2000-01 UHL season marked by parity

by UHL Press Release
Published on January 2, 2001 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)

UHL Press Release

LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO. . . Nearly halfway through the United Hockey League's 10th Anniversary season, one would look at the standings and notice the parity of play. Only three of the 15 teams (Kalamazoo, Rockford and Mohawk Valley) have a sub-.500 record. Kalamazoo is only two points below .500.

In the division standings, only one point separates first and third place in the Southeast Division and only seven points separate first and fourth place in the Northwest Division. In the Northeast Division, eight points separate first and third place.

Over 65 percent of the UHL's 243 games played through January 1, 2001 have been decided by one or two goals. Ninety-nine games have been decided by one goal (40.7 percent) and 59 games have been decided by two goals (24.3 percent). Among the 99 one-goal games, 52 have been decided in a shootout (52.5 percent of the one-goal games, 21.4 percent of all games played).

The Kalamazoo Wings have played in a League-high 17 one-goal games (8-7-2) including seven shootouts. The Missouri River Otters lead the League with 10 one-goal victories (10-1-3). The Muskegon Fury are the only team to earn at least one point in each of their one-goal games (6-0-7). The Knoxville Speed have played in a League-low eight one-goal games (5-1-2). Fort Wayne (5-6-0) and Mohawk Valley (3-3-6) are the only teams not above-.500 in one-goal games.

The B.C. Icemen are 0-3-0 against Asheville and Knoxville. Those are the only head-to-head match-ups of three or more games that a team has failed to register at least one point against an opponent. There are only four instances when teams have met head-to-head twice that a team has failed to earn at least one point. Kalamazoo is 0-2-0 against B.C., Mohawk Valley is 0-2-0 against Missouri and Rockford, and Port Huron is 0-2-0 against Quad City.

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McKILLOP CONTINUES TO MOVE UP THE CAREER LISTS: Port Huron Border Cats right wing Bobby McKillop continues his ascent up the United Hockey League's all-time lists. With three games played during the week, McKillop has now appeared in 457 UHL games and has moved into sixth place on the League's all-time games played list. He surpassed Jamie Hayden with his 457th game and now trails Jason Firth (466 games) for fifth place all-time. McKillop began the 2000-01 season tied for ninth all-time (tied with Jim Duhart – 433 games).

With two assists in Saturday's game against Flint, McKillop moved ahead of current Mohawk Valley Head Coach Kent Hawley for seventh place on the League's all-time scoring list. In his nine UHL seasons, McKillop has 515 career points (262-253). Immediately ahead of McKillop on the all-time scoring list are New Haven's John Vecchiarelli (482 points) and Barry McKinlay (483 points). McKillop entered the season eighth on the League's scoring list.

McKillop is one of only four players to play in nine of the UHL's ten seasons. The others are Scott Feasby (Muskegon/Brantford 1991-92, 1993-present), Stephan Brochu (Flint/Adirondack 1991-00) and McKinlay (Thunder Bay/Rockford 1991-00). Hawley is the only person involved in the UHL for each of its ten seasons (four as a coach and six as a player).

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ALL-STAR UPDATE: With 27 days remaining until the 2001 UHL All-Star Classic, the month of January will be very busy with All-Star related news. Monday the League announced that Quad City's Paul MacLean and Asheville's Pat Bingham will serve as the Western Conference and Eastern Conference head coaches, respectively. Missouri's Mark Reeds will assist MacLean and Knoxville's Terry Ruskowski will assist Bingham.

Fan balloting for the 4th Annual All-Star Classic took place in UHL arenas and on the UHL web site during the month of December. The player from each team receiving the greatest number of fan votes will be named to the All-Star Team. Each UHL Member Club will then select a second player to represent them in Binghamton before the All-Star coaching staff selects the remainder of the roster. The All-Star rosters will be released later this week.

Also this week, All-Star Media Credential Request Applications will be sent out to members of the League and National media. The application includes a request form, tentative media itinerary and hotel information. The completed application is due back to the UHL office by January 17.

Several other All-Star related announcements will be made on a weekly basis between now and the event.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

NORTHWEST DIVISION

FLINT GENERALS – The Generals play at home on January 3, before playing nine straight road games. During the nine-game 17-day trip, Flint will play the entire Northeast Division, New Haven, Missouri, Quad City, Fort Wayne and Muskegon...G Patrick Charbonneau won twice during the week giving him three victories in four decisions with the Generals.

FORT WAYNE KOMETS – The Komets hosted their first sellout of the season on New Year's Eve. It marked the 44th time in Fort Wayne hockey history (including two UHL seasons and 47 IHL seasons) that the team hosted a game on New Year's Eve. The Komets have an all-time record of 28-12-4...Since joining the Komets, G Konstantin Simchuk has appeared in six straight games and has won three consecutive starts.

MUSKEGON FURY – Since the beginning of the 1998-99 season, the Fury are 84-1-4 when entering the third period of a game with the lead...D Scott Feasby played in his 500th career UHL game on Friday. He is the first player in League history to surpass the 500 games played mark...LW Sergei Kharin is now tied with Brett Seguin for most assists all-time by a Fury player. Kharin earned his 232nd assist against Kalamazoo on Saturday.

PORT HURON BORDER CATS – LW Kraig Nienhuis came out of retirement to join the Border Cats on Friday. In his first game since March 17, 2000, the 39-year-old had a goal and two assists against Muskegon. In his second game back, Sunday against B.C., he had a goal and an assist...The Border Cats have 14 road games remaining this season. Five will be played in January, three in February and six in March.

SOUTHWEST DIVISION

KALAMAZOO WINGS – LW Randy Holmes recorded his 200th career assist on Saturday against Muskegon...Rookie Tim Knudsen made his first two professional starts during the week. He recorded his first pro victory in his first start against Missouri on December 26...The Wings played with only four defensemen in two games over the weekend. All four of the defensemen scored a goal. Jeff Winter, Jeff Lukasak and Craig Paterson all scored their first goal of the season. Jason Hughes netted his fifth.

MISSOURI RIVER OTTERS – G David Arsenault returned from the injured reserve on December 29, and made his first start since December 3. In his return, he made a team season-high 41 saves as the River Otters defeated Southwest Division leading Quad City...LW Kiley Hill scored his 20th goal of the season in the second period of Saturday's game. It is the third time in his three-year career that Hill has reach the 20 goal plateau.

QUAD CITY MALLARDS – Friday's game against Missouri featured the UHL's top home team (Quad City – 12-1-0) and the UHL's top road team (Missouri 11-2-1). The Mallards suffered their second home loss of the season (4-3)...Quad City is nearly halfway to becoming the first team in professional hockey history to win 50 games in five consecutive seasons. Through 32 games, the Mallards have won 24.

ROCKFORD ICEHOGS – With a goal on Tuesday, C Yan Turgeon became the sixth player to score a goal in his first game wearing an IceHogs jersey. Jason Firth, Brant Blackned, Barry McKinlay and Curtis Tipler scored on opening night 1999 and Wayne Strachan scored in his first IceHog game on January 7, 2000...Rockford has played back-to-back nights 14 times this season, posting a 3-8-3 in the first game and a 6-8-0 in the second game.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

NORTHEAST DIVISION

ADIRONDACK ICEHAWKS – With a victory in Sunday's game against Mohawk Valley, G Sergei Zvyagin became the IceHawks all-time wins leader. The victory was his 18th with the IceHawks, moving him ahead of Chad Ford. Zvyagin is also Quad City's all-time wins leader and ranks third all-time in the UHL with 128 victories...The IceHawks finished December with a 7-4-2 record, giving the team a winning record in each of the first three months of the season.

B.C. ICEMEN – The Icemen have surrendered 30 power play goals in 33 games this season. Seven of the PPG allowed have been in two games against Missouri...Rookie RW Ben Murray netted his first professional points in Saturday's loss to Quad City. He assisted on the games first goal for his first pro point then scored his first pro goal in the third period...B.C. did not suffer a shootout loss in its first 27 games of the season. It has lost three of the last six in a shootout.

ELMIRA JACKALS – G Christian Soucy has an 8-2-2 record with a 2.42 GAA in 12 home games this season. In eight road games, he has a 3-4-0 record with a 5.11 GAA...Sunday's victory over New Haven marked the first time in four games against the Knights that Elmira has earned the victory. It also marked the Jackals first Sunday victory of the season...D Shawn Legault's first goal of the season (Sunday) also proved to be the game winner.

MOHAWK VALLEY PROWLERS – The Prowlers ended their team record 11-game winless streak (0-9-2) with a 4-2 victory over Northeast Division leading Adirondack on Saturday...Since joining the Prowlers on December 11, LW Bobby Cunningham has 11 points (5-6) in eight games...James Duval (8-9-17) and J.J. Wrobel (6-9-15) rank seventh and ninth, respectively, among UHL rookies.

SOUTHEAST DIVISION

ASHEVILLE SMOKE – C Shawn Ulrich recorded his 200th point in an Asheville uniform with an assist against Quad City on December 22. He is the third player in Smoke history to register 200 points (Paul Polillo - 923 points and Wayne Muir – 301 points)...Tom Wilson and Alex Dumas remain among the top defensemen in plus/minus rating. Wilson is tied for second at +17 and Dumas is fourth at +16.

KNOXVILLE SPEED – The Speed have allowed the first goal in seven of its last nine games (2-5-0). In their previous 23 games, they had only surrendered the first goal seven times...Twice in a two-week span Knoxville allowed 50-plus shots in a game. On December 20, Asheville had 53 shots against the Speed and December 28, New Haven had 50 shots. Speed netminders Tom Lawson and Brad Guzda only surrendered seven goals on the 103 shots (.932 save percentage).

NEW HAVEN KNIGHTS – The Knights have a combined 8-2-0 record against the two division leaders in the Eastern Conference – Adirondack (3-1-0) and Knoxville (5-1-0)...G Bryce Wandler's victory over Knoxville on Friday was his first since November 18 (0-4-1). In Friday's victory, he was 3:34 away from his first professional shutout...New Haven had its stretch of 14 straight games without having more power play chances than its opposition snapped on Friday when they were only shorthanded once against Knoxville.

PORT HURON'S NIENHUIS AND ASHEVILLE'S BELECKI EARN WEEKLY HONORS

LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO . . . The United Hockey League announced today that Port Huron Border Cats left wing Kraig Nienhuis has been named Sher-Wood UHL Player of the Week and Asheville Smoke goaltender Brent Belecki has been named UHL Goaltender of the Week for the period ending Sunday, December 31.

Nienhuis registered five points (2-3) and a +6 rating in his first two games back after a brief retirement. In his first game since March 17, 2000, he had three points (1-2) in the Border Cats 5-1 victory over Muskegon on Friday. Two nights later, the 39-year-old native of Sarnia, Ontario had two points (1-1) and a +4 rating against in a 5-2 victory over B.C. Nienhuis missed a majority of the second half of the 1999-00 season with back problems and announced his retirement at the end of last season. He stayed in shape by skating with the Border Cats for a majority of this season.

Other players nominated for the Sher-Wood UHL Player of the Week include: Adirondack left wing Hugo Belanger, B.C. center Derek Wood, Elmira right wing Eddy Lowe, Flint left wing Jim Duhart, Fort Wayne right wing Mike McKay, Kalamazoo center Steve Moore, Missouri defenseman Jeremy Rebek, Mohawk Valley center James Duval, Muskegon center Andrew Luciuk, New Haven center Mike Melas and Rockford defenseman Evgeny Krivomaz.

Belecki finished the week with a 2-0-0 record, a 1.00 GAA and a .969 save percentage. The victories, both of which came against the Southeast Division leading Knoxville, and moved the Smoke within one point of the Speed for Division lead and secured Coach Pat Bingham's spot as the Eastern Conference All-Star head coach. On Wednesday, the 23-year-old native of Calgary, Alberta stopped 28 of 29 shots as Asheville posted a 6-1 victory. On Saturday Belecki stopped 35 of 36 shots in a 4-1 victory. On the season, he has an 8-6-3 record with a 3.42 GAA (tied for 17th in League) and an .880 save percentage.

Other players nominated for the UHL Goaltender of the Week include: Adirondack's Sergei Zvyagin, B.C.'s Bryan Schoen, Elmira's Christian Soucy, Flint's Patrick Charbonneau, Fort Wayne's Konstantin Simchuk, Kalamazoo's Kory Cooper, Missouri's Benoit Thibert, Mohawk Valley's Mike Brusseau, Muskegon's Joe Dimaline, New Haven's Bryce Wandler, Port Huron's Kevin St. Pierre and Rockford's J.F. Rivard.

International Hockey League 2 Stories from January 2, 2001

• 2000-01 UHL season marked by parity - OSC Original by UHL Press Release

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