ROAD WARRIORS WEEKLY #28: 4/25/11-5/1/11 

GREENVILLE, SC – The Greenville Road Warriors won one of three games in Wheeling last week in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Nailers. With those results the Road Warriors trail the series three games to two with Game Six, and possibly Game Seven, coming up this week in Greenville.

Kelly Cup Playoffs Record: 5-4-0

Regular Season Record: 46-22-4, 96 pts., 1st place South Division
Kelly Cup Playoffs Leaders:
Goals –Brendan Connolly/Shane Harper: 4
Assists – Justin Bowers: 9
Points – Justin Bowers: 10
+/- – Brad Cole: +6
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 43
PPG –Brandon Wong: 2
SHG – None
Wins – Nic Riopel: 3
GAA – Chris Beckford-Tseu: 1.59
SVP – Nic Riopel: .924

Regular Season Leaders:
Goals –Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 28
Assists – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 44
Points – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 63
+/- – Brendan Connolly: +28
PIMs – T.J. Reynolds: 206
PPG – Jimmy Kilpatrick: 12
SHG – Marc-Olivier Vallerand: 4
Wins – Nic Riopel: 24
GAA – Dov Grumet-Morris: 2.32
SVP – Dov Grumet-Morris: .922

This Week:
4/26 vs. Wheeling, 7:35 p.m. – Regular Season Record: Home (3-0-0), Away (3-0-0)

                                                   Playoff Record: Home (1-1-0), Away (1-2-0)  

The Road Warriors and Nailers are playing in the only conference semifinal series that hasn’t ended in a sweep, and the Road Warriors will try to extend the series to a seventh game on Tuesday night. Greenville has yet to lead the series against Wheeling after dropping Game One at home and then falling in Games Three and Four at WesBanco Arena last week. In the playoffs, Greenville is 3-1-0 on home ice and has held opponents to an average of 1.5 goals per game. Wheeling, meanwhile, has yet to lose in regulation on the road during the playoffs. Its lone loss away from home was in overtime of Game Two in Greenville. The series between the Road Warriors and Nailers has been excruciatingly tight with four of the five games decided by one goal, three games in which the game winning goal was scored in the third period or overtime, and an average margin of victory of 1.6.

Day by Day:
Mon. 4/25: Practice at the BI-LO Center, 11:00 a.m.
Tues. 4/26: Road Warriors vs. Nailers, 7:35 p.m.

Wed. 4/27: Road Warriors vs. Nailers, 7:35 p.m. (if necessary)

Thurs. 4/28: TBD

Fri. 4/29: TBD
Sat. 4/30: TBD

Sun. 5/1: TBD

Day-by-Day schedule subject to change.
Broadcast Schedule:
Tues. 4/26: Road Warriors vs. Nailers, 7:35 p.m.

Wed. 4/27: Road Warriors vs. Nailers, 7:35 p.m. (if necessary)

All Road Warriors radio broadcasts can be heard online for free courtesy of America One. Point your browser to www.greenvilleroadwarriors.com and click “Listen Live” to join Ray Schmitt on the broadcasts. Road Warriors fans can also watch Internet TV broadcasts of the games by clicking here. All broadcasts begin 15 minutes prior to face off with the Road Warriors Pregame Show. Fans can also email Radio Ray and have their questions read during the broadcast! Send your questions to grwradioray@gmail.com.

Recapping the Series: GRW trails 2 games to 3

4/14 vs. Wheeling: L 3-4

Greenville came out of the gates firing in Game One and grabbed a 1-0 lead just over a minute into the game. Shane Harper banged home his first pro playoff goal off of a set up by Brendan Connolly on a 2-on-1 rush. Wheeling, though, swung momentum in its favor with three straight goals to take a 3-1 lead. Tyler Murovich tied the score at 8:33 of the first and was followed by Joey Haddad’s shorthanded breakaway that beat Chris Beckford-Tseu at 10:45. Marc-Olivier Vallerand chipped a backhander behind Peter Delmas 4:46 into the third period and pulled Greenville back within one. But the deficit grew to two, again, with Murovich’s second of the night 4:56 later. Brendan Connolly netted Greenville’s third of the night 2:22 after Murovich’s score, but Delmas shut the door from there. Beckford-Tseu sustained his first loss of the playoffs with 17 saves on the night. Delmas turned away 33 bids in the win.

4/15 vs. Wheeling: OTW 2-1

Nic Riopel made his first start since taking the decision in the 6-3 loss to Elmira on April, 6 and out-dueled Peter Delmas in a dramatic, low-scoring affair. For the second straight game Shane Harper gave the Road Warriors a 1-0 lead with a first period goal. The goal at 17:33 came with assists from Brendan Connolly and Andrew Rowe. Riopel had 13 saves through two periods, including two during a Wheeling 5-on-3 power play in the second, and Greenville’s lead remained 1-0 heading into the third. The advantage evaporated 42 seconds into the period when Tim Crowder finished off a 2-on-0 break with his brother Paul. It was his first goal of the playoffs. With neither team able to score again in regulation, the scene shifted to overtime. Greenville had a handful of great scoring chances among its eight shots, but Delmas was a tough nut to crack. Finally, at 11:21, Jimmy Kilpatrick spiked home a rebound for the win and evened the series at one game each.

4/20 at Wheeling: L 2-3
In their first road playoff game since April 6, the Road Warriors could not match Wheeling early and fell behind 2-0 within the opening 10 minutes of the first period. Joey Haddad converted a 3-on-2 rush off of a pass from Jason DeSantis 1:06 into the game and then Alex Grant scored an unassisted marker at 9:52. Wheeling kept the advantage despite Greenville holding a 15-9 shot advantage in the period. Greenville’s offense chipped away at the lead in the second with a power play goal from Chris Clackson as part of its 17-shot barrage on Peter Delmas. Then 1:38 into the third Brendan Connolly netted the tying goal by pouncing on a rebound from a Brad Cole point shot. Brandon DeFazio, however, turned out to be the hero with his backhand shot at 10:47 that beat Nic Riopel high to the glove side. Riopel had 21 saves on the night but sustained the loss.
4/22 at Wheeling: L 1-2  The Road Warriors came out of the gate strong and picked up the game’s first goal for their efforts. Working a strong forecheck, Chris McKelvie and Chris Chappell teamed up to set up Sean Berkstresser in the high slot. His wrist shot beat Peter Delmas 4:40 into the game for Greenville’s 1-0 lead. It was the only lead the Road Warriors held in the game as Andrew Orpik netted the tying score at 9:35 of the first. Orpik batted his own rebound past Chris Beckford-Tseu after the initial shot was blocked. The score stayed tied heading into the second but Mikael Bedard broke that with a wraparound that rattled home 7:13 into the period. Greenville surged with 13 shots in the third period, but Delmas held Greenville at bay and Wheeling earned the one-goal win.

4/23 at Wheeling: W 5-1

Greenville asserted itself early and often in the first period as the Road Warriors took control in Game Five. Shane Harper tipped in a Marc-Andre Bourdon point shot 1:36 into the first period to establish a 1-0 Greenville lead. The lead grew through the first half of the frame thanks to a 5-on-3 power play goal from Brandon Wong at 6:34 and a four-on-four goal from Justin Bowers at 10:04. Before the frame ended Mikael Bedard pulled Wheeling with two with his second goal in as many games at 16:38. That was as close as the Nailers would get, though, as Marc-Olivier Vallerand (5:57) and Harper (9:17) notched second period scores to stretch the lead to 5-1. Nic Riopel blanked Wheeling in the second and third periods with 22 combined saves and earned his third win of the playoffs.

ONE-TIMERS:
Scoring Streaks:
Goals:

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Assists:

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Points:

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Quick Hits:

· There has not been a power play goal scored by the home team or visiting team at the BI-LO Center during the 2011 Kelly Cup Playoffs. Teams are a combined 0-for-36 on the man advantage.

· Road Warriors lead the Kelly Cup playoffs in shots with 332, and shots per game with 36.9. Greenville is second in limiting opponents’ shots to 25.9 per game.

· In four Kelly Cup Playoff games at the BI-LO Center, teams are combining to average 3.75 goals per game. The Road Warriors are scoring 2.25 goals per game and giving up 1.5 goals per game.

· Greenville has scored the first goal in six of its nine playoff games. Its record in those games is 4-2-0. Shane Harper leads the Road Warriors with three first goals in the playoffs.

· The Road Warriors lead the Kelly Cup playoffs in penalty minutes (181), minor penalties (48), major penalties (5), and game misconduct penalties (3). Sixty seven of those minutes came in Game Four at Wheeling.

Mark your calendars! Don’t forget about the final games of the series:
The Road Warriors will be hosting pre-game block parties before Game Six and Game Seven (if necessary). Half-priced beer and live music will be there for both parties. For Game Six there are $6 tickets for Upstate students from kindergarten through college, group rates starting for groups as small as five people, and a Two-fer Tuesday which features; two blue-level tickets, two hot dogs, two boxes of popcorn, and two sodas for $30. Both games will start at 7:35 p.m.