ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits

Swamp Rabbits Rumbled by Evansville, 6-3

January 22, 2016 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Swamp Rabbits News Release


Greenville, SC - The Greenville Swamp Rabbits (19-17-6), proud ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers and AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, suffered a 6-3 loss to the Evansville IceMen (14-19-4) on Friday in a game that included a hat trick from Evansville's Chris Rumble.

On the flip side, Troy Donnay, Vinny Saponari and Richard Nejezchleb each scored for the Swamp Rabbits, but it wasn't enough as Greenville dropped its second straight game. The club also fell to 10-9-5 on SANDLAPPER Securities Rink.

On a frigid and icy night in the Upstate, the Swamp Rabbits heated up early when Donnay collected his first professional goal at 6:13 of the opening frame. From the right point, Donnay corralled a loose puck and fired a shot on target that was accidentally deflected in the circle by an IceMen defenseman and past a diving Cody Reichard in goal.

Evansville responded in the second period with three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 advantage. Rumble evened the game at the 4:37 mark when he exited the penalty box after serving a tripping minor and set up a 3-on-2 rush. Danny Hobbs entered the zone down the right wing and took a quick shot at goaltender Mackenzie Skapski, who made the save but allowed a rebound. Crashing on goal, Rumble collected the second chance and capitalized with hard put-back.

Mike Duco gave Evansville the lead at the 11:47 mark when he converted on a one-timer for his fifth goal of the season. Spencer Humphries created the attack when he skated through the left circle and guided a pass across the top of the goal mouth to Duco, who pushed home a wrist shot from the right circle.

The IceMen added to their advantage on Rumble's second tally of the night at the 18:03 mark of the second period. From Evanville's right point, Rumble forced a turnover and skated down the ice on a breakaway before going forehand-to-backhand to beat Skapski glove side.

Rumble completed his first professional hat trick at 5:08 of the third period when he cleaned up Sebastian Strandberg's shot from the left point. It was also the rookie's sixth goal of the season.

The Swamp Rabbits cut into their deficit less than two minutes later on Saponari's second goal of the season. At the 7:33 mark, Saponari netted Greenville's first power-play tally since December 31 when he converted from the doorstep. With former Greenville defenseman Andrew Himelson in the box for tripping, Nejezchleb directed the puck to Ryan Rashid below the goal line, who brushed a centering feed to Saponari in front for a low, one-time finish.

Evansville bounced back with two more goals to push its lead to 6-2. Another former Greenville skater, Danny Hobbs scored his fourth goal of the season at the 11:32 mark when he directed a heavy wrist shot from the top of the slot past Skapski's blocker.

Vincent Dunn netted Evansville's final tally of the game at 12:28 of the third period with his sixth goal of the season. From the top of the right circle, Jonathan Carlsson sent a slap shot on target that was redirected by Dunn from the doorstep to make it 6-2.

With just under a minute remaining, Nejezchleb capped the scoring when he finished a furious attack in front of Evansville's cage. The rookie forward found himself in the right place at the right time from the right post, where he gathered a loose puck and flipped it over Reichard's glove for the 6-3 final.

The contest included one fight when Bretton Cameron, in his first game back following an upper body injury, dropped the gloves with IceMen defenseman Curtis Leonard at 15:29 of the second period.

Greenville finished the game 1-for-3 on the power play and 2-for-2 on the penalty kill. Reichard (4-3-0) made 33 saves in the win, while Skapski (2-6-1) stopped 20 shots in the setback.

The Swamp Rabbits outshot the IceMen 36-26.

Check out the Greenville Swamp Rabbits Statistics



ECHL Stories from January 22, 2016


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