ECHL Toledo Walleye

Toledo Remains Perfect at Home

Published on November 23, 2002 under ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


(Toledo, Ohio) The Storm maintained the overall lead in the East Coast Hockey League standings (14-2-1=29) with a 6-3 victory over a Northwest Divisional rival, the Wheeling Nailers, in a game that was a lot closer than the score indicates. With this win, Toledo tied a single season franchise record by winning the team's tenth consecutive home game and became the first team in franchise history to win its first ten games at home.

After a tight checking start, the gates opened up for 2:26 in the middle of the first period. Toledo struck first at 9:49 when Alexandre Jacques corralled a rebound at the top of the crease and slid it behind Wheeling goaltender, Mike Valley, while the Storm was on the power play. That was fourth time this season that Jacques has scored the game's first goal and extended a personal point streak to nine games (11g-4a=15pts). The Nailers bounced back 1:05 later when Zenon Konopka whacked a bouncing puck out in front of the Storm net over the left shoulder of Storm goaltender, Doug Teskey. But the Storm answered 1:21 after that with Jacques' second goal of the night on a sharp angle shot from deep in the offensive end on the left wing side. Wheeling disputed whether the puck actually crossed the goal-line, but it was to no avail; and Toledo took a 2-1 lead to the locker room after one.

In the second, the lone goal was scored by Wheeling's Mark Moore, who took a sharp angle shot of his own from below the end-line on the right wing side that ricocheted off the body of Teskey and into the Storm net 6:19 into the period. Wheeling appeared to score another goal later in the period, but it was ruled that the net was off the moorings, and the goal was wiped out.

In the third, the Storm struck first when defenseman, Miroslav Durak, scored his second goal in as many games for Toledo. After a scrum down low, the puck popped free in the low slot, and Durak stepped up from the defensive position and blasted one through everything to make it 3-2 Toledo 5:59 into the period. But, again, the Nailers came back-this time with a power play goal. Steve Crampton made a sweet pass off the left wing half-wall to Bobby Russell, who was planted on the back-door in the right circle and ripped a one-timer past Teskey to tie the game for the third time, at 3-3. But the Storm was able to swarm as the period progressed and came up with three late goals. The first, by Darryl Bootland, was similar to the Durak goal in that it came when Bootland blasted a loose puck from between the hashmarks after a scrum at the side of the Wheeling net 14:30 into the period. Then, with Toledo on a power play-and shortly after Teskey had made the save of the game on a short-handed breakaway by Wheeling's Tim Preston-Nick Parillo charged down the ice and sent a saucer out of the right wing corner to Jeff Johnstone who tipped it home to make it 5-3 Toledo with just 1:47 remaining. Tim Verbeek added another on a blast out of the left circle with just 48 seconds left to give the appearance of a blow-out; but that appearance is somewhat misleading as this really was a closely contested battle for the vast majority of the game-thanks in large part to superb goaltending by the Nailer's Mike Valley.

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ECHL Stories from November 23, 2002


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