Blaze Score Early, Ground Mallards

Published on February 28, 2013 under Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bloomington Blaze News Release


BLOOMINGTON - The Bloomington Blaze, fueled by Mid-Illini Credit Union, scored in the first few seconds and never trailed as they earned an important 6-2 win over the Quad City Mallards on Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

The Blaze scored only 17 seconds into the game when Leland Fidler lofted a puck from the right point the bounced into the Mallards net. Bloomington made it 2-0 with 2:45 left in the opening period when Leo Thomas took a feed in the slot from Dan Barczuk and converted, with the second assist given to Steve Makway.

The Mallards cut the Blaze lead to 2-1 with 18:30 left in the second period on a shorthanded goal by Mike Hellyer to complete a 2-on-1 breakaway with assists given to Mike Stinziani and Matt Duffy. The Blaze built the lead back to 3-1 when Jon Booras deflected a David Gilbert wrister from the right side, also assisted by Makway.

The Blaze increased the lead to 4-1 when David Gilbert robbed the puck in the left corner, skated in front and jabbed a goal from the doorstep with 7:10 left in regulation. The Mallards used a power play to cut the deficit to 4-2 with 3:39 left when Shayne Toporowski scored from the slot on feeds from Anthony Perdicaro and Obi Aduba. The Blaze sealed the win with an empty net, shorthanded goal by Nicolas Rioux with 1:37 remaining with helpers given to Travis Granbois and Brett Lutes, followed by a power play goal by Thomas with 36.3 seconds left on assists from Kyle Bochek and Sean O'Connor.

Ross MacKinnon earned the win goal in his Blaze debut with 38 saves while John Murray took the loss with 27 stops. The Blaze were 1-for-7 on the power play while the Flock scored once in six chances.

The Blaze return to U.S. Cellular Coliseum on Friday for a 7:05 p.m. face-off against the Fort Worth Brahmas, who currently sit in second place in the Central Hockey League Berry Conference standings. The Junior Blaze begin the day with a 3 p.m. face-off against the Great Lakes Lightning with admission included in the Blaze ticket. The Blaze then travel to Wichita to face the third-place Thunder on Saturday at 7:05 p.m. Games can be heard in U.S. Cellular Coliseum at 93.7 FM and on WJBC.com and CHL-TV with pre-game beginning at 6:45. Links to the online broadcasts can be found at www.bloomingtonblaze.com. Team information is available there as well as on Facebook and Twitter (BLMBlaze) or by calling 309-TC SPORT (827-7678). For single-game and game day tickets, visit the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office or call 309-434-2679.

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Central Hockey League Stories from February 28, 2013


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