ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits

Warriors Kick off 2015 with Huge 8-4 Win

January 2, 2015 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Swamp Rabbits News Release


Greenville, SC - The Greenville Road Warriors (20-11-1), proud ECHL affiliate of the New York Rangers and the AHL's Hartford Wolf Pack, scored four times in the third period en route to a huge 8-4 win over the Florida Everblades (22-5-1) on Friday at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena.

Josh Nicholls (2g, 2a) and Michael St. Croix (1g, 3a) each led the team with a career-high four points as Greenville improved to 9-3-0 at SANDLAPPER Securities Rink this season and closed to just four points behind Florida for the top spot in the East Division. Kyle Jean (1g, 2a) and Spencer Humphries (2a) also earned a multi-point game.

In addition, the Road Warriors equaled a season high with eight goals in the contest and fell just one goal shy of tying a franchise record since the team moved to the Upstate in 2010. Greenville notched nine goals on March 17, 2013 at Kalamazoo.

The Road Warriors opened the scoring at 7:22 of the first period when Vinny Saponari scored his ninth goal of the season from Mike Banwell and Trevor Parkes. From the top of the slot, Saponari walked in and pushed a backhand shot from the hash marks past Everblades' goaltender Andy Iles for the 1-0 advantage.

Florida answered at the 11:57 mark when Evan Bloodoff fired a wrister from the high slot past the blocker of Warriors' goaltender Jeff Malcolm for his 10th goal of the season.

Less than four minutes later, Nicholls put Greenville back on top with his seventh goal of the season at the 15:38 mark. From the right side, Jean muscled his way to the circle and sent a backhand pass to the far post, where Nicholls knocked it home for the 2-1 score.

Alex Lavoie evened the game at 2-2 when he capitalized on Jeff Costello's feed from the left circle at 17:22 of the opening frame. Costello flipped it in behind the Road Warriors' defense for Lavoie on the right side, who sent a quick shot past Malcolm as he was knocked to the ice for his seventh goal of the season.

Greenville regained the lead for a third time at 6:40 of the second period courtesy of Bretton Cameron's first goal as the captain of the Road Warriors. With St. Croix in the box for hooking and Florida's power play coming to a close, Cameron blocked a shot at the high slot before Jean poked a loose puck back to Cameron for a breakaway chance. Picking up speed through the Everblades' zone, Cameron ripped a forehand shot, blocker side past Iles for the 3-2 lead.

Back-to-back goals for the Everblades' put the visitors on top for the first time in the contest beginning with Bloodoff's second of the game at 7:27 of the second period. After receiving a pass from Mike Aviani, Bloodoff took an off-balance shot from between the circles that beat Malcolm low for his 11th goal this season. Alex Aleardi made it 4-3 at 15:38 of the middle frame when he scored his seventh goal of the season from Artem Sergeev and Bobby Preece.

With just 20 seconds to play in the second period, the Road Warriors made it 4-4 with a power play goal from Chris McCarthy. Five seconds after Chris Kushneriuk was boxed for cross-checking, Tyler Brown won a faceoff in the Florida zone that slid to McCarthy at the high slot, who fired a one-time slap shot for his seventh goal of the season.

The Road Warriors took the lead for good at 9:26 of the third period when Nicholls earned his second goal of the contest. From the right side, St. Croix played the puck to the doorstep where Nicholls punched it home underneath Iles for his eighth goal of the season.

Greenville closed out the game with three more goals in the final eight minutes beginning with Emerson Clark's team-leading 10th of the season. After receiving a pass from Humprhies, Clark squeaked his way to the hash marks between a pair of Everblades' skaters and wristed a shot past Iles' blocker at the 12:37 mark. St. Croix made it 7-4 when he buried a rebound from the hash marks following Nicholls' shot at 13:43. Jean capped the scoring with his ninth goal of the season at 16:01 on a backhand flick from the doorstep.

The game also included a pair of fights and 64 combined penalty minutes. Just 1:32 into the first period, Clark dropped the gloves with Tyson Gimblett before Cameron went head-to-head with Brant Harris at 8:18 of the second.

Greenville finished the game 1-for-4 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill. Between the pipes, Malcolm (12-6-0) made 36 saves for the victory, while Iles (4-4-0) stopped 35 saves in the loss.

The Road Warriors outshot Florida 43-40.

Follow: Keep up with the Road Warriors all season long and interact with other fans on the Official Road Warriors Facebook, Twitter, Pintrest and Instagram pages.

The Road Warriors continue a season-long, 12-game home stand at SANDLAPPER Securities Rink tomorrow with a 7:00 p.m. rematch against the Florida Everblades. The first 1,000 fans in attendance will receive a FREE pair of Warriors' texting gloves presented by FOX Carolina and My 102.5 FM. For tickets or more information, please call a Road Warriors Account Executive at 864-674-PUCK or visit GreenvilleRoadWarriors.com/tickets-overview.html ! Go to ECHL.TV to listen for free or watch the game live.

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