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Big Moves Lead To Quick Impacts

February 23, 2009 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- Big moves were made in the IHL last week, sending a total of seven players to new teams after three teams participated in trades. Muskegon acquired forward John DiPace and defenseman Ryan Jorde from Flint in exchange for forwards Frank Littlejohn and Maxime Lincourt, along with defenseman Alex Lamontagne. The Generals made another huge move the following day, sending forward Steve Rymsha, the IHL's goal scoring leader, to Port Huron, in return receiving forward Jeff Zehr.

No one made a bigger impact on their new team as John DiPace did with the Lumberjacks. In three games, DiPace scored four goals and dished out three assists since making his Lumberjacks debut Friday. Also chipping into the scoring column with his new team, Frank Littlejohn notched in four points in three games, scoring two goals and two assists, registering at least one point in each game with Flint. Five out of the seven players moved during the trades this week registered at least one point since joining their new teams.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks continue their winning ways in Week 19, earning all six possible points over three games in three days. With the wins, the 'Jacks have extending their winning streak to a team-high five games. With Port Huron idle yesterday, Muskegon escaped with a 3-2 win in Flint moving them into a first-place tie with the Icehawks, with one game in hand. After a winning weekend, the Lumberjacks have improved their record to 31-15-3-3 (68 points) in 52 games. Muskegon will play the final three games of a four game road swing before returning home Sunday to face-off against Kalamazoo.

AROUND THE "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (2-2-0-0) - The PrairieThunder snapped a 13-game losing streak against Port Huron dating back to last season (nine this year and four last year), with a 2-1 overtime win Saturday over the Icehawks. Bloomington has won 10 of its last 15 games (10-3-0-2) to earn 22 of a possible 30 points and has a 9-2-1-1 record at home since the beginning of the year. When the PrairieThunder defeated Port Huron in overtime Saturday, it marked the first time an opponent has come from a deficit at the end of the second period to beat the Icehawks, who are now 23-0-1-0 when leading after two periods. Bloomington is a 12-1-0-1 record when allowing two goals or less and is 13-1-0-0 when scoring five or more goals. The PrairieThunder is 11-4-1-3 in one-goal contests. Goaltender Jason Wolfe has a 5-2-0-1 record since joining the team January 23rd. Two of his wins have been in shootouts and another win was in overtime.

Flint Generals - (0-4-0-0) - Frank Littlejohn registered at least one point in all three games with Flint this week, including two goals against his former Lumberjack teammates. The Generals have faced six consecutive losses for the second time this season. (November 21st-Decemebr 4th). Flint has been outscored 42-16 in their last six games. Since the beginning of the New Year, the Generals have compiled a 6-12-1-2 record. Six of the Generals next eight games are on home ice. Flint will face-off against Bloomington Thursday at home, where they have won three consecutive home games over PrairieThunder. Center Greg Bullock continues to produce for Flint. He currently leads the Generals in scoring with 62 points (18 goals, 44 assists). His 62 points also ranks him fifth among all IHL players in scoring.

Fort Wayne Komets - (1-1-0-0) - The Komets completed week 19 with a split of two games played for a 26-16-2-8 record and 62 points after 52 games. Fort Wayne drops to six points out of first place in the IHL with seven weeks remaining. The week started with a 10-1 shellacking of the last place Generals in Flint Friday. It was the third time this season the Komets have reached 10 goals in a game. The win extends Fort Wayne's road unbeaten streak to eight games. Saturday the Komets fell 5-3 to the visiting Kalamazoo Wings for their 12th home loss of the season, surpassing last season's total home losses by three. The loss snapped the Komets' unbeaten streak at seven games. Hitting the mark: Veteran defenseman Guy Dupuis passed his 500th pro assist with his second assist of the game Friday at Flint. Right wing David Hukalo dished his 100th Fort Wayne career assist Saturday vs. Kalamazoo. Streaking Komets: Center Mathieu Curadeau has an IHL high eight-game point streak (5g, 6a) and four-game goal scoring streak (5g). Right wing David Hukalo has a five-game point and assist streak (3g, 6a). Rookie right wing Sean O'Connor is riding a three-game point and assist streak (2g, 3a).

Kalamazoo Wings - (1-1-0-0) - Blair Manning is one point shy of 800 in his career. Rod Aldoff is one goal shy of 100, three assists shy of 300 and four points shy of 400 in his career. Anthony Battaglia is on a six-game point streak, which is one-game shy of tying the K-Wings season high. Lucas Drake is on a four-game point streak, while Glenn Detulleo is on a three-game point streak. Getting ready to start a three-game home stand the K-Wings own the best home record in the league at 17-6-1-0. With 17 home wins, the K-Wings already surpassed their total for victories at Wings Stadium from a season ago (16). Kalamazoo will play their first of two Education Day games this Wednesday, versus Port Huron. All-time the K-Wings are 6-4-0-1 in games played in the morning, including 4-4-0-1 at Wings Stadium. Goaltender Joel Martin was called up to Grand Rapids last weekend. Rick Cleaver leads all rookies in goals scored with 19 and is tied with Rick Varone for the overall league-lead in scoring among rookies with 40 points. Kalamazoo has outscored their opponents 58-43 in the third period this season. Jason Tapp is second in the league with victories with 18.

Muskegon Lumberjacks - (3-0-0-0) - When the 'Jacks defeated the Generals in Flint on Sunday 3-2, they remained perfect on the road on Sundays so far this season (5-0-0-0), they are 6-1-0-0 overall on Sundays. In his last 13 games, the league's leading scorer Todd Robinson has scored 27 points (5g, 22a) for an average of over two points a game. In 51-games, Robinson has had 26 multi-point games. Luke Stauffacher is presently on a five-game point streak, scoring seven points during that stretch (3g, 4a). Rookie forward Jon Grabarek's first pro goal Friday night in Kalamzoo was also the game-winning goal. Steven Later's 232 penalty minutes lead the IHL, with 122 of those earned in six games this season. With 31 wins so far this season, Muskegon is four victories away from matching last season's win total of 35, with 24 games remaining. The Muskegon power play is 37 for the last 123, for a rating of 30.1%.

Port Huron Icehawks - (2-0-1-0) - The Icehawks have suffered three overtime losses in their last six games, but remain unbeaten in regulation in that span (3-0-3-0). They are also unbeaten in regulation in their last six home contests (4-0-2-0). The Icehawks have dropped their last five contests that went into extra sessions. Overall, they are 1-5 in overtime games and 2-1 in shootouts this season. Left wing Tab Lardner reached a major career milestone on Wednesday and played in his 500th professional game. The eighth year professional is also just one point shy of 400 career points. Jamie Carroll returned to the Icehawks lineup on Wednesday after missing three games due to injury and made his presence felt with points in all three games the Icehawks played. He is currently riding a five game point streak (2g, 4a). The Icehawks will face just two opponents in their next five games. They play Bloomington in three of their next five contests and face Kalamazoo twice. A strong start has been vital to Port Huron's success this season. They are 25-7-3-0 when scoring first, 20-6-2-0 when leading after the first period and a nearly flawless 23-0-1-0 when leading after the second period.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from February 23, 2009


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