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Gems Beat Komets 4-2 on Saturday Night

November 18, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


Fort Wayne, IN - Stellar goaltending by rookie Bryan Hogan would help lead the Dayton Gems to a hard fought 4-2 win over rival Fort Wayne Komets to extend their winning streak to two games on Saturday night in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Despite being outshot throughout the first twenty minutes, the Gems would once again rely on their special teams play to make the difference, holding the Komets scoreless in their two powerplays in the first, and using their refined powerplay to score the game's first goal 13:40 in. Tim Hartung would notch his second goal of the season with a shortside sniper off a well executed play in front of Komets netminder Nick Boucher, with linemates Damian Surma and Nick Fanto drawing the assists. Despite the Komets outshooting the Gems 23-7, Dayton carried their 1-0 lead into the dressing room after twenty minutes of play.

Finally cashing in off a near side snap shot in on Hogan, Fort Wayne would even the game 1-1 with their first lamplighter just 4:02 into the middle frame. Helping to get his club back into the momentum, Gems enforcer Nick Duff engaged in fisticuffs at center ice with Komets defenseman Dustin Molle, with Duff dropping Molle to his knees in the convincing decision. Dayton would seem to feed on the energy, leading to the go-ahead goal by Matt Larke who was able to snap a shot while spinning around in the slot less than a minute later at the 5:59 mark. As the period progressed, so too did the rough stuff, with Nick Fanto finding himself tangling in a bout himself, leveling to a draw to help keep his team surging against a fast paced Komets club. Hogan would make a number of key saves in the period, ultimately allowing the Gems to extend their lead to two with a backhand feed through the slot in front of Boucher, giving Brett Lutes the tap-in goal to take the 3-1 lead into the second intermission. Shots in the period would again favor the Komets 11-8, for a forty minute total of 34-15.

The third period would see both clubs taking a number of penalties, and while Dayton maintained their lead through most of the stanza, the Komets made their move as regulation wound down, scoring their second goal of the night with the empty net to cut the Gems lead back to one at the 17:54 mark, but wouldn't be able to muster any further offense. Dayton's Damian Surma would score the Gems second powerplay goal to secure the 4-2 win with less than two minutes remaining at 18:17, the second consecutive night with Surma earning the game's final goal. At the final horn, the Gems claimed their 4-2 victory while being outshot 42-22 after a full sixty minutes.

With the win, the Gems improve their record to 4-4-3, 11pts, and take their two game winning streak back on the road for Saturday night's rematch with the Bloomington Blaze from the US Cellular Coliseum in downtown Bloomington, Illinois. Gametime is set for 8pm eastern, with the game broadcast live starting at 7:50pm on wave96.net and CHL TV.

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