ECHL Toledo Walleye

Storm Tracks

Published on November 18, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


The Storm's 13-2-1 record gives the team the most points (27) in the league standings, as well as the highest current win percentage in the league (.844).

Toledo's 13-2-1 start is the best opening sixteen game record in the history of the organization.

With the 4-2 victory over the Arkansas Riverblades last Wednesday, the Storm has won the first nine home games of the season (9-0-0) at the Toledo Sports Arena. This is the first time in franchise history that the Storm won the first nine home games of the season. The 1997-98 Storm went unbeaten in their first eleven (9-0-2). The franchise record for consecutive wins at home is eighteen, but that ran over a span of two years-from the latter stages of the 1992-93 season through the early stages of the 1993-94 season (02/14/93 - 11/12/93).

The win on Wednesday marked the sixth consecutive victory for the Storm, dating back to a 5-2 win over the Johnstown Chiefs on November 1. That win streak was snapped with the 5-4 loss in Johnstown on Friday night. The six game win streak is the longest of the season for the Storm and longer than any win streak compiled by the club in the entire season last year.

In the 4-2 win over the Riverblades, the Storm gave up the first goal (a power play goal at 1:58 of the first period). This marked the fourth consecutive game in which Toledo's opponent scored the first goal, and the Storm won all four of those games. In Friday's 5-4 loss in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, the Storm also gave up the game's first goal. Toledo has a record of 4-2-1 when the opponent scores first.

Wednesday's game against Arkansas marked the first time in franchise history that the Storm has played a game with a morning start time, as well as the first time this season that the Storm played an opponent from outside the Northwest Division.

The game against the Riverblades marked the fourth time in the two franchises' respective histories that they have played one another. The Storm currently has a 4-0-0 record against the Riverblades. The two franchises meet again on January 7 in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Miroslav Durak scored the first goal of his professional career on Wednesday morning. Durak's goal tied the score at one 5:18 into the first period. After Wednesday's game, Durak was re-called by the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League. He became the fourth player to start the season with the Storm and be called up to the AHL. (The other three are Erik Anderson, Wes Mason, and Nick Parillo.)

In Wednesday's win, the Storm faced a five-on-three skating disadvantage for the sixteenth time this season-this one lasting for 1:14. The Storm's PK has killed off fourteen of the sixteen two-skater disadvantages against this season.

In Wednesday's game against the Riverblades, after the expiration of the penalty assessed to the Storm's Matt Eldred at the 2:13 mark of the second period, Eldred exited the penalty box with the Storm still-shorthanded, i.e. the Storm went from a five-on-three power play against to a 5-on-4 power play against. Eldred scored 21 seconds later, racking up the third short-handed goal of the season for the Storm and giving Toledo a 2-1 lead.

Dale Junkin scored back-to-back goals (3:05 apart) on Wednesday to give the Storm a 4-1 lead over Arkansas. Junkin became the fifth player to score two goals in a single-game; and the third player to score two goals in a period this season for the Storm.

Dale Junkin's first goal on Wednesday morning-the third for the Storm-was scored on the power play and turned out to be the game winner. That was Junkin's first power play goal and first game winner of the season for the Storm.

In Wednesday's game at the Sports Arena, the Storm scored one power play goal in four chances. Overall, this season, Toledo has scored 17 goals in 61 chances with the man advantage at home. That is a 27.9% scoring ratio, which ranks the home power play fourth in the league.

The Storm gave up two power play goals to the Riverblades in eight chances in Wednesday's game. That marked the third time that Toledo has given up two power play goals against this season; but the first time that it has happened at home. Overall, this year, the Storm has allowed just six power play goals against in 62 chances for the opponent at the Sports Arena, which is a 90.5% kill ratio-fourth in the ECHL in the home PK.

On Friday night, the Storm played their second game of the season at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, and lost by a score of 5-4, which was the identical score of the first loss that the Storm suffered in Johnstown-only the first loss was in overtime, while this loss was in regulation.

On Friday night, Johnstown scored the first two goals of the game and took a 2-0 lead to the locker room after one period. That was only the second time this season that the Storm trailed the opponent after one period-in the other the Storm trailed the Dayton Bombers 1-0 after one period (and ended up losing 6-0)-and Toledo lost both of those games.

In Friday's 5-4 loss to Johnstown, the Storm rallied with back-to-back goals (2:28 apart) to tie the game at two early in the second period; but the Chiefs responded with a goal 1:02 later to regain the lead at 3-2, which they took to the locker room after two periods. Although the Storm would tie the game at 3 (3:42 into the third period), Johnstown pulled away with two goals-and Toledo wasn't able to catch the Chiefs. So far this season, the Storm has entered the third period trailing five times and have compiled a 2-2-1 record in those circumstances.

The Storm's third goal on Friday night was scored by Nathan Robinson, who was playing in his first game with the Storm-and in the ECHL-after being re-assigned to Toledo by the Grand Rapids Griffins of the American Hockey League. That was Robinson's first goal as a professional.

When Nathan Robinson scored his goal on Friday night, he became the seventeenth Storm player to score at least one goal-in only the fifteenth game of the season for Toledo.

In addition to the goal that he scored, Nathan Robinson also picked up an assist on Friday night. That was Robinson's first multi-point performance as a professional hockey player.

Grady Moore picked up three assists in Friday's 5-4 loss to Johnstown. That marked the second time this season that he has had three assists in a single game. (He had a four point night: 1g-3a=4pts against Johnstown in the 5-2 Storm victory on November 1). Moore also picked up an assist in Saturday's 4-2 victory over Dayton. He is currently on a four game assist streak (11/09/02 to present; 0g-6a=6pts).

Grady Moore currently has fifteen total points (3g-12a=15pts). He is tied for fifth amongst defensemen in scoring; and tied for sixth amongst rookies in scoring.

In Friday's 5-4 loss to Johnstown, all four Storm goals were scored while the team was on the power play (4 for 9 with the man advantage). That is the first time this season that the team scored every goal in the game while playing with the man advantage. It is also the first time this season that the Storm scored as four power play goals in a single game. Going into this game, the Storm had scored just 2 power play goals in 34 chances on the road. After Saturday's 1-7 performance of the road power play, Toledo has now scored seven power play goals in fifty chances away from the Sports Arena, which is a 14% scoring ratio (19th in the league).

With Toledo's 4-2 win in Dayton on Saturday night, the Storm ran the team's road record to 4-2-1 (.643 win percentage). The best record in franchise history on the road is: 21-10-4 (.657 win percentage) in 1995-96.

In Saturday's 4-2 win, the Storm scored the game's first goal. Toledo is 9-0-0 when scoring first this season.

In Saturday's win, Alexandre Jacques picked up the first hattrick of the season for the Storm.

In Saturday's win, Alexandre Jacques scored the game's first goal, a power play goal, and the game winning goal. That was Jacques' third first goal of the season-which leads the team in that category; his fourth power play goal-which leads the team in that category; and his third game winning goal-which is tied for the team lead (with Nick Parillo), as well as the league high in that category.

With his hattrick on Saturday, Alexandre Jacques is currently on a team-high eight game point streak (9g-4a=13pts). Jacques has picked up at least one point in 13 of the 16 games that the Storm has played this season. In his last 68 games with the organization, Jacques has had at least one point in 53 of those games.

For Alex Jacques, his three goal performance on Saturday was his fifth multi-point performance of the season.

Alex Jacques is currently tied for eleventh in the ECHL scoring race (11g-9a=20pts). His eleven goals is tied for the third highest output in the league.

In Saturday's game, Dale Junkin scored a goal and picked up three assists. In doing so, he became the fourth player this season for the Storm to scored four points in a single game. For Junkin that was his fifth multi-point performance of the season.

With his four point game on Saturday, Dale Junkin is currently on a four game point streak for the Storm (3g-5a=8pts).

In Saturday's 4-2 win in Dayton, Nathan Richardson picked up three assists. In doing so, he became the sixth player on the Storm this season to have a three assist night. Robinson has had multi-point performances in both of the games that he has played with the Storm this year.

The Storm PK gave up two power play goals against in five chances on Saturday night. That marked the third consecutive game that Toledo's penalty killers have given up two goals to the opponent. Overall, the Storm has allowed fifteen power play goals against in 106 chances-an 85.8% kill ratio, which is third in the league.

Thus far this season, Toledo has scored 24 power play goals in 111 chances-a 21.6% scoring ratio, which is tied for ninth in the league.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Dale Junkin (3 goals - 4 assists = 7 points, +4, 1 game winning goal 1 power play goal)

Dale Junkin started this week with his first multi-goal game of the season, when he scored back-to-back goals three minutes and five seconds apart in the second period of the historic morning game against the Arkansas Riverblades last Wednesday. Dale's first goal that morning was on the power play, and his second turned out to be the game winner. On Friday night in Johnstown, Dale assisted on the Storm's fourth goal (a 4-on-3 power play goal) that drew Toledo within one of the Chiefs with just 2:23 to go in the game. On Saturday night, Dale factored in all four goals for the Storm, scoring the team's second goal (to take a 2-1 lead @ 14:41 of the first period) and assisting on the other three that were all scored by Alexandre Jacques. In the games on Friday and Saturday, Dale anchored a line that included Jacques and Nathan Robinson and that accounted for a total of fourteen points in just two games. Dale is currently on a four game point streak and has had at least one point in seven of the last eight games for the Storm; and eleven of the sixteen played so far this season.

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK NOMINATION:

Doug Teskey (2-1-0, 3.00 gaa, .914 save%)

Doug Teskey had another outstanding week for the Storm. He started his week off with a 34 save performance against the Arkansas Riverblades-in a game that started at 10:30 in the morning, a time which really isn't all that conducive to great netminding. In Friday night's 5-4 loss to the Johnstown Chiefs, Doug faced-down a number of solid scoring chances for the Chiefs; and the eventual game winner was scored of the blade of a Storm player's stick. On Saturday night in Dayton, Doug made a season high 39 saves-many in rather spectacular fashion-to pick up his eighth win of the season.

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ECHL Stories from November 18, 2002


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