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Gems Fight to 6-2 Road Win Over Blaze

November 25, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


Dayton, OH - Special teams play would help propel the Dayton Gems to a convincing victory over the Bloomington Blaze in what would become a fisticuffs-laden "Black Friday" matchup inside the US Cellular Coliseum in downtown Bloomington, Illinois.

Exerting their presence right from the opening faceoff, the Blaze would capitalize on a sluggish Gems start to blast a furious first round of shots towards Gems veteran netminder Larry Sterling, ultimately blasting in the game's first goal only 4:14 into the frame to take the early 1-0 lead. Dayton would spend the rest of the period struggling at times to generate offense on their attacking side of the ice, and would begin to find success in the second half of the stanza with a handful of physical chances on Blaze goalie Marco Emond. With the period in it's closing seconds, and on their third powerplay of the night, Dayton would count on the efforts of Damian Surma to snap the twine on a one timer from Tim Hartung's centering pass, tying the game 1-1 with just 6.2 seconds showing on the scoreboard. Skating into the intermission deadlocked, the Gems would end up out shooting the Blaze 16-12 thanks to the late period charge.

If the first period was controlled by the Blaze, the middle period would be handled by Dayton's renewed offensive machinery, led by the Gems go-ahead goal a mere 4:51 into the frame by Brandon Naurato. The goal, Naurato's fifth of the season, was assisted by Nick Fanto and Surma, and was Dayton's second straight powerplay lamplighter of the night. While Sterling would handle the duty on the defensive end of the ice, Dayton would continue to send pucks towards Emond, all while both teams generated crowd pumping chances throughout the period. Surma would kick into high gear and help setup his third point of the night when he fed a pass to Naurato awaiting patiently in the far side corner, who quickly sniped in a top shelf shot to extend the Gems lead to two at the 17:28 mark. Not giving up, the Blaze would bounce in a powerplay goal of their own with just over a minute left in the period to cut the Dayton lead back to one, but neither team would be able to muster any further offense before the horn to end forty minutes of play. Dayton skated into the second intermission with the 3-2 lead, and once again outshot the Blaze 12-11 in the period for a two frame total of 28-23.

Dayton would control the third period, extending their lead to two thanks to a shorthanded breakaway goal by Nick Fanto at 13:15 to make it a 4-2 hockey game. Not looking back, the Gems special teams would strike again for their whopping forth powerplay goal of the game at the 17:38 mark off the stick of Ben Winnett before recently acquired forward Nic Polaski notched his first goal as a Gem with an unassisted bullet of a slapshot from the far point less than a minute later at 17:59 to seal the 6-2 win. The game would turn violent in the final minute, with multiple fights breaking out on the ice at two separate stoppages to end regulation in thrilling fashion. Shots on goal in the third favored the Blaze, while the Gems held the 39-36 edge after sixty minutes. Dayton's special teams play turned out to be the storyline, with the Gems going 4 for 11 on the powerplay, while Bloomington was 1 for 6 with the man advantage.

The Dayton Gems also announced that they have acquired forward Nic Polaski. A 25 year old native of Colorado Springs, Colorado, Polaski most recently appeared in six games this season for the Huntsville Havoc of the Southern Professional Hockey League. Prior to his professional career, Nic spent four seasons at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point and three years of junior hockey in the North American Hockey League.

With the win, the Gems improve their record to 6-4-4 with 16 points and now return home to host the Fort Wayne Komets on Saturday night at 7pm on Cassano's Italian Ice inside Hara Arena.

Saturday night's game at Hara is OSU/Michigan Night, with the first 500 fans receiving OSU or Michigan beaded necklaces. Tickets are available by calling the Gems ticket office at 275-7777 or by visiting www.DaytonGems.com.

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