By ANDY KENT
Naples Daily News

Trying to identify a pivotal moment over the course of a 72-game hockey season
is not easy.

Teams usually point to one game or a key pickup on the personnel front as having
been the turning point one way or another. In the case of this year's Florida
Everblades, they likely will look back on the frantic final two minutes of
Saturday night's 4-3 victory over the Charlotte Checkers at Germain Arena.

By killing off a 5-on-3 power play, the Everblades preserved a two-game sweep of
its rival in the South Division of the ECHL's American Conference and took with
them a large helping of positive momentum on their longest road trip of the
season. The six-game swing through the Carolinas begins tonight in Greenville at
7:05 against the Grrrowl at the BI- LO Center.

"What was going through my mind was just let's kill this and win this game,"
said Everblades head coach Gerry Fleming, who had a chance to talk to his
players during a Checkers timeout before the two-man advantage began. "I just
said be in the shooting lanes, good sticks, front shots, don't get too high,
stay tight to the house, and if you get a chance to clear the puck, clear the
puck. Don't panic, and K-Wol (goaltender Craig Kowalski) came up big."

Florida (6-3-0) is a solid 6-1-0 at home, but 0-2 on the road after being swept
by the Gwinnett Gladiators 10 days ago. The team is closer to getting healthy
and a bit more stable after a slew of call-ups and injuries.

But after a difficult schedule in terms of being able to find any rhythm ? the
Blades started the season a week late because of Hurricane Wilma and played a
total of nine games in a month, this two-week scramble definitely will be a
test.

"We wanted to come off the two losses in Gwinnett and get two victories before
we started a long road trip and we did it," said Ernie Hartlieb, a veteran
forward and assistant captain. "The theory is win the home games and try to get
a split on the road, so we're taking care of business here at home, we've just
got to take care of business now on the road."

Those six games will take place in an eight-day span against four very good
teams ? Greenville, Charlotte, the Columbia Inferno and the South Carolina
Stingrays. The Grrrowl (6-4-0) are tied with Florida for third place in the
division with 12 points, and Columbia (8-4-1) is in first with 17 points. The
Inferno host the Blades on Wednesday night.

One of the two off days for the team is Thursday, which is Thanksgiving, and
then it's three games in three nights at Charlotte (Friday), back at Greenville
on Saturday and against South Carolina in North Charleston on Sunday. The trip
concludes a week from today at South Carolina (Nov. 29).

"This is going to be a hard road trip, especially for the young guys that didn't
do this last year," Kowalski said. "The eight or nine of us that were here last
year know what it's all about, and it's going to be an eye-opener for the young
guys. This is where you learn how to take care of yourself after games, and
hopefully we can come out with four or five wins this week."

CHANGES, WHAT CHANGES?: Everblades veteran forward Bogdan Rudenko hadn't played
in a game before last Friday since last May's American Conference Finals against
Florida, when he played for Charlotte.

The 28-year-old native of Kazachstan had been keeping in shape while recovering
from a torn ligament in his left thumb, and he contributed with a goal and two
assists on the weekend.

But Rudenko was caught off guard by a few of the rules changes adopted by the
league this season, which were added to mirror some of the ones implemented by
the NHL.
"I took a few long shifts (Saturday) and that icing rule I didn't know about,"
said Rudenko, referring to the rule preventing shift changes by the team that
has iced the puck. "I iced it a couple of times and they kept me out there for a
couple of minutes, and that really killed the legs."

Rudenko should be able to adjust quickly with so many games coming up in a such
a short period of time.

BY THE NUMBERS: Forward Steve Saviano leads the team in scoring with 14 points
(5 goals, 9 assists) and is managed to crack the ECHL's top 20 despite playing
fewer games than everybody ahead of him. He is tied with several players for
20th and leads the league in shorthanded goals and points with three.

Veteran defenseman Ryan Brindley is tied for the league lead in shorthanded
assists with two, rookie defenseman Martin Tuma is second among rookies in minor
penalties with 13 and Kowalski is 19th among goaltenders with a 2.76
goals-against-average.

The team ranks 10th on the penalty kill at 83.6 percent (killing 46 of 55
penalties) and 21st on the power play at 13.2 percent (7 of 53).

CATCHING UP WITH OLD FRIENDS: Former Everblades forward Eric Manlow is off to an
explosive start in the American Hockey League with the Grand Rapids Griffins.
Manlow, who has appeared in 37 NHL games and played for Florida in 1999-2000,
has scored 21 points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 21 games, tied for fifth in the
league. One of the players he is tied with is Lowell's Keith Aucoin, older
brother of current Everblades forward Phil Aucoin, who played in one game for
Florida in 2001-02.

AROUND THE ECHL: Idaho's Garrett Bembridge leads the league in scoring with 21
points (9 goals, 12 assists) in 14 games. Utah's Matt Craig is the leader in
goals scored with 10, Idaho's D'Arcy McConvey leads in assists with 13 and
Toledo's Adam Keefe is the leader in penalty minutes with 80.

Florida had 6,180 on Friday and 6,868 on Saturday to raise its average
attendance from 5,869 to 6,056 and move into fourth place in the ECHL, which has
seen an increase of just over 1.5 percent from last season to 4,253 per game.
Charlotte, which leads the league with 8,317 per game, plays the second game at
the new Bobcats Arena on Tuesday when it hosts Gwinnett.

The ECHL's top four power-play teams are in the National Conference while the
top four penalty-killing teams are in the American Conference.

Former Peoria goaltender Curtis Sanford was named Defensive Player of the Week
by the National Hockey League on Monday.

Sanford, who was the starting goaltender for the Northern Conference in the 2002
ECHL All-Star Game, was 2-0-0 with a shutout, a goals-against average of 1.00
and a save percentage of .971 for the St. Louis Blues.

The ECHL announced on Monday that it has fined the Toledo Storm an undisclosed
amount for unprofessional conduct and actions by the organization during ECHL
Game No. 142 vs. Johnstown on Nov. 19. No details were available.

Blades (6-3-0) at Grrrowl (6-4-0)

What: Florida Everblades at Greenville Grrrowl
When: Tonight, 7:05
Where: BI-LO Center, Greenville, S.C.
Radio: SportsRadio 770-ESPN (WWCN-AM-770)

Blades schedule
Here is the upcoming schedule of games for the Florida Everblades, all on the
road:

Today: vs. Greenville Grrrowl at the BI-LO Center in Greenville, S.C., 7:05 p.m.
Wednesday: vs. Columbia Inferno at the Carolina Coliseum in Columbia, S.C., 7:05
p.m.
Friday: vs. Charlotte Checkers at Charlotte Bobcats Arena in Charlotte, N.C., 7
p.m.
Saturday: vs. Greenville Grrrowl at the BI-LO Center in Greenville, S.C., 7:05
p.m.

November 22, 2005


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]