Bloomington Racking Up The Shorthanders

Published on March 1, 2010 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- Bloomington continues to lead the league in shorthanded goals with 13, putting the pressure on the opposition during their man-advantages. Forward Zach Pearson leads the PrairieThunder in shorthanded goals, notching in his fourth Wednesday against Dayton. Forward Matt McIlvane notched in his second shorthanded tally Sunday against Quad City. Last season, Flint had scored the most shorthanded goals, scoring 18. Pearson was a member of that team, scoring six during the 08-09 season as a member of the Generals.

So far this season, there are only three teams that have winning records while on the road. Fort Wayne (16-11-0-1), Muskegon (14-7-0-3) and Port Huron (15-10-0-4) are the only three teams to have both winning records on the road as well as on home ice. The Komets have tied Muskegon for a league-high five-game road winning streak, started back on February 13th. On the other end, six of the seven teams have winning records at home, while Dayton remains the only team with a losing record at home with a 12-14-1-1 record at Hara Arena.

Quad City rookie netminder Kyle Jones faced a league-high 55 shots on Saturday in Dayton. He made a league-high 52 saves in the 3-2 loss to the Gems. Dayton put up an IHL high 22 shots on goal in the first period alone.

The Fort Wayne Komets continue to have a solid tandem between the pipes with goaltenders Tim Haun and Nick Boucher. Haun is currently ranked first among all IHL goaltenders in goals against average (2.20), save percentage (.922) and is second in wins with 20 after playing in 32 games so far this season. Boucher is third in goals against average (2.57) and ranked second in save percentage (.917) in 23 games played.

AROUND THE "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder (3-1-0-0)- The PrairieThunder won back-to-back road games in the same week for the first time this season with wins at Flint and Muskegon. The two victories stretched the team road win streak to a season-best three. The victory at Muskegon was the first for Bloomington this season in six games. Conversely, the PrairieThunder is winless in five games at Quad Cities. Forward Zach Pearson had a string of five straight games with at least one goal scored snapped at Flint on Friday. During his four-year pro career (191 games) defenseman Justin Sawyer scored one goal. This season he has three in 54 games. Heading into this season in his first 71 games as a professional, center Bill Bagron had 37 points on 14 goals and 23 assists. This year in 53 games he has 37 points on 20 goals and 17 assists.

Dayton Gems (1-3-0-0)- This week in action, five Gems gathered three or more points: Corey Couturier had three assists, Justin McCutcheon with a goal and two assists, A.J. MacLean with two goals and an assist, Jon Ornelas with three goals and top dog Mike Vaskivuo with three goals and two assists for five points in four games. This season at home three Gems have 11 or more goals. Veteran, John Snowden, who in 25 home games has 11 goals along with 11 assists for 22 points and rookies Mike Vaskivuo with 11 goals and nine assists for 20 points in 28 games and Jon Ornelas with 11 goals and six assists. Wednesday, the Gems travel to Fort Wayne to take on the Komets, then Friday the team will visit Quad City then back home for a home-and-home series that continues at Hara on Saturday with the Mallards.

Flint Generals (1-3-0-0)- Flint has shown this season they have the ability to compete and beat the best teams in the league. In their last five games against Port Huron they are 4-1-0-0 and they also ended Muskegon's 10 home game win streak last weekend. John Mori was the strongest player for the Generals during the month of February. In 12 games he tallied 18 points (9 goals, 9 assists), and that is with him going three straight games without a point. Mori has scored two goals in the last two games and has 13 points in the last six games. The Generals have had a rough week and yet are still in the hunt for the final playoff spot in the IHL. They are tied with Dayton for sixth place and are 11 points behind fourth place Bloomington with 21 games remaining.

Fort Wayne Komets (3-0-0-0)- The Komets completed the month of February with a perfect week collecting six points in three games and pulling to within a point of second-place Port Huron. 10,480 turned out for the fourth sell-out crowd of the season at Fort Wayne's 6-5 home win Saturday night against Flint. The Komets lead the IHL in attendance with an average of 8,010 per game and rank second in the nation in minor league hockey in average attendance after 24 home games. Guy Dupuis' assist in Saturday's 6-5 home win over Flint sets the regular season point record of a career Fort Wayne defenseman at 493. Dupuis eclipses Lionel Repka's record of 492 set in 1968-69. Dupuis has 109 goals (FW defenseman record) and 384 assists for 493 points in a Fort Wayne record 857 regular season games.

Muskegon Lumberjacks (3-1-0-0)- Muskegon's six-goal third period last Wednesday night in their 7-3 win over Flint represented their most potent period offensively so far this season. Included in their six-goal third period was a four-goal blitz in 3:11, representing Muskegon's fastest four goals this season. The 'Jacks have outscored their opposition in the first period this season 71-41 overall and 39-17 at home. When Bloomington beat the 'Jacks Saturday night 4-2, it ended Muskegon's 11-game win streak over the PrairieThunder dating back to last season. Only three Lumberjacks players have played in all 55-games this season: Brian Bicek, Matt Krug and Matt Robertson. Muskegon's next victory will be #40 and will mark the 12th time through the last 16 years that the franchise will have attained 40 victories.

Port Huron Icehawks (0-2-0-1)- Twelve of Port Huron's last 21 games will be played at home, where the Icehawks are 18-8-0-0 this season. The next two weeks are key, as six of the Icehawks' next seven games will be played against the teams that currently make up the IHL playoff picture. Sunday night in Flint Brandon Naurato scored with just 39 seconds left to send the game to overtime. Although the Generals outlasted the Icehawks for a 4-3 shooutout win, it marked the first time this season that the Icehawks tied a game with an extra attacker. Down 3-2, goalie Adam Russo skated to the bench to give Port Huron an extra skater and the move paid off when Naurato scored just seconds later. Sunday marked the tenth time an Icehawks game went to overtime, and the ninth shootout the team participated in.

Quad City Mallards (2-2-0-0)- Kyle Jones set a league season high and a personal career high by making 52 saves Saturday night in Dayton in a 3-2 loss to the Gems. Chris Lipsett yesterday played his eight hundredth career game. Lipsett marked the occasion by scoring in the Mallards' 8-4 win over Bloomington to extend his point scoring streak to seven straight games (four goals, three assists, seven points). The Mallards scored a season high eight goals in yesterday's win over Bloomington. Rookies Justin White and Brandon Marino both set career highs by recording four points (two goals and two assists apiece) in yesterday's win. The Mallards have given up three shorthanded goals in their last four games.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 1, 2010


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