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Ironmen Stay Perfect

April 26, 2013 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Jamestown Ironmen News Release


The Jamestown Ironmen stunned a lot of people, including their own fans with a 6-3 Game One victory in the North Division Finals on Friday night.

On the road in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, the Ironmen faced a Soo Eagles team that had won six out of eight head-to-head meetings during the North American Hockey League's regular season.

Before the game started, all indications pointed toward a battle of goaltenders as two of the league's best would be between the pipes; Tyler Marble of the Eagles and Joey Ballmer for Jamestown.

Despite the speculation, there were plenty of goals scored in quite a roller coaster ride of a game.

The top seeded Eagles got off to a good start, taking a 1-0 lead 4:32 into the game, but the home team's edge didn't last for long. At the 11:38 mark in the first period, the Ironmen went wild, piling up four goals in less than four minutes to give themselves a 4-1 lead.

Nico Sierra started off the scoring binge with a power play goal off of a Huba Sekesi assist. It was a busy four minutes for the statistician as Luc Gerdes supplied a goal and an assist, Evan Ritt and Daniel Cesarz scored goals, Ryan Doucet dished out a pair of assists, Tyler Dunagan added another and Sierra chipped in with one of his own.

All that action sent the game into its first intermission with the Ironmen leading 4-1.

The Soo stormed out of the gates in the second period scoring a pair of goals less than ten seconds apart in the first minute of the period. This cut Jamestown's lead down to one goal moving the score to 4-3, but would be the last time the Eagles would put the puck into the back of the net.

Almost 18 minutes after the Eagles scoring surge, Ritt delivered his second goal of the contest on a power play with an assist from Dylan Zink and Jamestown headed into the second intermission with a 5-3 lead.

Ryan Urso put the finishing touches on the Game One victory, scoring a third period goal with assists from Sierra and Dunagan. Ballmer and the Ironmen defense also excelled down the stretch, tightening up and refusing to allow any scoring for the final 39:21 of the game.

Ballmer was solid in goal for Jamestown, as a few early goals did not rattle the veteran. He finished the night with his fourth playoff victory and 30 saves on 33 shots from the Eagles.

Jamestown tallied up 38 shots, went 2-for-2 on the power play, was 5-for-5 on the penalty kill and with the win, is a perfect 4-0 thus far in the playoffs.

The puck drops for Game Two at 7:30 pm tonight in Michigan. The game will be broadcast live in Sully's Irish Pub inside the Jamestown Savings Bank Arena.

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