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Generals Fight Back, Defeat Mallards 6-5 In Overtime Thriller

December 20, 2009 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Flint Generals News Release


FLINT, MI - The Flint Generals scratched and clawed their way back into their game against the Quad City Mallards Sunday afternoon. After falling behind 5-1 by the end of the opening period, the home team found the will to come from behind and send the game to an extra session before netting the winning goal.

Sunday afternoon's game did not begin as the Generals or Rob Nolan had anticipated. For only the second time this season, the Generals netminder looked human letting in two quick goals on the Mallards first two shots. The first score was a result of a great individual effort by Patrick Levesque who managed to get his stick around the Generals defenseman and poke the puck through Nolan's five-hole.

Minutes later, Craig Cescon and Patrick Levesque took out frustrations on each other through quite a few punches before Cescon took his man down to the ice. Just as the scrum was broken up by the officials, Brandon Gentile and Marc Rechlicz dropped their gloves. Kyryll Katrych gave the Mallards a 3-0 lead with a shot that bounced off the crossbar and behind Nolan.

Steve Silver beat Kaufmann putting the Generals on the board halfway through the first taking the pass from captain Pascal Rheaume. Following the third Quad goal and first Gens goal, Nolan was replaced in net by Nick Niedert. Shortly after coming into the game, Niedert came out of the net to play the puck and mishandled it giving it away to Juris Stals. As Niedert was slowly moving back into position, Stals gently directed the puck towards Niedert's skate and slid over the goal line giving the Mallards the easiest goal of the night. Unfortunately the Quad City scoring was not over, as Patrick Levesque deked the puck and put the puck between the pads of Niedert.

Flint came out a completely different team in the second period. One minute into play, Bryan Smolinski made a pass across the crease to Ben Boudreau who tipped the puck past the Mallards goaltender. Off the faceoff, Rheaume got the puck to Ronan who backed up and around into the slot then just took the shot beating Kaufmann.

Third period action was intense for Generals fans. With less than three minutes to play Tony Tuzzolino skated down the right side, dropped the puck for John Mori who got it to Jake Pence in the slot and Pence beat Kaufmann with a one timer. Then with .14 seconds left on the clock Jamie Schaafsma poked the puck in the net after the Gens took shot after shot in a scramble in front of the crease.

Flint carried the play in the extra five minute session and it was John Ronan who made the come from behind effort all worth while beating Kaufmann 1:16 in.

After coming back into the game, Nolan stopped every shot faced making a total of 17 saves on 20 shots while Nick Niedert stopped 4 of 6. Both the Generals and the Mallards went 1 of 6 on the man advantage.

The Generals meet Port Huron for the third time in one week when the IceHawks come to Perani this Tuesday, December 22nd for the last game before Christmas. The Gens fell 6-1 at McMorran last Tuesday then upended the ‘Hawks at Perani 6-3. The food drive with Carriage Town Ministries kicks off on Tuesday as well, and fans are encouraged to bring non-parishable food items to be donated to those less fortunate in the Flint community.

Tickets for Tuesday's game are on sale at the Perani Ticket Office, by phone at 810-744-0580, or through Ticketmaster. For group ticket information, call the Generals office at 810-744-0222 or visit our website at www.flintgenerals.com. All Generals games are available for viewing on our website through the B2 Networks.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from December 20, 2009


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