GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Greenville Road Warriors and the Wheeling Nailers dropped the puck on Game Six of their semi-final series on Tuesday night at the BI-LO Center in Greenville. For the Road Warriors, a game six will tie the series and force a decisive game seven. The Wheeling Nailers need just one win to advance to the ECHL Conference Finals.
Andrew Carroll and Blake Partlett were back in Greenville uniforms for game six, after both spent time in the AHL.
With a possible elimination on the line, Greenville came out of the gates playing a solid game of hockey.
In just five minutes of play, at 4:56 of the first period and Greenville on their first power play of the game, Greenville left-winger Andrew Carroll was able to tip a shot into the net that was fired of from the point by Marc-Andre Bourdon, which gave the Road Warriors the early lead. A few minutes later, Greenville’s Brendan Connolly scored off a rebound right in front of the Wheeling net at the 6:32 mark.
At that point, Wheeling pulled Peter Delmas out of the net and sent in Patrick Killeen, who saw action for the first time in the playoffs in game five of the series.However the switch in goaltenders did not stop Greenville’s offensive attack, as at the 12:25 mark, Greenville’s Andrew Rowe scored on a break-away after taking a pass from Blake Partlett. Goaltender Nic Riopel was credited with the additional assist on the power play goal.
The goal put Greenville ahead, 3-0, as the teams skated into the first intermission
Both teams came out of the locker rooms skating a very physical game in the second period. At the 5:43 mark, Wheelings Joey Haddad plowed into Greenville goaltender Nic Riopel, knocking the Greenville goalie as well as the net to the ice. This action resulted in a scrum in front of the Greenville net with several players being sent to the box to serve minor penalties.
Shortly after, following a penalty called on Greenville’s Chris McKelvie, Haddad and Greenville’s Brad Cole took each other to the ice again in front of the Greenville net. McKelvie’s penalty gave Wheeling their first power play of the night, however Greenville was able to kill the penalty and return to even strength. Then at the 13:32 mark of the second, Greenville’s Brendan Connolly scored his second goal of the night, giving the Road Warriors a 4-0 lead.
A minute after Connolly’s goal, the Nailers finally got on the board thanks to forward Doug Rogers who scored his first goal of the playoffs off a Peter Merth at 14:34 of the second. Thirty seconds later at the 15:03 mark, with the exact same lines on the ice, Rogers found the back of the net again, which brought the Nailers to within two goals.
With the score 4-2 in favor of the Road Warriors, the teams took to the ice for the third period of play. Both teams seemed to start off the third by taking a more cut and dump, conservative approach. Then, at the 10:44 mark of the period, while Sean Berkstresser was skating away from the play after being hit in the face, Chris McKelvie was able to put Greenville up 5-2 when he lit the lamp off a pass from Andrew Carroll. Sam Klassen was credited with the additional assist on the goal. Wheeling’s Dan Henningson scored at the 16:07 mark of the third, giving the game a 5-3 score.
While Wheeling’s goal was being announced, Greenville’s Marc-Olivier Vallerand scored off a play setup by Andrew Carroll and Justin Bowers, putting Greenville back up by three, 6-3. Wheeling tried to pull Killeen at 18:05 of third, but their plan was thwarted when Brandon DeFazio was called for a minor penalty.
After an impressive offensive performance, Greenville took down the Nailers with a final score of 6-3. The win forces a game seven that will be played Wednesday night in Greenville.
The winner will move on to face Kalamazoo in the ECHL Conference Finals.
Contact author at ryan.kouvolo@prohockeynews.com
