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Gems End Season With 4-3 Loss To Rapid City

April 5, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


The game was always close and the Gems stayed within striking distance of Rapid City on Tuesday night. But in the end, staying close just wasn't enough.

Despite never giving up, the Dayton Gems were never able to grab a lead as they were defeated 4-3 on Tuesday night. The loss completed a three game sweep of the Gems in the CHL Playoffs.

While the Rush advance onward in the playoffs, Dayton saw its season come to an end. Though the loss means the Gems are done playing after just one round in the playoffs, Dayton set a lot of franchise marks this season.

This year marked the first time the franchise has made the playoffs since it was started in 2009. Their 32-29-5 regular season record was also a big improvement from the 25-46-5 mark the team had in their inaugural season.

During the game, after going down 1-0 early in the first period, Dayton's Matt Szypura knotted the game up at 1-1 with a powerplay goal. Mike Vaskivuo and Greg Labenski each assisted Szypura on his first goal since October 22.

Rapid City was able to regain the lead with less than two minutes remaining in the opening period. Derek LeBlanc scored his first goal of the post season to give the Rush a 2-1 lead.

That lead was then extended to 3-1 in the second period after a goal by Les Reaney. But Damian Surma was able to pull the Gems back to within a goal after he scored less than 30 seconds after Reaney.

The score would stay that way until there was just 5:39 remaining in the period. That's when Dave Grimson gave the Rush a 4-2 advantage. The game remained that way until Brandon Naurato scored his second goal of the series to make it a 4-3 game at the end of the second.

In the final period, each team took their shots at the goal, but both teams came up empty.

With no goals being scored in the final period, the Gems were handed the 4-3 season ending loss.

The Kettering Medical Center is proud to be the official title sponsor of the Gems for the 2010-11 season.

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