Fort Wayne Komets Capture Tarry Cup

Published on April 9, 2007 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO --- It came down to the final day of the United Hockey League (UHL) season to determine the Tarry Cup Championship, the best overall record in the regular season. Heading into Saturday's action, the Fort Wayne Komets and Muskegon Fury had identical point totals of 104. Fort Wayne held the total wins tiebreaker over Muskegon, therefore a win by the Komets would clinch the top spot in the UHL no matter the outcome of Saturday's games. Muskegon suffered a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Quad City Mallards. Goaltender Kevin St. Pierre pitched a 3-0 shutout over the Kalamazoo Wings to help lead Fort Wayne to the third Tarry Cup Championship in the team's history.

Saturday was the seventh-consecutive win for the Komets and seventh-straight victory for St. Pierre. Over the final 37 games of the regular season, Fort Wayne posted a 27-8-2 record that helped them erase a 23-point lead held by Muskegon in January.

Fort Wayne led the league on the power play with a 20.1 percent conversion rate (95 goals in 473 chances), ranked second on the penalty kill (87.4 percent) and allowed the fewest goals in the league (187). St. Pierre was a big reason for this success. He led the league with 42 wins and ranked second in goals against average (2.24) and save percentage (.926). In addition, he set several records including 64 appearances in goal by a Komets UHL goaltender and the franchise record for shutouts with 23, and he extended his UHL record for career shutouts (26).

The Komets will now make their fifth-consecutive appearance in the UHL Colonial Cup Playoffs. They have earned the top seed in the Western Conference, have home-ice advantage throughout the 2007 postseason and will face the Chicago Hounds in the first round.

SCORING CHAMPIONS - Muskegon center Todd Robinson led the league in points with 123 to claim this season's scoring title. His total of 123 points is the 23rd-best season by a player in UHL history. In addition, he led the league in assists (79) and game-winning goals (11), ranked second in goals with 44 and tied for second with a plus-38 rating. His 11 game-winning goals tied a UHL single-season record held by seven other players. Kalamazoo center Kory Karlander ended with season with 45 goals to lead the league in that category.

BEST BETWEEN THE PIPES - Kalamazoo rookie goaltender Ryan Nie led the league in goals against average (2.02), save percentage (.929) and shutouts (seven). Nie's 2.02 GAA ranks first in UHL history among goaltenders with at least 30 appearances. He bested Joel Martin's career mark of a 2.20 GAA set as a K-Wing from 2004-2006.

PENALTY KILLERS - By killing 90.2 percent of their penalties this season, the Kalamazoo Wings set a single-season UHL record. They broke the league record of 89.0 percent set by the Muskegon Fury in 2004-05 and their team record of 84.2 percent set during the 2003-04 campaign.

SHOOTOUT SUPREMACY - The Elmira Jackals tied two league records with regards to shootouts this season. They tied for fewest shootout losses and fewest road shootout losses in a season. The Jackals only had one shootout loss, and they did not lose on the road in extra sessions this year.

JACKAL SHARPSHOOTER - Elmira Jackals right wing Frank Littlejohn set a franchise record for goals in a season on Friday night. With a hat trick in the Jackals' final home game, he became the first Elmira player to score 40 or more goals in one season.

HALF A GRAND - Quad City right wing Patrick Nadeau recorded his 500th-career point on Saturday night in Muskegon. He reached the milestone with an unassisted goal just 27 seconds into the game. He added another goal in the 7-2 victory at 12:18 in the second period.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (0-2-1) - Bloomington finished its first season in franchise history with a 25-45-6 record...A record crowd of 6,250 fans saw the PrairieThunder's season finale, a 4-2 loss to Flint...Forward Alex Goupil led the team with 23 goals scored in a Bloomington jersey...Forward Mike Zbriger ranked third among rookies with 57 points...Center Tyler Rennette led the team with four game-winning goals this season...Bloomington's 14 home wins were the fewest by a UHL team this year...The PrairieThunder gave up the fewest short-handed goals (nine) in the league.

Chicago Hounds - (1-2-0) - Without leading the team in goals or assists, forward Todd Grant led the Hounds with 54 points (26g, 28a) this year. He had a 10-game point streak snapped on the final day of the regular season...Among defensemen, Chris Busby tied for fourth in the league with 40 assists. He led the Hounds in assists and had a team-best plus-15 rating...Grant and forward Matt Amado (48 points) both ranked in the top 10 among rookie scorers this season...The Hounds are the first team since the New Haven Knights in 2000-01 to make the playoffs during its rookie season in the UHL.

Elmira Jackals - (2-1-0) - By winning two-of-three games against Port Huron last week, the Jackals won the season series with an 8-6-0 record against the Flags...The Jackals allowed the most goals (287) in the UHL this season...Elmira ranked second in the league with a total of 2,087 penalty minutes. Five players recorded more than 100 penalty minutes in a Jackals uniform, and right wing Curtis Tidball ranked second in the UHL with 288 penalty minutes...Right wing Frank Littlejohn ranked second in the league with seven short-handed goals.

Flint Generals - (2-1-0) - Left wing Jeff Zehr led the Generals with 64 points, 30 goals and 15 power-play goals. He ended the season on a five-game point streak (3g, 6a)...Goaltender Jason Muzzatti ended the season on a three-game winning streak, tying his longest streak of the year...Defenseman Gerard Miller ranked fourth in the league at his position with 57 points (13g, 44a)...The Generals led the league in power-play goals with 102, the only team to reach triple-digits...Defenseman Martin Ondrej was the only Flint player to play in all 76 games during the 2006-07 campaign.

Fort Wayne Komets - (3-0-0) - The Komets finished first in the UHL with 51 wins and 106 points...Defenseman Guy Dupuis led the UHL with 39 power-play assists and led all UHL defensemen with 65 assists and 76 points...Defenseman Mario Larocque led all UHL defensemen with 27 goals, 17 power-play goals and four game-winning goals...Center J.C. Ruid set a career-high with 43 goals this season, the third-highest total in the league...Center Martin Gascon was on the ice for all three of Fort Wayne's goals in a 3-0 shutout of Kalamazoo on Saturday.

Kalamazoo Wings - (2-1-0) - The K-Wings finished the season by winning 10 of their last 12 games...Kalamazoo reached 100 points for the second-consecutive season...Center Kory Karlander became the first K-Wings player to lead the league in goals scored (45)...Defenseman Jason Lawmaster ended the season on a five-game point streak (4g, 1a)...Right wing Justin Cross tied for third among rookies in goals scored with 26...Saturday's 3-0 shutout loss to Fort Wayne marked the first time in 100 games that the K-Wings were held scoreless at home.

Muskegon Fury - (0-2-1) - The Fury captured their second conference championship in the past three seasons with 49 wins and 104 points...Muskegon fell one victory short of their third-consecutive 50-win season, but reached 100 points for the fourth-straight year...The Fury's longest winless streak of 2006-07 came in the final five games (0-3-2)...Muskegon had three players rank in the top-10 in scoring, center Todd Robinson, left wing Mike Watt and right wing Rustyn Dolyny...The Fury also had four of the top five players in plus/minus rating. Defenseman Dave Van Drunen led the league with a plus-46 rating.

Port Huron Flags - (1-1-1) - Saturday's 5-4 win over Elmira ended a seven-game (0-4-3) winless streak for the Flags...Port Huron set a franchise record with 68 points this season, exceeding the old mark of 52 set last year...Left wing Scott Wray recorded a point (3g, 10a) in seven of the final 10 games and ended the season on a three-game streak...Center Greg Bullock and center Jeremy Tucker tied with a team-high 74 games played in a Flags uniform this season...Bullock tied for second in the league with 30 power-play assists and for first on the Flags with three game-winning goals this year.

Quad City Mallards - (1-0-2) - The Mallards qualified for the post season for the 12-consecutive year with a total of 37 wins and 85 points...In the final 10 games of the regular season, Quad City posted a 6-2-2 record, and they were unbeaten (4-0-2) in their final six games...Over his last 13 appearances of the season, goaltender Jason Tapp went 9-1-2 with a .911 save percentage...Forwards Brett Pilkington and Justin Chwedoruk were the top-two rookie scorers in the league with 73 and 68 points, respectively...Forward Chad Woollard led the team and ranked fifth in the UHL with 82 points.

Rockford IceHogs - (3-0-0) - Rockford tied a club record with 48 wins in 2006-07 and finished the season on a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-1)...The IceHogs set a club record with 22 road wins, the fourth-highest total in the league...Rockford led the league in assists (452) and penalty minutes (2,132)...Goaltender Frederic Cloutier finished the season on a five-game winning streak. He ranked second in the UHL with 39 wins and third in both GAA (2.30) and SPCT (.921)...Defenseman Luke Fritshaw set a club record with a plus-34 rating, the fourth-highest total in the league.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 9, 2007


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