October 16, 1998
SCORE BY PERIODS
Charlotte 2 2 2—6
Greenville 2
3 4—9
FIRST PERIOD – Scoring: 1, Greenville-Moxham 1 (Kolenda)
3:41.
2, Greenville-Scharf 1 (Moxham) 9:00. 3, Charlotte-Aube 1
(power play)
(Kane) 15:41. 4, Charlotte-Sim 1 (power play)
(Noren, Brosseau) 16:31.
Penalties: Mulvihill, GR (hooking),
:58. Heil, CH (gross misconduct), 4:20.
Paquette, GR (roughing),
4:40. Pepperall, GR (roughing), 9:36. Sim, CH (high
sticking),
9:50. Seher, CH (roughing), 11:00. Noren, CH (roughing), 11:45.
Johnson, GR (fighting, major), 14:28. Norrie, CH (fighting,
major), 14:28.
Blessman, GR (interference), 14:28. Paquette,
GR (roughing), 14:50. Payne, GR (unsportsmanlike
conduct),
14:50. Paquette, GR (roughing), 18:44. Sittler, CH (fighting,
major),
20:00. Kolenda, GR (fighting, major), 20:00.
SECOND PERIOD – Scoring: 5, Greenville-Johnson 1
(power play)
(Stewart) 3:06. 6, Greenville-Payne 1 (short handed) (unassisted)
6:34. 7, Charlotte-Sim 2 (power play) (Noren) 10:45. 8, Charlotte-
Noren 1 (power
play) (Aube, Sim) 13:15. 9, Greenville-Mulvihill 1
(Bailley) 18:49. Penalties—Battaglia,
CH (tripping), 1:08.
Mulvihill, GR (charging), 5:51. Bailley, GR (slashing),
9:43.
Olsen, CH (roughing), 9:43. Kolenda, GR (slashing, unsportsmanlike
conduct), 10:17. Paquette, GR (roughing), 12:33. Best, GR (cross
checking),
12:52. Norrie, CH (interference), 13:30. Paquette, GR
(misconduct), 13:30.
Sittler, CH
(misconduct) 13:30. Pronin, CH
(tripping), 19:59.
THIRD
PERIOD – Scoring: 10, Greenville-Stewart 1 (Scharf) 7:39.
11, Greenville-Pepperall
1 (game winner) (short handed) (Judson)
9:57. 12, Charlotte-Sychra 1 (Battaglia)
10:40. 13, Greenville-
Alvey 1 (Bailley) 11:05. 14, Charlotte-Brownlee 1 (Sittler)
19:29.
15, Greenville-Pepperall 2 (unassisted) 19:58. Penalties—Heil, CH
(roughing), 4:12. Venedam, GR (interference), 4:12. Pepperall, GR
(tripping),
5:05. Paquette, GR (tripping), 13:20. Norrie, CH
(fighting, major), 17:29.
Paquette, GR (fighting, major,
unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:29.
SHOTS
ON GOAL
Charlotte 10
9 14—33
Greenville
17 14
12—43
Goalies:
Charlotte-Heil (43 shots, 34 saves; record: 0-1-0).
Greenville-Vitucci (33
shots, 27 saves; record: 1-0-0).
A: 14,108.
A story that began more than two
years ago when Carl Scheer purchased a franchise in the East Coast
Hockey League
added a colorful chapter Friday night.
In a 9-6 victory against Charlotte, the Grrrowl officially became the
ECHL’s 26th team – and one of the
best supported.
A sellout crowd of 14,108, the largest opening night audience in the
ECHL’s 11-year history, watched the
Bi-Lo Center’s first regular-season
sporting event. The fans came expecting goals and fights, not necessarily
in
that order, and they weren’t disappointed.
Ryan Stewart, one of eight Ontario natives among the 16 uniformed Grrrowl,
smacked a 50-foot shot into the
net with the game less than four minutes old to
register the franchise’s first goal. The biggest goal came with
1:11 left in
the second period, when Dana Mulvihill took a short pass from Paul Bailley and
scored to break a
4-4 tie.
The Grrrowl cruised from there, scoring three goals in the first 11
minutes of the third period to seal the victory.
The first fight came with 5:32 left in the first period, when Greenville
defenseman Andy Johnson sparred with
Charlotte’s Martin Sychra. A more intense
one came as the period ended, with the “Rocky” theme song blaring
above a
Mike Kolenda-Ryan Sittler brawl that took both players to the ice.
“I thought we put on a pretty good first show,” Grrrowl defenseman
John Blessman said. “But we can’t bank
on getting nine goals every night.”
Coach John Marks expressed similar thoughts.
“I marvel at the fact we had nine goals,” Marks said, “but I was
disappointed at the lack of discipline that put us
a man down and sometimes two
men down.”
“They scored five of their goals when we were short handed. (Goalie)
Nick Vitucci played well, but six goals
doesn’t reflect that.”
A crowd that seemed quiet for much of the early action voiced its
approval of the fights.
Greenville had 42 shots on goal, 12 more than the Checkers, and was the
aggressor most of the night.
Greenville outshot the more tentative Checkers 17-10 in the first period,
which ended in a 2-2 tie. The Grrrowl
surged to a 4-2 lead in the first seven
minutes of the second period on goals by Andy Johnson and Davis Payne.
Payne,
who played in 15 games for the NHL Boston Bruins in 1997, scored his goal on a
breakaway that came
while the Grrrowl were short handed.
But the Grrrowl, playing much of the period with men in the penalty box,
gave up two goals within a three minute
short handed flurry late in the second
period.