Game Night Match-Up: River Otters @ Generals

Published on March 3, 2006 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Missouri River Otters News Release


River Otters Most Recent Game: Sunday, February 26: Missouri 3, Quad City 2 (Shootout)

Kevin Reiter made 45 saves in regulation and 18 saves in the shootout as the Missouri River Otters outlasted the Quad City Mallards 3-2 in an epic 20-round shootout at the MARK.

Neither team dented the twine in the first period, mainly due to the 20 shots that Kevin Reiter turned aside for the River Otters. Quad City scored on an early second-period power-play when Chad Woollard rifled his 30th goal of the season between Reiter's pads. The River Otters responded with a power-play goal of their own when Jim Duhart deflected a Tim O'Connell slap-shot behind Jason Tapp. Missouri took a 2-1 lead with two minutes remaining in the game when Brad MacMillan buried his own rebound between Tapp's legs. Then, in dramatic fashion, the Mallards tied the game with six seconds remaining when Woollard beat Reiter for his second goal of the game.

In the shootout, Patrick Nadeau scored in the first round for Quad City, Jim Duhart scored in the second round for Missouri, Tyler Butler scored in the tenth round for Missouri, Jesse Rycroft scored in the tenth round for Quad City, and MacMillan won it in the 20th round for the River Otters. Reiter made 45 saves in regulation and 18 in the shootout while Tapp made 23 saves in regulation and 17 in the shootout.

Generals Most Recent Game: Sunday, February 26: Flint 3, Port Huron 1

Jason Saal made 28 saves to lead his Flint Generals to a 3-1 victory against the Port Huron Flags at McMorran Arena, Chris Hodgson gave the Flags a short-lived 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the second period, but Terry Marchant evened the score for Flint shortly thereafter. Adam Sturgeon and L.P. Martin registered third-period tallies for the Generals and they skated off with the 3-1 victory.

Most Recent Meeting: Friday, January 6: Flint 5, Missouri 4

A three-goal outburst in the second period led the Flint Generals to a 5-4 victory against the Missouri River Otters at Perani's Arena & Event Center.

The River Otters took an early lead when Damian Surma made a few nice moves in the Generals zone and roofed a wrister over the glove of Jason Saal. Missouri extended their lead to 2-0 when Frank Littlejohn took a terrific drop pass from Lars Pettersen and beat Saal with a top-shelf shot for his 16th goal of the season. Jim Duhart picked up an assist on the goal to extend his point streak to 13 games, one shy of the team record. The Generals stole the momentum and the lead in the second period, getting unanswered goals from Chad Cavanagh, Terry Marchant, and Mike Kinnie to take a 3-2 lead. Kinnie scored again to make it 4-2 in the third period, but Brad MacMillan quickly responded to make it a 4-3 game. Again the Generals extended their lead to two goals when Leo Thomas fired home a bad angle shot, but again the Otters made it close when Pettersen deflected a Duhart shot behind Saal. Saal made 24 saves in the victory while Brenden Cuthbert made 34 saves in defeat.

Brown Delivers: River Otters defenseman Jeff Brown has been an assist master of late with 11 assists in the last ten games. The former first-round NHL draft pick had a seven-game assist streak snapped last Saturday night against Elmira, but picked right up another helper last Sunday against the Mallards.

The Mack Daddy: River Otters forward Brad MacMillan has been a goal scoring machine the last few weeks. The tenacious rookie winger has three goals in his last four games and also scored the shootout game-winner last Sunday against the Mallards.

Duey Domination: River Otters forward Jim Duhart has sniped nine goals in the last ten games and is a plus-1 rating during that span. He's one of only two River Otters players with a plus rating over the last ten games. He currently has 489 goals as a professional, only 11 shy of 500.

Thomas Troubles Otters: Generals forward Leo Thomas has scored three goals in four games against the River Otters this season. Containing him tonight will be a top priority for Missouri.

Otters Next Game: The River Otters travel to Kalamazoo to take on the K-Wings Saturday night at Wings Stadium. The puck drops at 6:30 CST, and all the action can be heard on KSLQ 104.5 and the B2 Webcast, which is located at www.riverotters.com!

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 3, 2006


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