Parillo continues to drill Dayton

3/26/2005
BY DAN SAEVIG
BLADE SPORTS WRITER
Dayton's Scott Cameron, left, covers up after getting hit in the face by Toledo's Joey Martin at the Sports Arena.
Dayton's Scott Cameron, left, covers up after getting hit in the face by Toledo's Joey Martin at the Sports Arena.

Let's lay any potential rumors to rest.

Nick Parillo does not have a single penny invested in the Dayton Bombers.

It just seems as though he owns that ECHL club.

Last night at the Sports Arena, Parillo continued his season-long dominance of the last place team in the North Division, scoring a pair of goals and adding an assist in a 4-1 Storm victory.

The left winger now has three goals and nine helpers in eight games against Toledo's I-75 rival.

Most importantly for the Storm, the output - combined with Peoria's 2-1 shootout win over Wheeling - moves Toledo into a tie with the Rivermen and Nailers for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division.

Each team has 77 points.

"For me, it's always been a mental game," Parillo said. "Coming in, I knew I always played well against Dayton. I wish I could keep this up against other teams as well."

In 61 appearances this season, Parillo has 15 goals and 32 assists. If he played the entire year against the Bombers he'd lead the league in scoring.

"I don't know what it is," Parillo said. "It could be because their defense isn't the fastest and I can really utilize my speed."

Dayton had a 1-0 lead in the second period when Parillo used his wheels to spin the game around.

Charging into the Bombers' zone, Parillo pulled up in the left faceoff circle and fired a far-side, top-shelf slapper that beat Dayton goalie Mike Ayers at 7:51.

What would prove to be the winner came at 18:13 of the frame. Work along the wall by Robert Snowball and then Steve Slonina set up Parillo, who danced to the slot and snapped a one-timer from Slonina past Ayers.

After Kevin Bergin scored at 14:09 of the third, Parillo picked up his third point by keying Todd Jackson's power-play goal at 17:54.

All was not perfect for Parillo, however. He made three glaring turnovers in his own end, each forcing Storm goalie Scott Fankhouser - who finished with 33 saves - to respond.

"If the goals didn't come, he'd probably be in a lot of hot water right now," Storm coach Nick Vitucci said. "Nicky's the kind of guy who always wants to make something happen, which isn't a bad trait, but sometimes a safe play is a safe play."

In Fankhouser's mind, though, there's nothing safer than Parillo against the Bombers.

"I've seen goalies where there's one team that can't score on them," Fankhouser said. "Or there's one team that can score 50 goals every time they play, but I've never seen a player with one team they just own like this."

At least not until this season.

NOTES: The contest was delayed for 10 minutes before the opening draw when scoreboard operator Matt Tomkinson accidently turned off banks of lights at both ends of the ice. ... Five former Storm players - Iain Duncan, Andy Suhy, Alex Roberts, Shawn Penn and Mike Whitton - are participating in an American Red Cross fund-raising game at 3 p.m. today at the Monroe Multi-Sports Complex.

Contact Dan Saevig at: dsaevig@theblade.com.