Greenville wins first round series

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Football has post-season bowls, baseball has the World Series, basketball has March Madness and in the NBA, “The Finals” and hockey well it is simply called “playoff hockey.” For the casual fan, they may not understand that there is a distinct difference between hockey and “playoff hockey.” Playoff hockey happens between April and June and is what all big-time hockey fans wait for all year long.
 
Teams claw through a long and grueling regular season just to make the playoffs and have a chance at such prizes like the NHL’s Stanley Cup, the Calder Cup in AHL, and in the ECHL teams covet the Kelly Cup. Squads turn up the defensive game and do all they can to limit shots on their goal, goaltenders make spectacular saves, and tied games can go into the middle of the night until a winner is decided.
 
All of the above and more make up playoff hockey.
         
For fans in both Greenville and Elmira, that is exactly what has been witnessed in both cities in the first round of the 2011 Kelly Cup playoffs. The first two games of the series, although both high scoring, were very tough games. Game three saw Greenville maintain a 1-0 lead throughout the game until a late empty net goal made the final 2-0, giving Greenville the team’s first ever playoff win on the home ice.
         
Game four of Saturday, April 9, served as a prime example of what “playoff hockey” is all about.
 
The first period started with Elmira and Greenville seem to just try to feel each other out, just like two heavyweight fighters circling a boxing ring before the first punch is thrown. Elmira struck first when team captain Yannick Tifu was able to score on Greenville’s Chris Beckford-Tseu off a pass from Ryan Hillier at 9:29 of the first period.
 
The team’s settled in for the remainder of the first period and skated to the first intermission with Elmira up 1-0.
 
Greenville came out of the locker rooms determined to tie the game up and the Road Warriors did just that when Andrew Rowe scored off a pass from Sam Klassen at just the fifty-eight second mark of the second period.
 
The goaltenders took over the game and did not allow another goal in regulation. Greenville’s defense did another great job just as they did in game three of keeping Elmira’s offense at bay by only allowing the Jackals nineteen shots on Chris Beckford-Tseu during regulation.
 
Elmira’s Marco Cosineau seemed to stop everything the Road Warriors threw at him as he took on thirty-three shots in regulation play. Elmira and Greenville took a 1-1 tie into the first overtime period of the series.
 
The teams came back onto the ice following a fifteen minute intermission, both with one task in mind, score a goal and win the game. Overtime playoff hockey has not been uncommon to fans in both Elmira and Greenville, as the two longest overtime games have ties to the game of Saturday night. The longest game overtime playoff game in ECHL history was recorded on April 10, 2009, when the same Elmira Jackals defeated the Trenton Titans in Trenton, NJ. The game was won by Elmira, with a goal coming at the 6:10 mark of the game’s fourth overtime. The second longest overtime game was recorded in Greenville, back on May 5, 2000, when Greenville’s old ECHL team the Grrrowl, defeated the Louisiana Ice Gators with a goal coming at the 1:24 mark also in the fourth overtime period.
 
With that in mind, the teams took the ice in the first overtime period. Greenville seemed to have the upper hand with numerous shots on Elmira’s goal, but could never drive a puck past Marco Cosineau.
 
Elmira and Greenville entered into a second overtime period still tied at one. Finally, at the 6:22 mark of the second overtime period, Greenville’s Sean Berkstresser was able to find the back of the Elmira net after getting the puck from a Chris McKelvie face-off pass, giving the Road Warriors the 2-1 win, and even more important allowing Greenville to win the first round series 3-1.
 
Greenville moves on to face the Wheeling Nailers in a best of seven semi-final series, starting on Thursday, April 14 at the BILO Center in Greenville.
  Contact author at ryan.kouvolo@prohockeynews.com