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Four Teams Earn Place In Playoffs

March 30, 2009 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- The four teams who will compete for the 2009 Turner Cup Championship this post season are in place as of last week. Wednesday, Muskegon earned their spot in the 2009 Turner Cup playoffs while Kalamazoo clinched their playoff berth with a win over Muskegon Friday, coupled with a Bloomington loss. Muskegon and Kalamazoo join Port Huron and Fort Wayne, who secured their spots last week.

Home ice advantage through the first round of playoffs still remains on the line over the next two weeks. The Fort Wayne Komets took over first place after another perfect week. The Komets extended their winning streak to six straight, looking to hold on to first place and be repeat winners of the Huber Trophy, which is awarded to the regular season champion. Muskegon and Port Huron end Week 24 in a tie for second, each with 89 points.

Bloomington rookie Bill Bagron recorded his first hat trick of his professional career Sunday in Bloomington's 7-6 shootout loss to Muskegon. Bagron, who joined the PrairieThunder back in January, has scored a total of 12 goals and nine assists in 34 games in Bloomington. The rookie center began the season with Muskegon before being traded to Bloomington. The hat trick was the third of the season for Bloomington and was the fourth in the PrairieThunder's franchise history.

AROUND THE "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (0-2-1-1) - Rookie forward Bill Bagron scored the first hat trick of his pro career March 29th in a 7-6 shootout loss at Muskegon. He also had an assist for four points. Marty Standish, who had scored only three points in the last 20 games, erupted for three assists in Sunday's game at Muskegon. Jon Booras has scored at least one point in 12 of the last 13 games. Rookie Mike Kusy has scored at least one point in six of the last eight games he has played after scoring only three in his first 17 games. Paul Holder scored a goal in his first game with the PrairieThunder on Sunday after being claimed off of waivers just hours before the game.

Flint Generals - (1-2-0-1) - Center Greg Bullock continues to be on fire for the Generals. Bullock, who currently ranks fifth in the IHL among scoring leaders, has notched in 24 goals and 54 assists for a total of 78 points so far this season. Flint has scored a total of 16 shorthanded goals in 70 games played so far this season. Rookies Maxime Lincourt and Zach Pearson both are tied for the league lead in shorthanded goals scored, each recording four a piece. Goaltender Chad Alban leads all IHL goaltenders in saves with 1,442. Alban is also ranked third among goalies in minutes played with 2629:53. The Generals lead the IHL in penalty minutes with 1,712. They also lead in majors (98) and 10 minute misconducts (26). Right wing Justin Styffe currently leads all IHL rookies in majors with 26, with all of his majors being fighting majors. Veteran right wing Frank Littlejohn recorded his 200th career assist Wednesday in the Generals 4-1 loss in Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne Komets - (4-0-0-0) - March madness: The Komets completed March earning 27 of a possible 30 points (13-1-0-1) for a .900 month, scoring points in 14 of the 15 games played and practically mirroring last year's March performance of 13-0-0-1. Career year: Netminder Boucher has a career high of 28 wins. Winger P.C. Drouin scored a goal in the Komets' 2-0 win vs. Flint Friday to tie his career best mark of 29 goals in a season and reached his career high of 62 assists with three assists in Sunday's 6-5 win at Flint. Guy Dupuis' goal Sunday at Flint gives the defenseman a career high of 16 goals in a season. Winger David Hukalo tied his career best of 20 goals with a marker in the Komets' 4-2 win Saturday against Port Huron. Hukalo has already reached career highs of 35 assists and 55 points for the year. Milestones: Left wing P.C. Drouin scored his 100th Fort Wayne career goal in Sunday's 2-0 win vs. Flint. Defenseman Rod Aldoff netted his 100th pro goal when he scored the first goal of the 4-2 win vs. Port Huron. Defenseman Guy Dupuis has appeared in 799 regular season Fort Wayne games and is three games shy of breaking the team's record of 801 games set by Eddie Long. Dupuis has skated an all-time total (regular season and playoffs) of 863 Fort Wayne games and needs four more to break the record of 866, also set by Eddie Long.

Kalamazoo Wings - (2-0-1-0) - Kalamazoo clinched a playoff spot last Friday. The K-Wings are unbeaten in regulation in their last six games (5-0-1-0). Lucas Drake is on a K-Wings' season-high nine-game point streak. Jason Tapp has won his last four starts. Rick Cleaver is on a seven-game point streak. Dominic Osman is on a five-game point and goal streak. Kalamazoo has surrendered four shorthanded goals in their last two games. Anthony Battaglia is one point shy of 300 in his career. Nine of the K-Wings 14 meetings versus the Flint Generals have been decided by one goal. Last Wednesday marked the first time since 2/28, a span of 13 games that the K-Wings had a full roster of 18 players dressed for a game.

Muskegon Lumberjacks - (3-1-0-0) - When Muskegon defeated Bloomington Saturday Night in Illinois, 8-2, it marked their 40th win of the season. It was the 11th time in the last 15-years and the 6th time in the last seven years that Muskegon has attained the prestigious 40 victory plateau. With their three consecutive victories over Bloomington this past week, the Lumberjacks halted a five-game winless skid against their PrairieThunder rivals. Center Todd Robinson's 88 assists this season shatter the Muskegon record for most assists in a single season of 86 set by Sergei Kharin back in the 1997-98 season. Rookie left wing Anton Kharin's pro debut the past weekend marked the second time that a son has played for his father's Muskegon team. Anton Kharin is the son of former Muskegon all-time great Sergei Kharin, who starred for Muskegon from 1996-2001. Previously, Nigel Hawryliw had a brief stint with Muskegon, preceded by his father Neil Hawryliw. The Lumberjacks have scored 11 three-goal hat tricks this season and they remain undefeated when they do score one.

Port Huron Icehawks - (1-2-0-0) - The Port Huron Icehawks entered the week in first place, but picked up just two of six possible points and slipped to a second place tie with the Muskegon Lumberjacks. They are five points behind the first place Fort Wayne Komets. The Icehawks have averaged the least penalties per game of any team in the league (17.13) and have tallied the least total penalty minutes (1,182). Wednesday's loss versus Kalamazoo snapped a five game overall unbeaten streak and an eight game road unbeaten streak for Port Huron. Several Icehawks are riding streaks. Steve Rymsha is riding a four game point streak and three game assist streak (1g, 6a), and Nick Lindberg (2g, 3a) and Jamie Carroll (1g, 2a) are both on three game point streaks. Right wing Robert Snowball remains on call-up with the AHL Lake Erie Monsters. He played in Thursday's game versus San Antonio and finished the game with one fight. In six games with Lake Erie, Snowball has tallied one goal, one assist, 15 penalty minutes and a +4 rating.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 30, 2009


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