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ECHL Toledo Walleye

Toledo Storm Weekly Release

March 25, 2002 - ECHL (ECHL)
Toledo Walleye News Release


STORM TRACKS

¨ With the shootout loss to the Wheeling Nailers on Sunday, the Storm was mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. This is only the second time in the eleven year history of the Storm that the franchise has failed to make it into the playoffs. The only other season in which Toledo failed to make the playoffs was 1999-00.

¨ The Storm outshot Johnstown in Wednesday's game by a total of 38-28. Toledo also outshot the Wheeling Nailers in Sunday's 3-2 shootout loss. Over the course of this season, the Storm has outshot the opponent in 27 of the 68 games played to date. In those games, Toledo has a record of 13-12-2.

¨ The Storm was outshot in Saturday's 3-2 victory in Wheeling by a total of thirty-nine shots: 62-21. That is the greatest shots against differential that the Storm has experienced this season. [On the positive side of this category, the Storm outshot the Richmond Renegades 63-34 (+29) in a 2-1 loss on January 2.]

¨ The 62 shots against and 60 stops for rookie goaltender, Joey MacDonald, in the 3-2 victory over the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday night were both season highs for MacDonald and the Storm.

¨ The 62 shots against on Saturday night marked the second time this season that the Storm has given up 60 or more shots. (The other was a 60 shot performance by the Dayton Bombers in a game where Joey MacDonald made 59 stops in a 2-1 overtime victory on February 19.) Toledo has given up 50 or more shots in six games this season; and 40 or more in 23 of 68 games. Overall, the Storm averages 37.46 shots against/game, which is 28th out of the 29 teams in the ECHL.

¨ In Wednesday's loss to Johnstown, the Storm entered the third period trailing 3-2 and was outscored in the third period 2-0. Toledo was also outscored by Wheeling 1-0 in the third period on Saturday night (in a game won by the Storm 3-2). That marked the tenth time in the last fourteen games that the opponent outscored the Storm in the third period—which up until the latter stages of the season had been the Storm's best period. In those ten games, Toledo has been outscored by a total of 21-3. Over the course of this season, the Storm is playing at a collective (-9) in the third period (71 goals for v. 80 goals against).

¨ One of the goals scored by Johnstown in the third period (by Brent Bilodeau at 19:04) was scored into an empty net. That was the ninth empty net goal scored against the Storm this season.

¨ In Sunday's 3-2 shootout loss to the Wheeling Nailers, the Storm entered the third period trailing 2-1. Toledo tied the game at two with a Kevin Kerr deflection of a Chad Wilchynski slap shot from the left point at 6:45 of the third period. This marked the sixth time that the Storm entered the third period trailing and came back to gain at least one point in the standings. Over the course of this season, Toledo is 4-29-2 when entering the third period trailing the opponent.

¨ Three of the four games played by the Storm this week were resolved by one goal. Toledo went 1-1-1 in those games: (i) 1-2 loss in Dayton on Friday; (ii) 3-2 win in Wheeling on Saturday; and (iii) 3-2 shootout loss to Wheeling on Sunday. Over the course of this season, twenty-eight of the sixty-eight Storm games have been resolved by one goal. The Storm is 12-8-8 in those games.

¨ Over the course of the last three games, the Storm defense has allowed just seven goals, i.e. a 2.33 team goals against average. Over the course of the season, the Storm team goals against average is 3.69, which is 28th in the league.

¨ In the first three games this week, the Storm penalty killing unit blanked the opponents' power play. That is the first time this season that Toledo has gone three consecutive games without giving up a power play goal. In fact, the Storm PK killed twenty-three consecutive power plays against from the 17:00 minute mark of the first period in a 7-6 overtime victory against Dayton on Sunday, March 17 to the 14:29 mark of the first period in the 3-2 shootout loss to Wheeling on Sunday, March 24, when the Nailers' J.C. Ruid scored a 5-on-3 power play goal.

¨ The Storm penalty killing unit killed all ten power play opportunities awarded to the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday night in Wheeling. That marked the second time this season that the Storm has killed ten power plays in a single game—but Saturday's game marked first time that Toledo blanked the opposition in doing so. (On March 8, in a 6-3 victory, the Storm killed ten of the twelve chances with a man advantage awarded to the Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies.)

¨ The Storm has given up double-digit power play chances to the opponent eight times this season. The season high is the fourteen PP opportunities given to the Peoria Rivermen (and they scored on five of them) in a 6-1 loss on January 19.

¨ Overall this season, the Storm penalty killing unit has prevailed in 333 of the 420 chances that the opponents have had with the man advantage. That is a 79.3% kill ratio, which ties the team for 26th in the league in that category.

¨ The Storm power play unit has scored at least one goal in each of the last ten consecutive games. Over those ten games, Toledo has scored 15 goals in 72 chances with the man advantage. That is a 20.8% scoring ratio. Over the course of the season, the Storm PP has capitalized on 66 of the 393 power play opportunities that the team has had. That is a 16.8% scoring ratio, which is 22nd in the league.

¨ The shootout for the Storm on Sunday marked the eighth time this season that Toledo has had a game go as far as it can. The Storm is 2-6 in the shootout over the course of the season.

¨ On Sunday, Storm shooters made one of the team's five attempts in the shootout. The lone scorer was Chad Wilchynski. Over the course of the season, Toledo has made 11 of the 42 shootout attempts taken—a 26.2% scoring ratio. The Storm's opponents have scored on 15 of the 42 shots they have taken on Toledo goaltenders in the shootout. That is a 35.7% scoring ratio.

¨ Captain Alexandre Jacques picked up at least one point in three of the four games this week. In fact, Jacques is currently on a three game goal scoring streak. In Saturday's 3-2 win over Wheeling, Jacques picked up a goal and an assist. That marked his fourteenth multi-point performance of the season. Since December 4, 2001, Alexandre Jacques has had at least one point in 38 of the 48 games played by the Storm.

¨ In the 3-2 victory over Wheeling on Saturday night, Dmitri Leonov factored in all three goals, scoring one and assisting on the other two. Leonov's goal turned out to be the game winner—his first gwg with the Storm this season. That was Leonov's second multi-point performance since joining the Storm from the Dayton Bombers on March 1. He has had at least one point in eight of the thirteen games that he has played, racking up 14 points (2g-12a) in 13 games.

¨ Ryan Wetterberg assisted on the Storm's first goal in the Storm's 3-2 win in Wheeling on Saturday. That marked Wetterberg's third point in only four pro games after joining the Storm on Sunday March 17.

¨ As of Sunday, the Storm has only four players on the current active roster who actually started the season with the team: (i) Alexandre Jacques; (ii) Magnus Nilsson; (iii) Jeff Petrie; and (iv) Joey MacDonald.

¨ As of Sunday, the Storm has five players currently on American Hockey League team rosters: (i) Richard Keyes: (1g-0a=1pt in 3 games with the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks); (ii) Ryan Gaucher: (3g-12a=15pts in 47 games with Cincinnati); (iii) Jeff Mitchell: (7g-3a=10pts in 57 games with the Saint John Flames); (iv) Jason Norrie: (0g-0a=0pts, 22 pims, 4 majors in 7 games with the Manitoba Moose); and (v) Shawn Maltby: (1g-2a=3pts in 7 games with the Providence Bruins).

¨ In the 5-2 loss to Johnstown on Wednesday, defenseman, Grady Moore, played in his first game as a professional. In doing so, he became the fifth player to play his first pro game with the Storm this year. The other four are: (i) Joey MacDonald; (ii) John Kretin; (iii) Mike Hamlin; and (iv) Ryan Wetterberg.

PLAYER OF THE WEEK:

Alexandre Jacques (3g-1a=4pts, -2, 3 ppg)
Alexandre Jacques, the Storm team captain, continued to lead by example this week, scoring in each of the last three games of the week. After being held off the board on Wednesday night (a rarity for Alex this season—having only been blanked ten times in the last forty-eight games), Alex came back and scored the Storm's only goal in what turned out to be a 2-1 loss to the Dayton Bombers on Friday night. Alex's power play goal in that game actually tied things at one at the 4:31 mark of the third period. (The Storm gave up what turned out to be the game winner just 1:08 later.) In Saturday night's 3-2 win in Wheeling, Alex scored the Storm's second goal (to make it 2-0) at 4:13 of the second period; and then assisted on the goal (by Dmitri Leonov) that turned out to be the game winner at 8:27 of the second—both of those goals coming on the power play. On Sunday, Alex's power play goal (scored while the Storm had a 5-on-3 skating advantage) tied the game at one at 16:39 of the first (only 2:10 after the Nailers had taken a 1-0 lead).

GOALTENDER OF THE WEEK:

Joey MacDonald (1-1-1, 2.28 gaa, .953 save %)
Joey MacDonald came back from a short hiatus this week due to a strained groin and immediately picked up where he left off in what has to be termed a spectacular rookie season. On Friday night, Joey kept the Storm in the game early on, as the Dayton Bombers came out firing—outshooting the Storm 11-1 in the early going. Dayton wouldn't solve MacDonald until the 3:48 mark of the second period when a Tom Nemeth shot deflected off a Storm player's stick and ended up in the net. The Bombers would score the game winner at 5:39 of the third on a rebound shot. On Saturday night, Joey stopped a season high 60 shots on a season high 62 shots and was a primary reason for the Storm's 3-2 victory. It truly was a spectacular performance as Wheeling pounded the pressure on the Storm goal—getting repeated chances in tight, and MacDonald seemed to have an answer for everything that night. On Sunday, Joey had another big game, coming up with difficult stops at critical moments, giving his team a chance down the stretch. Joey also stopped three of the five Wheeling shootout attempts.

TRANSACTIONS:

03/18 DELETE Richard Keyes (Loaned to Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, AHL).
03/20 ADD John Wikstrom (Activated from Injured Reserve).

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