Bloomington Blaze Weekly

December 19, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Bloomington Blaze News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAMES:

Tuesday, December 20, 7:05 p.m. - at Quad City Mallards, iWireless Center

Friday, December 23, 7:05 p.m. - vs. Tulsa Oilers, U.S. Cellular Coliseum

The Bloomington Blaze, presented by Mid-Illini Credit Union, prepare for a two-game week with one road game and one home contest.

RECENTLY: The Blaze won just one of three games during the past weekend against the Dayton Gems. The teams split the first two contests at U.S. Cellular Coliseum. In Friday's 5-3 Blaze win, Brodie Sheahan scored twice in the first period followed by second period tallies from Jason Dale and Vladimir Nikiforov, but the Gems scored three times in the third (Brandon Naurato, Damian Surma, Nick Fanto) to keep things interesting before Jon Booras scored an empty-net goal with 20 seconds remaining for the final score. The Gems exacted revenge on Saturday with a 4-2 triumph, breaking their five-game losing skid and ending the five-game home win streak for the Blaze. The Gems' 12th-best power play scored twice in six chances (Brandon Naurato, Jonathan Ornelas), and their league-worst penalty kill collected a short-handed goal (Damian Surma). Brandon Naurato scored the lone even-strength goal for the Gems. On Sunday at Hara Arena, the Gems wasted little time opening up a lead scoring twice in the first 48 seconds on the way to a 6-2 win. Aaron Dawson and Kyle Laughlin collected the goals for Bloomington. The Blaze are now 2-5-0 against the Gems, while the crew from Ohio owns a 5-1-1 mark over the Blaze.

FIRING UP: Jon Booras is on a six-game point streak, and has earned a point in nine of the last ten games...Vladimir Nikiforov earned Oakley CHL Player of the Week honors in his first week with the Blaze, scoring five goals and one assist in three games...Nikiforov has picked up a point in nine of his ten games with the Blaze...Mark Znutas is fourth in scoring among league defensemen, and his 17 points puts him tied for seventh among league rookies; Znutas is fourth among rookies with 14 assists...Aaron Dawson is tied for third among CHL blue-liners with six goals...the Blaze are 5-0-1 when leading after two periods...Bloomington has surrendered eight shorthanded goals, most in the CHL...the Blaze have scored first in 10 out of their 23 games.

DA COACH: Paul Gardner has coached in the NHL as an assistant under Barry Trotz with the Nashville Predators, and was an AHL head coach with the Newmarket Saints for four seasons. He played in the NHL for all or part of ten seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Colorado Rockies, Pittsburgh Penguins, Washington Capitals and Buffalo Sabres. He led the AHL in scoring in 1985 and 1986. His father Cal and older brother Dave also starred in the NHL. From 2007 to 2009, Gardner was the head coach of Lokomotiv Yaroslavl, the Russian team devastated by a plane crash at the beginning of this season. Gardner is always seen behind the bench wearing a Looney Tunes tie, which is usually selected by his daughter.

FOLLOWING THE BLAZE: All Blaze games can be heard on WJBC.com and via pay-per-view on CHL-TV. Fans are invited to watch every Blaze road game at Gill Street Sports Bar and Restaurant, 3002 Gill Street, west of Airport Road in Bloomington. The Blaze visit Quad City on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. before returning home on Friday to host the Tulsa Oilers. Friday's game is another Pepsi Date Night, when fans can bring a Pepsi product to the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office when buying a reserved seat ticket and get a second ticket free, and with the purchase of any combo meal, a second meal of equal or lesser value is also free.



Central Hockey League Stories from December 19, 2011


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