Game Night Match-Up: River Otters @ K-Wings

March 4, 2006 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Missouri River Otters News Release


River Otters Most Recent Game: Friday, March 3: Missouri 4, Flint 2 Kevin Reiter backstopped the Missouri River Otters to a 4-2 victory against the Flint Generals at Perani's Arena & Event Center.

The River Otters took a 1-0 lead when Blake Stewart scored on a fluky shot that deflected off a Generals defenseman, rebounded off the boards behind the net, and crossed the goal line after hitting the back of Flint goaltender Jason Saal's skates. Missouri added another goal with one minute left in the opening period when Mark Odut took a nice pass from Brad MacMillan and buried a shot top-shelf. Jim Duhart added a goal in the second period to put the River Otters up 3-0, but Mike Kinnie responded with a 5-on-3 power play goal to make it 3-1 heading into the final period. Dave Stewart scored a third-period power-play goal for the Generals, but Lonnie Loach added an empty netter to seal the deal for the River Otters. Reiter made 22 saves in the victory while Saal made 17 saves in defeat.

K-Wings Most Recent Game: Friday, March 3: Kalamazoo 5, Danbury 2

Nick Bootland scored a hat-trick and Jason Dietsch extended his point-streak to 16 games as the Kalamazoo Wings defeated the Danbury Trashers 5-2 at Wings Stadium. Bootland and Dietsch scored early power-play goals to give Kalamazoo a 2-0 lead. David Hymovitz got one back for the Trashers, but Bootland added another goal to make it 3-1 heading into the second period. Tim Turner extended the K-Wings lead to 4-1 in the second period, and Bootland sealed the victory with his third goal of the game in the final period. Joel Martin made 42 saves in the victory while Jayme Platt made 23 saves in defeat.

Most Recent Meeting: Saturday, December 10: Missouri 4, Kalamazoo 3 (Shootout)

Jim Duhart continued his scoring tear with two more goals and the Missouri River Otters sniped their way past the Kalamazoo Wings 4-3 to register their fourth consecutive victory in front of 2,409 fans at the Family Arena.

Kalamazoo struck first thirteen minutes into the first period when Joe Seroski took a terrific power play pass from Kory Karlander and fired the puck behind Kevin Reiter. The next goal was scored by the Otters to tie the game at one. Damian Surma intercepted a K-Wings pass in the corner and quickly sent a pass in front to Duhart who rifled a shot past Jeff Reynaert for his third goal in four games with Missouri. The K-Wings regained the lead less then a minute later when a power play shot by Seroski hit Karlander in the head and deflected into the net.

The K-Wings extended their lead in the second period when Mike Manley scored a shorthanded goal on a terrific play in front of the net. Missouri cut the deficit to 3-2 ten minutes later when Duhart skated up the right wing and sent a laser-beam wrister that beat Reynaert low to the stick side for his second goal of the game.

The River Otters dominated the final period to take control of the game. Just over a minute into the period Brad Church intercepted a K-Wings pass, streaked across the blue line, and whistled a deadly accurate shorthanded wrister over the glove of Reynaert to tie the game at three. Nine minutes later while on a power play, Tim O'Connell beat Reynaert with a shot from the right point to put the River Otters up for good. Reiter made 26 saves for his fourth consecutive victory while Reynaert made 20 saves in defeat.

Mac' Tearin: River Otters forward Brad MacMillan has been a scoring machine of late. The tenacious rookie winger has three goals and an assist in his last five games and has racked up 25 penalty minutes during that span.

Duhart All Heart: River Otters forward Jim Duhart has registered nine goals and seven assists in the last ten games and is a plus-5 rating during that span. He currently has 490 goals as a professional, only 10 shy of 500.

Dietsch Streaking: No player in the UHL has been hotter of late than K-Wings forward Jason Dietsch. He's currently riding the crest of a seven-game goal streak and a 16-game point streak. Dietsch has scored goals in 12 of his last 15 games.

Otters Next Game: The River Otters host the Quad City Mallards Sunday at the Family Arena. The puck drops at 4:00 CST, and all the action can be heard on KSLQ 104.5 FM and the B2 Networks, located at www.riverotters.com.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 4, 2006


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