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Danville Wings Weekly

January 13, 2004 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Danville Wings News Release


Wings weekly alumni update

January 13, 2004 - Theo Zacur (Air Force) had a good week scoring 2 goals for the Falcons. Other Wings alumni stats last week were Shane Saum (Air Force) 2A; Derek Edwardson (Miami) A; Nick Economakos (RPI) 2A; Marek Dora (Michigan Tech) A. In the professional ranks Jake Ortmeyer (Wheeling-ECHL) had an assist and Scott Meyer (Charlotte-ECHL) recorded a win by stopping 41 of 44 shots.

Wings have rough weekend

January 12, 2004 - Danville came into the weekend with two big games against second place Chicago Steel and a game with the Green Bay Gamblers in between and looking to overtake the Steel. The Wings came out of the weekend gaining 1 point with an OTL to the Gamblers and dropping both contests to the Steel. On Friday night the Wings traveled to Chicago and were shutout 2-0. On Saturday night the Wings were facing the Gamblers and jumped on them in the first period on a goal by Travis Winter. Green Bay took the lead in the second period with two goals. IN the third Green Bay took a 3-1 edge before the Wings made a comeback with back-to back goals by Todd McIlrath and Bryan Marshall to force and overtime. Neither team scored in the overtime and in the shootout Green Bay was able to put three by Wings goalie Justin Tobe and pull out the win. Sunday was the rematch against the Steel and both offenses were on display in the first. Tomas Klempa, Winter, and McIlrath scored first period goals and the teams went into thr break with Chicago leading 4-3. In the second the Steel's offense didn't stop as they scored 3 more goals for a 7-3 third period lead. Both teams scored 1 goal in the third for the final score of 8-4. Wings forward Derek Patrosso and defenseman Brad Robbins each added 3 assists in the contest.

The Wings are on the road next weekend as the play at Sioux Falls on Friday, at Lincoln on Saturday and at Sioux City on Sunday.

COACHES' CORNER

Welcome to another exciting weekend of East Division USHL hockey action. Your Danville Wings open this Saturday-Sunday afternoon series against Green Bay's Gamblers. We traveled to Green Bay this past Tuesday and defeated them 3-1 on the strength of two Bryan Marshall goals and another tally by Derek Patrosso. Justin Tobe was brilliant in goal to seal the win. That game concluded the first half of this season's games, leaving your Wings with an impressive 17-9-4 record, and positioned for a strong playoff run.

The Gamblers come to town still struggling for consistency. 2-7-1 in their last 10 games, Coach Mark Osiecki has had a tough challenge getting this year's Gambler teams to reach the heights of past squads that consistently challenged for league supremacy. Up front, the Gamblers' top threats include Jeff Hazelwood and Sean Garrity. On the backline, former Lansing defenseman Mitch Ganzak continues to be a thorny opponent. In goal, Brad Smith has had the last two starts in goal against us and has played well, but Troy Davenport has played the bulk of their team's minutes.

Sunday afternoon, the Chicago Steel come to Danville. We've been running neck and neck with the Steel in the East Division standings. The Steel's success is owed in large part to a season full of strong goalkeeping as Adam D'Alba and Shane Connelly have had a very impressive showings, as the Steel have given up a lot of shots over the course of the season. Up front, Topher Scott has been the key performer for the Steel, the real key to their offensive success. Coach Will Nichols' squad hit a snag prior to Christmas with three losses in a row on a western road trip, but over the season they've performed with impressive consistency.

We're very glad to have Alex Foster and Derek Patrosso back from the Viking Cup. The added depth and skill they provide is invaluable to our long term success, and their return is particularly important since the injury to Nino Musitelli. We're still not sure how long we'll be without Nino, but the injury does not appear to be season threatening.

The games you're watching will be the second and third of the weekend for us, and the fourth of the week. We follow that up with three tough West Division road contests next week. So with all of these games, we've scaled back our practice schedule. That may make the games tougher to win in terms of passing and coordinated team play, but we have to make sure the players have enough gas in the tank to be able to compete every single shift.

With the challenging schedule we're facing folks, we need you fans to be our extra player, so cheer loud and give us that little edge that makes us such a tough team to play at home!

-The Danville Wings' Coaching Staff

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United States Hockey League Stories from January 13, 2004


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