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News & Record Masthead
January 03, 2003

Happy Return For Gardiner

Generals star nets three assists in victory

Pete Gardiner
Florence's Nicolas Corbeil tangles with Greensboro's Pete Gardiner during the first period of the Pride's game against the Generals on Friday night. Gardiner got three assists in Greensboro's come-from-behind 5-3 victory.


Pete Gardiner
Greensboro's Pete Gardiner unleashes a wild shot on goal. The game marked Gardiner's return to Greensboro after three months in the AHL. The victory put the Generals just two points out of first place in the Southern Division.




Generals make 3rd-period surge

Generals - 5
Pride - 3

By LARRY KEECH
Staff Writer

GREENSBORO - For the Greensboro Generals, a hockey team in the throes of a mild scoring slump, Friday looked like one of those unwelcome nights with the scoreboard clock winding into the waning minutes of a game against the Florence Pride.

Two many of the Generals' shots had hit the goalposts or had been subjected to improbable saves by Don Lombard, and Greensboro's defense had surrendered too many breakaways when they found themselves trailing one of the weaker teams in the ECHL's Southern Division by two goals with less than 15 minutes remaining in the third period.

Even Generals coach Rick Adduono was sympathetic enough to curb his usual invective after watching his team manage only one goal in its previous five periods of action.

Then, somehow, the Generals found the scoring range and pulled off a 5-3 win.

"As mad as I was about how things were going, I told them to just keep playing, to have fun and be creative," Adduono said after the game. "I mixed up lines and double-shifted, just trying to find something to energize them."

As it turned out, all it took was one slump-snapping goal.

It began with an entry pass from defenseman Geno Parrish to left winger Matt Turek, who passed to Eric Fortier, then took a return pass near the right side of the crease. Turek flipped a shot through the narrow opening between Lombard's left shoulder and the post to cut the Generals' deficit to 3-2 with 13:42 left to play.

Suddenly, the Generals gave the Greensboro Coliseum crowd of 3,646 three more chances to cheer, with three more goals in 'the final minutes.

Pete Gardiner, one of the Generals' leading scorers last season, returned from a tour of duty in the AHL to match captain Mark Turner's total of three assists Friday night.

Contact Larry Keech at 373-7080 or lkeech@news-record.com



GENERALS REPORT

Generals - 5
Pride - 3

INSIDER

Site: Greensboro Coliseum
Why the Generals won: Patience. After scoring only one goal in the previous five periods, they broke out of the slump with a four-goal flurry in the last 13 minutes to overcome a 3.1 deficit against one of the weaker teams in the ECHL's Southern Division.
Three stars: No. 3 - After he was beaten twice for goals within a minute during the second period, Greensboro's Daniel Berthiaume stopped several breakaways down the stretch. No. 2 - Florence center Nicolas Corbeil scored two goals before Berthiaume stopped him on a late breakaway attempt. No. 1 - In his first game since returning from the AHL, Pete Gardiner notched three assists, as did captain Mark Turner.