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Gems Shutout Rush 3-0 on Friday Night in Rapid City

January 20, 2012 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Dayton Gems News Release


Rapid City, SD - The Dayton Gems would hit the ice firing on all cylinders to snap a five game winless streak and earn their first win of the season against the Rapid City Rush with a dominating 3-0 win on Friday night inside the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in western South Dakota. Scoring for the Gems would be Damian Surma (2) and Tim Hartung, while netminder Bryan Hogan would earn his first professional shutout with the win.

Quickly shaking off the bus legs to open the period, the Gems would be forced to kill off a quick powerplay before regaining the momentum with the game's first goal thanks to Dayton's leading scorer Damian Surma just 4:02 into the opening frame. Controlling the flow and tempo against the Rush through the period, All Star forward Brett Lutes would generate an offensive rush in the Rapid City zone, bouncing an initial shot on Rush netminder Danny Battachio before Surma cashed in with the rebound goal for his second of the night and 20th of the season at the 9:35 mark. Gems netminder Bryan Hogan would stand his crease through the end of the period, to help lead his team into the first intermission leading the Rush 2-0. Shots on goal would end up even at 5-5 after twenty minutes of play.

Skating out for the middle stanza, the Gems and Rush would step up their physicality on both ends of the ice, eventually culminating in a round of fisticuffs as Dayton's John Kennedy took care of business in defense of his netminder by showing Rush captain Scott Wray the business end of his knuckles. As part of the scrum, occurring at the 14:45 mark, the Gems would earn an abbreviated powerplay in which Tim Hartung would blast in a rocket from the farside halfboards to light the lamp and notch his 7th goal of the season at 17:14 to give his Gems the 3-0 lead heading into the second intermission. Shots in the middle period would favor the hosts 12-11.

Despite increased offensive pressure from the Rush in the third period, rookie goaltender Bryan Hogan would remain solid between the pipes to lead his team to their first win of the season against the Rush, and earn Hogan his first professional shutout. Shots on goal in the third again were even 7-7, while the Rush held a slight edge in final shots on goal at 24-23 after a full sixty minutes of play.

With the win, the Gems snap a five game winless streak and improve their record to 13-17-7 and pick up two points in the Tuner Conference standings. Both teams will rematch again Saturday night in Rapid City starting at 9pm eastern time.

The Kettering Medical Center is the official presenting sponsor of the Dayton Gems.

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