IHL 2 Kalamazoo Wings

K-Wings Weekly

Published on December 1, 2008 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Kalamazoo Wings News Release


Game Rewind

Thursday, November 27th @ Bloomington (Kalamazoo 7 - Bloomington 4)

Bloomington, IL - While most people had turkey for Thanksgiving, the Kalamazoo Wings feasted on three power-play goals en route to a 7-4 victory over the Bloomington PrairieThunder.

Using a power surge, Kalamazoo's power-play unit paved the way for the team's success in the opening period. With Bloomington's Corey Rutt serving a double minor for roughing, Kalamazoo's Tommy Lange (6th) placed a wrist shot over the shoulder of Ryan Ludzik 5:01 into the period to give the K-Wings a 1-0 advantage.

On the second half of the power-play from the Rutt minor, Jeremy Stevenson (6th) deflected a Rod Alfoff blue-line slap shot to extend the K-Wings lead to two goals.

Fresh off his five-goal performance last Sunday versus Port Huron, Mark Nebus created havoc in front of the PraireThunder net giving linemate Rick Cleaver (2nd) the opportunity to poke in a rebound to propel Kalamazoo's lead to three goals.

Inching closer to history, Bloomington's Don Parsons (13th) recorded his 674th career goal on a one-timer between the circles 15:30 into the first period. The goal places Parsons within three goals of tying former Flint General and K-Wing Kevin Kerr's minor league hockey record of 677 goals scored.

Mounting a comeback, the Thunder started the second period with two early period goals to knot the game at 3-3.

A.J. Bozoian's (2nd) wrister over the shoulder of Jason Tapp brought Bloomington to within a single-goal at 3-2. Just over three minutes later, former K-Wing Travis Granbois (5th) knocked in a rebound to pull the Thunder even.

Penalties continued to hurt Bloomington in the second. Tyler Willis' (4th) power-play marker midway through the period regained a 4-3 advantage for the K-Wings.

Kalamazoo continued to build on the lead with goals from Stevenson (7th) and Nebus (10th) to reclaim a three-goal cushion at 6-3.

Trying to climb out of a three-goal hole, John Nail (3rd) scored on a backhander 10:33 into the third period to bring the Thunder back to within two goals; however, that's as close as Bloomington would get, as Rob Jarvis (3rd) closed out the scoring with an empty-net tally to give the K-Wings the 7-3 victory.

The K-Wings finished the contest 3 for 5 on the power-play, while killing off all three of the PrairieThunder's power-play chances.

Friday, November 28th @ Flint (Kalamazoo 4- Flint 1)

Flint, MI - It wasn't easy; however, the Kalamazoo Wings battled for a complete 60 minutes and the results were positive as they defeated the Flint Generals 4-1 to extend their road winning streak to four games and their overall win streak to an IHL season-high eight games.

Maybe a little too aggressive on the power-play at times, Flint entered Friday night surrendering a league-high six shorthanded goals. Kalamazoo would add to that total late in the opening period, when Lucas Drake intercepted a blue-line pass, went in on a breakaway, and scored his team-tying 10th goal of the season.

Carrying the one-goal advantage into the second period, Kalamazoo had a chance to extend their lead with 9:31 remaining, when Ryan Jorde impeded Tommy Lange's breakaway path to the net, resulting in a penalty shot. Goaltender Matt Spezza denied Lange's backhanded chance and created momentum for his team.

Minutes after Spezza's save, Greg Bullock (7th) scored the equalizer on a wrist shot from the right circle.

Answering back at the 15:01 mark of the second, Jeremy Stevenson extended his point streak to four games with a pass to the blade of Drake (11th), who lifted the puck over Spezza to regain the lead for the K-Wings.

Six of Drake's goals this season have come to the hands of the Generals.

Gaining some separation on the scoreboard, Mark Nebus (11th) continued his scoring dominance 6:40 in the period, giving the K-Wings a 3-1 advantage and, in the process, extended his point streak to five games and his goal streak to a K-Wings' season-high four games.

The lamp-lighter from Nebus also ties him with Drake for the K-Wings team lead.

With the Generals' goaltender pulled, Rick Cleaver (4th) received a pass from John Glavota and sent it the length of the ice and scored with one-tenth of a second remaining to close out the game's scoring.

Saturday, November 29th @ Bloomington (Bloomington 1- Kalamazoo 0)

Bloomington, IL - Good things always have to come to an end. Unfortunately for the Kalamazoo Wings their 1-0 loss to the Bloomington PrairieThunder meant they had to witness two ends on Saturday, the end of their IHL season-high eight-game winning streak and the conclusion of the hockey career of Jeremy Stevenson.

Out-shooting the K-Wings 21-12 in the opening period and taking advantage of their lone power-play chance, Jon Booras (10th) gave the PrairieThunder the lead with a wrap-around goal 13:44 into the period.

Despite a combined 72 shots (Bloomington 41, Kalamazoo 31), the goal by Booras served as the game's lone tally.

Goaltender Joel Martin was spectacular for the K-Wings stopping 40 saves in defeat, while Scott Fankhouser served up his second-straight brilliant performance, turning aside 31 shots to earn his first shutout of the season.

Bloomington finished the game 1 for 6 on the power-play, while Kalamazoo was 0 for 9 on man-advantage chances.

Stevenson, who announced his retirement on Wednesday, played all three games this weekend for Kalamazoo. The former NHL'er will leave the team for a non-hockey opportunity.

Fast Forward

Kalamazoo will conclude their five-game road swing with a pair of games this week. On Thursday, December 4th, the K-Wings will head to the Perani Arena for a 7 p.m. contest against the Flint Generals. Kalamazoo is 3-0-0-0 versus Flint, who currently sits in sixth place in the league. The Generals are two points behind the Bloomington PriaireThunder for fifth place.

After a rare Friday night off, Kalamazoo will conclude the week this Saturday, December 6th with a 7:30 p.m. face-off against the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Currently in first place, Muskegon leads both Kalamazoo and the Port Huron Icehawks by two points.

Team Leaders: Kalamazoo Wings

Goals: Lucas Drake, Mark Nebus (11 Goals)

Assists: Glenn Detulleo (17 Assists)

Points: Glenn Detulleo (24 Points)

+/-: Mark Nebus (+13)

Penalty Minutes: Tyler Willis (29 Minutes)

Power Play Goals: Mark Nebus (3 Goals)

Short Handed Goals: Anthony Battaglia, Lucas Drake (1 Goal)

Game Winning Goals: Glenn Detulleo, Lucas Drake, Mark Nebus (2 GW)

Shots: Tommy Lange (67 Shots)

Shooting Percentage: Lucas Drake (22.4%)

Overtime Goals: Lucas Drake, Mark Nebus (1 Goal)

Shootout Goals: Entire Team (0 Goals)

Shootout Percentage: Entire Team (0.0%)

Goals Against Average: Joel Martin (2.34)

Save Percentage: Joel Martin (0.931)

A November to Remember

Kalamazoo's 9-3-0-0 record for the month of November is the second best November for the K-Wings this decade. The K-Wings top November was during the 2005-06 season, when they rattled off a record of 11-3-0-0.

Power Outage

The K-Wings have been held without a power-play goal in their last 18 opportunities. This dates back to the third period of last Thursday night's game against Bloomington, a span of seven periods.

Thinking Positive Forwards Mark Nebus and Rick Cleaver have been in a positive mood. Nebus (+13) and Cleaver (+12) rank first and second among all IHL players in plus/minus.

Nearing 400

Forward Tyler Willis is nearing a personal milestone. Willis needs four more points to reach 400 in his professional career.

The Obscure Stat of the Week

The K-Wings losses on either side of their IHL season-high eight-game winning streak were both shutout defeats. In fact, Joel Martin, who is 1-2-0-0 on the year, suffered the losses in the games in which Kalamazoo was not able to score.

Tickets! Get Your Tickets!!

Tickets for all K-Wings home games are now on sale. Catch all the action as your K-Wings play the very best the IHL has to offer. Tickets are on sale now by calling the Wings Stadium Ticket Office at (269) 345-5101.

Get On-Line

This season, the best way to keep track of the K-Wings is to log onto www.kwings.com. The site has player profiles, information about Wings Stadium events, and much, much more.

Glavota and Cleaver on the Radio

Join special guests John Glavota and Rick Cleaver as they join Head Coach Nick Bootland and the "Voice of the K-Wings" Mike Modugno on "K-Wings Live". The show is on The Classic Hits Station WLKM (95.9 FM) and online through the B-2 Networks through www.kwings.com from 7-8 p.m. at Old Burdick's Bar and Grill inside the Holiday Inn Kalamazoo on South 11th Street.

K-Wings on Radio

Catch all the K-Wings games, home and away, on the K-Wings Radio Network (95.9 FM WLKM & B-2 Networks on kwings.com). Join the "Voice of the K-Wings" Mike Modugno for all 76 regular season games plus the playoffs. Pre-game coverage begins with the Kalsee Credit Union Pre-Game Show 15 minutes prior to face-off. For the most complete coverage of the K-Wings from the opening face-off to the final buzzer, keep your radio tuned this season to the K-Wings Radio Network.

Upcoming Games

Thursday, December 4th @ Flint 7:00 PM

Saturday, December 6th @ Muskegon 7:00 PM

Friday, December 12th Vs Flint 7:30 PM

Saturday, December 13th @ Bloomington 7:00 PM (CDT)

Tuesday, December 16th @ Port Huron 7:30 PM

Friday, December 19th Vs Flint 7:30 PM

Check out the Kalamazoo Wings Statistics

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from December 1, 2008


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