Greenville looking for a strong “March” to the post season

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Greenville Road Warriors came roaring into the month of March like a lion, with an over-time win against the Trenton Devils on Friday, March 4, 2011. The Road Warrior’s leading scorer Mark Voakes gave Greenville the 3-2 win when he scored off a pass from Marc-Andre Bourdon. The goal gave Voakes his sixth game-winning goal of the season, and added yet another game to Greenville’s win column.
 
The Road Warriors welcomed the Elmira Jackals to the BI-LO Center for the first time this season for a weekend tilt on Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6. The Jackals came into the game on Saturday night riding a four game winning streak, after General Manager Robbie Nichols replaced Malcolm Cameron as the team’s coach. The Elmira squad boasts two of the ECHL’s top scorers in forward Justin Donati and Yannick Tifu. The Road Warriors and the Jackals split the set by winning one game each, with the Road Warriors snapping Elmira’s four game streak with a win on March 5 and the Jackals taking the win on March 6.
 

 The Greenville squad travels to Estero, Florida for a weekend series, March 12 and 13, against division rival Florida. The Florida has treated the Road Warriors well, as the team has a 4-1-1 record at Germain Arena thus far. Despite the team’s one point loss to Elmira, Coach Stork is satisfied with what he has seen on the ice lately. “The guys are competing and playing hard,” said Road Warriors Head Coach Dean Stork. ”Overall, I like the way the team is playing. We need to keep our focus and be committed to the eleven games that we have left. We can’t start looking ahead and leave potential wins on the ice, as we are in a tight race to stay on top of the division.” It is evident that the players are just as committed to the task at hand as their coach, including rookie forward Marc-Olivier Vallerand. “We need to be focused on winning the games we have left, and take it one game at a time,” said Vallerand.      
 
Following the team’s weekend series in Florida, The Road Warriors return to the home ice the following weekend for a three game series against the Cincinnati Cyclones. Following that weekend series, the remaining Road Warrior schedule looks like this :
 
3/22/2011 away at South Carolina
3/24/2011 home vs. Reading
3/27/2011 away at South Carolina
3/31/2011 home vs. Gwinnett
4/1/2011 away vs. Gwinnett
 
The Road Warriors will finish their inaugural season at home on April 2, 2011 against the Gwinnett Gladiators.
 
The playoffs and a good seed look to be in the grasp of the first year club, but for Dean Stork and the rest of the team there are eleven more games to play before they will even think about the playoffs.
 
Contact the writer at ryan.kouvolo@prohockeynews.com.