So Many Spooky Successes: This weekend, the Savannah Ghost Pirates played three games: two at home and one away. On Friday, they played against the 4th-placed team in the Southern Division – the Atlanta Gladiators; on Saturday and Sunday, they played the Greenville Swamp Rabbits. While the Savannah Ghost Pirates haven’t been able to hold many strong win streaks this season, they are currently on a streak of three wins and a home game-winning streak of five at Enmarket Arena. In addition to the players’ fantastic job, Savannah’s fans all helped the SGP make a huge accomplishment. On Friday, the Ghost Pirates met the ECHL record for single-season sellouts, and they broke it on Sunday, April 2, with 32/35 of their home games being sold out. There’s doubt, the final game on April 15 will also sell out, bringing Savannah’s inaugural season to a close in a full house as they will face the Orlando Solar Bears.
Friday, March 31 – Gladiators Walk the Plank: The Atlanta Gladiators are currently in fourth place in the race for the Southern DDivision’splayoff spots. While the Savannah Ghost Pirates won’t be seen in playoffs this season, they helped make it very hard for the Gladiators to progress as they helped start Atlanta’s losing streak for the weekend. Pat Guay started the night off in Savannah’s favor with a goal assisted by Ross Armour at 2:15 into the first period. Daniel D’Amato finished the first with the second and last goal of the whole period on assists from Alex Swetlikoff and Brent Pederson at 15:08 in the game. In the second period, they consisted of two Savannah goals and a single one from Atlanta. Vincent Marleau got one of the two with help from Logan Drevitch and Tristan Thompson. The second was scored by Daniel D’Amato again with the same help he had on his first goal – Alex Swetlikoff and Brent Pederson. Michael Bullion was in net and made 30 saves out of the 33 shots he faced.
Swetlikoff led the team in shots for the game as he had seven, Marleau and D’Amato each had four, and Corcoran had three. Daniel D’Amato got the game’s first star, one of Atlanta’s players snagged the second, and Vincent Marleau got the third. Atlanta finished being two for five on the powerplay, while Savannah was only one for four. Savannah won with a final score of 4-3, and they also beat Atlanta 36-33 in shots on goal.
Saturday, April 1 – No April Fools’ Tricks in Greenville: The Ghost Pirates traveled to Greenville to take on the Swamp Rabbits right after their home victory. The game started in favor of the Swamp Rabbits as they led the first two periods with a score of 1-0. It wasn’t until the 3rd period that Savannah finally found the back of the net, which they did twice. Carter Long put the Ghost Pirates on the board 4:17 into the last period with his first professional goal as his parents were there to watch. Alex Swetlikoff ensured the regulation win with his goal with less than 10 minutes on the clock. Matt Brassard and Troy Lajeunesse got both assists on Savannah’s goals. While the Swamp Rabbits lost the game, they out-shot the Ghost Pirates 35-30. Michael Bullion was in goal for the second night in a row, saving 34 out of the 35 shots he had taken on him. Swetlikoff and Bullion were the only two Savannah players among the game’s three stars, getting the first and second. Swetlikoff also led in shots again with five, Corcoran had foru, Marleau, Brassard, & Naas had three. Colin Doyle and Alex Swetlikoff were the only two Ghost Pirates in the box, each serving 2 mins.
Sunday, April 2 – 3rd Win in a Row: On their last game of the weekend, the Ghost Pirates played Greenville again at home and won. During this game, it was announced that the SGP had officially broken the ECHL record for single-season sellouts, which they had met on Friday. Savannah started with a goal 3:35 minutes into the game, thanks to Noah Carroll’s first lamp-lighting in his professional career. He scored with the help of Spencer Naas and Alex Swetlikoff.
The Swamp Rabbits won the second period 2-1 until Max Kaufman scored 17:50 in the period off of Spencer Naas and Noah Carroll. When they returned for the third, Logan Drevitch scored not even 2 minutes in off of Brandon Estes and Daniel D’Amato. The Swamp Rabbits countered with a goal 8 minutes in, tying the score again 3-3. At 18:39, Connor Corcoran scored on assists from Spencer Naas and Logan Drevitch. Soon after, at 19:32, Guay helped D’Amato ensure a win for Savannah, making the final score 5-3. Michael Bullion played for his 3rd straight game in a row and still played incredibly as he saved 34 shots and only allowed 3 in. Regarding shots taken by Savannah, Swetlikoff led with four, and Brassard, Marleau, and Corcoran all had 3.
Savannah’s Summary of Success: This weekend was great for the Savannah Ghost Pirates, and it was one they needed. As the season is coming to a close, it’s good to see them putting in the effort to finish as strong as they possibly can. Daniel D’Amato would have had a hat trick if he made his rewarded penalty shot on Friday. He is very smart with his shots, especially in shootouts. He knows very well how to psych out goalies and is very successful in doing so. However, Atlanta’s goalie was very on point and stopped the shot. Noah Carroll and Carter Long got their first professional goals with the Ghost Pirates this weekend, and Long could do so with his family present. Michael Bullion played insanely well in his three back-to-back games, keeping each opponent’s scores under 4. The Ghost Pirates have one more home game for this inaugural season on April 15 as they face the Orlando Solar Bears.
