the Storm (3g-7a=10pts).

Andrew Hutchinson was also re-called to the Milwaukee Admirals Saturday night. Hutchinson played three games with the Storm and picked up one assist on this assignment from Milwaukee.

After Saturday's game, Matt Eldred became the fourth player who started the season with the Storm to be called up to the American Hockey League, when the Cleveland Barons called him up.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Matt Ellis (3 goals - 3 assists = 6 points, +1, 1 power play goal, 1 short-handed goal)

Matt Ellis started this week off with a critical short-handed goal-the first one of his pro career-on a hard-charging break-away in Cincinnati on Wednesday night. That goal gave the Storm the team's first lead in that game, which the Storm eventually won in a shootout. On Friday night, Matt exploded with a four point game in the 5-2 win over the Peoria Rivermen. In that game, Ellis' first goal was a beautiful execution of protecting the puck as he walked off the end wall to get out in front of the net and give the Storm a lead they would never relinquish with just 47 seconds remaining in the first period. On Saturday night, Matt fired a shot that was deflected by Jeff Mitchell, giving the Storm a 2-1 lead over Lexington. Just as important for the Storm was Matt's important defensive work with his line mates, Jeff Mitchell and Tim Verbeek, each of whom played a ton of critical minutes this week.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Doug Teskey (3-0-0, 2.33 gaa, .910 save%, 1 assist)

Doug Teskey was the Storm's goaltender in all three wins this week. Although the total number of shots that Doug faced this week was not overly burdensome, the quality of shots he saw made his play a critical component in all three wins. On Wednesday against the Cincinnati Cyclones, Doug stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced in regulation and overtime; and then he pulled out the win by stopping all four Cincinnati shooters in the shootout. On Friday night, Peoria applied tremendous pressure on the Toledo goal, particularly during their power play sequences, but Doug made a number of big stops at critical moments to preserve the win. On Sunday, Doug repeated his excellent performance of the past few games when he stopped 18 of the 20 shots fired on the Toledo net by the Lexington Men O'War. In this game in particular, the number of shots is deceptive-as the pressure from Lexington throughout the game was sustained and substantial.

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