Sports stats



Gems Host Komets for "Pack the House Night"

March 24, 2012 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


Dayton, OH - The Dayton Gems conclude their home portion of the 2011-2012 CHL regular season when they host the first place Fort Wayne Komets onto Cassano's Italian Ice inside Hara Arena for one final time Saturday night. Faceoff is set for 7:15pm.

Most recently, theGems suffered a hard fought 6-3 loss inside the War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana on Friday night to begin the three-in-three weekend series with the Komets. Scoring for the Gems was Jon Ornelas (2) and Greg Labenski. Newly Acquired Komets forward and former Gem Mike Vaskivuo led the charge against his former team, notching one goal and three assists in the Fort Wayne win.

Gameday In Dayton

The Gems and Komets meet for the thirteenth time this season, and the seventh and final time inside Hara Arena in the Gem City. With Friday night's win, Fort Wayne boasts an 8-4-0 record against the Gems this season in their prior twelve confrontations. Dayton enters Friday night's game 4-7-1 against the Komets and have won two of the the last three games against Fort Wayne, out scoring the Komets 12-9 in those trio of games.

Friday night's Gems loss snapped a three game winning streak and gave Dayton their first loss to the Komets since all the way back on February 4. Dayton earned Friday night's lone powerplay goal off the stick of captain Greg Labenski, with the Gems finishing 1 for 7 on the man advantage and keeping the Komets scoreless with their highly rated special teams, finishing 0 for 4. Despite the powerplay goal, the Gems PP rating slipped out of the top ten in the CHL, coming into Saturday night's game ranked 11th with a 16.8% efficiency.

The Komets (38-19-7) continue their Turner Conference dogfight as the regular season draws near it's completion, as the Komets remain just one point ahead of both Evansville and Rapid City at the top of the conference's playoff picture. Fort Wayne concludes their regular season at home on Sunday afternoon when Dayton makes their final appearance on the ice for this season at 5pm.

Tonight is "Pack the House Night" at Hara Arena, with $1 from every ticket sold being donated to local injured infant Caleb Zwiebel and his family to help cover mounting medical expenses. Additionally, the first 1,000 kids 12-under willreceivea Gems "retro" youth jersey and the game worn red sweaters will be sold during a live postgame auction inside the Hara Arena lobby.

Dayton Gems Game Notes

Player of the Week - Dayton's Nic Polaksi was named CHL Player of the Week for his four point performance in Sunday's 9-1 win over Laredo.

Trainer of the Year -Dayton's Bryan Rogers was named the CHL's Athletic Trainer of the Year for 2012.

Jammed It for Jimmy - The Gems thawed the IceMen 4-3 in front of a season high crowd of 5,187 insideHaraArena on Saturday, January 28. Portions of the ticket proceeds went to local teen cancer patient Jimmy Jenks,whodropped the ceremonial first puck.

Sign of the Times -February 25th's win over the Sundogs opened with a unique performance of theNationalAnthem by Fairborn middle school students, who "signed" the anthem in sign language.

Man of the Year -Gems captain Greg Labenski was named a finalist for the CHL's prestigious "Man of the Year" award.

Stellar Sterling - veteran netminder Larry Sterling continues to battle near the top of the CHL statchart,maintaining the CHL's 2nd best save percentage of .924.

All Star Lutes - Brett Lutes represented the Gem City as the lone Gems player participating in the 2012 All Star Game. Luteswould earn two assists and a +5 rating to help his CHL All Star team beat the CHL's Arizona Sundogs6-4.

The Closer - Dayton's Tim Hartung sits tied for most Game Winning Goals by a defenseman with 4, whileleadingthe CHL's blueliners in Shootout Goals with 7. He was named CHL "Best shootout player" in 2012.

Powerplay Master - Brandon Naurato is tied for third in the CHL for most powerplay goals with 10.

Tune Into The Game Live!

Fans can cheer on their Gems by tuning intowave96.netor CHL TV starting at 7:00pm eastern time, with Gems broadcaster Tom Michaels handling the play-by-play. Fans can also stream the game live from their smartphones throughwave96.netand the free TuneIN radio app.

• Discuss this story on the Central Hockey League message board...

Central Hockey League Stories from March 24, 2012


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central