GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Greenville Road Warriors and the Wheeling Nailers are set to begin their best-of-seven conference semi-final series on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at the BI-LO Center in Greenville, S.C.
Following a thrilling 2-1 overtime victory to defeat the Elmira Jackals and win the first round series 3-1, the top-seeded Road Warriors are ready and eagerly waiting for the puck to drop on the coming series. After playing two stellar games, Greenville goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu finished the first round with a .978 aggregate and went forty-four for forty-five over both games.
The Wheeling Nailers are coming off of a 3-1 series win over the South Carolina Stingrays, which included two overtime wins. Entering the semi-final round, the Nailers boast two of the top ten leading scorers in the ECHL playoffs in Paul Crowder and Joey Haddad, both posting five points in their four games against the Stingrays. 
Crowder leads the league in the post-season in power play goals with 4. Wheeling last made the post season following the 2008-2009 regular season, when the team was defeated in the first round by the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Greenville and Wheeling faced each other six times during the 2010-2011 regular season, with each team welcoming the other to their home ice three times. Greenville won each game, including a 2-0 shutout victory back on November 28, 2010. The most recent game in the series was played on February, 27, 2011 resulting in a 4-2 Greenville victory on the road at WesBanco Arena. During the regular season series with Wheeling, the Road Warriors were led in scoring by Jimmy Kilpartrick, who posted eleven points off two goals and nine assists against the Nailers. Greenville’s top goal scorers against Wheeling were Marc-Olivier Vallerand and Brendan Connolly both with four goals each.
The semi-final series schedule is as follows:
Game 1 – Apr 14 Wheeling at Greenville 7:35 PM EDT
Game 2 – Apr 15 Wheeling at Greenville 7:35 PM EDT
Game 3 – Apr 20 Greenville at Wheeling 7:05 PM EDT
Game 4 – Apr 22 Greenville at Wheeling 7:35 PM EDT
Game 5 – Apr 23 Greenville at Wheeling 7:35 PM EDT (if necessary)
Game 6 – Apr 26 Wheeling at Greenville 7:35 PM EDT (if necessary)
Game 7 – Apr 27 Wheeling at Greenville 7:35 PM EDT (if necessary)
If both teams continue playing the style of game as they did in the first round, then a full seven game series would not be surprising.
Contact author at ryan.kouvolo@prohockeynews.com
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