NORTH CHARLESTON , S.C. – The race in the ECHL Eastern Conference South Division continues to be close as both Florida and South Carolina posted wins Wednesday night in ECHL action. South Carolina closed out its six game road trip with a 2-1 win in Greenville against the division leading Road Warriors. The win improved the Stingrays’ record to 27-19-2 (56 points). Meanwhile the Florida EverBlades won on the road in Cincinnati, beating the Cyclones 4-2. The win gave Florida 59 points and a record of 28-22-3. Greenville (29-17-2) with 60 points retains a one point lead over Florida. Gwinnett is in fourth place in the division having fallen off the pace a bit as their record has slipped to 20-21-7 (47 points). Florida has played five more games than their division counterparts. Florida has 19 games left on the schedule while the remaining South Division teams have 24 games remaining. Since many of the remaining games are intra-divisional tilts, there is room for a lot of movement in the South Division standings. Gwinnett although currently in last place in the South Division, would still qualify for one of the eight Eastern Conference playoff slots, if the season ended today. The Gladiators are in sixth place overall in the conference in a very tight grouping of teams vying for the final playoff slots. The South Division teams all appear to be threats to not only make the playoffs, but also appear capable of going deep into post season play. Historically playoff rosters get solidified by the return of many of the players who are currently in the AHL. The goal then for each team is to make the playoffs, finish as high as possible to gain home ice advantage and a favorable draw in the chase for the Kelly Cup and look for the return from the AHL of many of their key components. Team highlights as of February 9 follow: Greenville Road Warriors- 48 games played, (29-17-2) 60 points: The Road Warriors are 5-5-0 over their last ten games however a dominating start to the season has been helpful, as call ups and injuries have cooled the team’s momentum a bit. To date they have allowed the fewest goals against in the Eastern Conference. They are averaging 3,490 fans per home game after their relocation to Greenville from Johnstown PA after last season. On offense, Greenville is currently led by forward Mark Voakes with 45 points including 15 goals. Connor Shields (14-g, 22-a) 36 points and Jimmy Kilpatrick (8-g, 27-a) 35 points round out the current top scorers. The 26 year old Voakes, who played collegiate hockey in Canada, is in his third professional season. Marc-Olivier Vallerand, a rookie out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockley League, has the team lead in goals scored with 17 among his 34 points. He has skated in 46 contests. The goaltending and the team’s defensive efforts have the Road Warriors posting one of the lowest goals against averages in the league. They currently are allowing just 2.67 goals against per game second best in the ECHL. They are also among the top six teams in goals scored per game averaging 3.33 goals in this category. The goal tending situation is a bit muddled with Evanston, Illinois product Dov Grumet-Morris on call up to the American Hockey league. The former North American Hockey League junior player has appeared in 24 games. He has a record of 15-8-1 and sterling goals against average of 2.32 and a sparkling save percentage of 0.922. Beloiel, Quebec native and goal tender Nic Riopel, who is 12-8-2 while appearing in goal in 21 games, has a save percentage of 0.910 and a goals against average of 2.75. Veteran pro defenseman T. J. Reynolds leads the team and the ECHL in penalty minutes with 148 minutes over 47 games. Reynolds has a nice plus/minus rating of 11 to go with his ten assists. Florida EverBlades-53 games played, (28-22-3) 59 points: Florida is currently drawing and average of 4,860 fans per game with a team that features the league’s leading scorer in Francis Lemieux. The Sherbrook, Quebec forward has netted 27 goals and 39 assists in 51 games. In addition to Lemieux’s scoring prowess ‘Blades forward Mitch Fadden, a fourth round draft choice of the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2007 entry draft, has racked up 51 points, including 15 goals in 37 games with Florida this season. He played in the American Hockey League last season with Norfolk. Additionally, Andre Imbeault who came over in a trade from Alaska in September, is also a major offensive threat with 27 goals and 13 assists in 39 games. Former Augusta Lynx and South Carolina Stingrays’ goal tender Bobby Goepferth has appeared in 35 games for the ‘Blades posting a record of 19-11-3, coupled with a goals against average of 2.80 and a save percentage of 0.916. His partner in goal Jaroslav Janus has backstopped the team in 21 games stopping 0.913 percent of the shots he has faced while allowing an average of 2.93 goals against. Florida 5-4-1 in their last ten games is getting defensive leadership from Bobby Raymond who played in France last year. The defenseman is up to 22 in the plus/minus category and has chipped in four goals and 18 assists this campaign. He is joined in positive plus/minus territory by David Fisher, who has 21 points including three goals while registering a +16 rating. Fisher, age 22, is a rookie out of the University of Minnesota. He was a first round draft choice of the Montreal Canadians in the 2006 entry draft. South Carolina Stingrays-48 games played, (27-19-2) 56 points: The Stingrays, who started the season badly, have righted the ship and climbed back into the South Division race. The slow start and major construction at the North Charleston Coliseum may have cost them in the area of early season attendance as a team which has never drawn less than a 5,000 average per game is currently averaging 3,144 per game. It is in the bottom third of the league in the number of fans drawn. They are getting great offensive contributions from forwards Rob Ricci with 19 goals and 40 points, veteran Tommy Goebel with 36 points including 11 goals and fan favorite Pierre-Luc O’Brien, who has 32 points including 11 goals. Ricci has a plus/minus rating of ten in 48 games, to lead his team in this category. Team stats suggest that the team has been winning on defense. They have the second lowest goals for average in the ECHL, scoring only 2.81 goals per game. They have scored and allowed the same number of goals, 135, thus also have a 2.81 goals against average. This has been trending positive as the ‘Rays have improved their playoff positioning. The goal tending situation in South Carolina is currently unsettled. Both of their regular goal tenders are currently on long term call ups with Hershey in the AHL. Veteran net minder Todd Ford and Jared DeMichiel carried the load in net until the call-ups. The rookie DeMichiel had posted a record of 14-8, with a goals against average of 2.63 and a save percentage of 0.915. Ford was sitting on a 2.69 goals against average and a save percentage of 0.903, when he went to Hershey. In the interim, South Carolina has signed Shane Owen, whom played in the QMJHL last season and called up Andrew Loewen from Columbus of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Loewen is 1-1 in two games, while Owen won his first appearance against Greenville Wednesday night. On the blue line, defenseman Josh Godfrey leads the ECHL in goals by d-men with 13 strikes this season. Bryan Schmidt and Patrick Cullity are the top plus/minus defensemen with Schmidt at seven while Cullity is a positive eight. Gwinnett Gladiators-48 games played, (20-21-3) 47 points: The Gladiators continue to draw well, despite their last place position in the division. They are averaging 5,132 per game good for the fourth best attendance in the ECHL. They have consistently been among the league’s attendance leaders since they entered the ECHL. They have been hit hard by call ups, as a number of their former offensive leaders are currently playing in the AHL. Currently forward Michael Forney leads the team in scoring with 44 points including 11 goals. Pat Galivan (9-g, 25-a) with 34 points and Andy Brandt (12-g, 12-a) 24 points round out the team scoring leaders. The bulk of the goal tending duties have been handled by Chris Carrozzi, who boasts 3.15 goals against average and a 0.896 save percentage. Second year professional Billy Sauer has played in 18 games, posting a goals against average of 2.96 and a save percentage of 0.907. Veteran defenseman Paul Flache, who is in his ninth pro-season and who rejoined the Gladiators after three seasons in Germany, leads the defensive corps with 15 points including five goals in 45 game appearances. Contact the author at Phil.Brand@prohockeynews.com
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