Goaltenders playing big roles for UHL teams

Published on December 11, 2006 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO --- Goaltending plays a major part in the success of any hockey club, and several United Hockey League (UHL) goaltenders are filling that role in a big way during recent games.

Muskegon Fury netminder Clayton Pool continues his hot start to the season and leads all league goaltenders with a 1.83 goals against average (GAA), a .938 save percentage (SPCT), and has the most wins (15). He has yet to lose a road game this season (9-0-0).

Veterans Tom Askey (11-6-0) in Kalamazoo and Kevin St. Pierre (13-5-0) in Fort Wayne have filled the most time in the crease for their respective clubs, but both have been supported by promising young back-ups. Kalamazoo's Ryan Nie earned his first professional shutout when he stopped all 26 shots in the 4-0 win vs. Port Huron on Sunday. The rookie currently has a 4-2-0 record, a 2.00 GAA, and a .934 SPCT in seven appearances this season. Fort Wayne's Dan McWhinney has watched St. Pierre make nine straight starts, but has been solid when called upon to help the Komets. Both youngsters have stopped all four shooters in their first appearance in professional shootouts this season.

Rockford's Frederic Cloutier has been one of the hottest goaltenders as of late. In his last nine games, he has posted a 1.78 GAA and .940 SPCT. His performance has also earned him two call-ups to the American Hockey League (AHL) this season.

Chicago's Marty Magers and Elmira's Kris Tebbs have been the "workhorse" for their teams. They rank second and third, respectively, among UHL goaltenders in minutes played. Tebbs leads the league with 612 saves while Magers sits behind him with 578 saves.

Dustin Traylen of Port Huron has earned the confidence of his team, especially on home ice. Prior to Saturday night, he had allowed just one goal at home over his last three games and has won three of his past four starts in his home arena.

Quad City's Jason Tapp has played a key part in the recent six-game unbeaten streak for the Mallards. In his last five starts, he has a 4-0-1 record, a 1.80 GAA, and a .946 SPCT.

FLYING BEARS - UHL teams and their fans are doing their part to help make the holidays even more special in their local communities. Several teams have held "Teddy Bear Toss Night" in recent games. Rockford fans tossed 1,569 stuffed toys on the ice during Friday's game. Bloomington and Elmira both held similar events on Saturday while Port Huron collected stuffed toys on Sunday. The toys will be donated to organizations for distribution to underprivileged children, or the toys will be personally delivered by players to children in local hospitals. Kalamazoo has a "Teddy Bear Toss" scheduled for this coming Saturday and other UHL teams have special charitable functions scheduled throughout the holiday season.

EVERYONE IS A WINNER - Every team in the UHL earned at least one victory during the week. It was only the second week this season that feat has been accomplished.

TEAM EFFORT - Kalamazoo goaltender Tom Askey earned an assist in Saturday's 3-2 loss to Flint. Every member of the team, including goaltenders, now has recorded a point this season. The Kalamazoo Wings are the only team in the UHL with this distinction.

SHOOTOUT DROUGHT - With the UHL nearly a third of the way through the regular season schedule, only 12 contests have gone to the shootout this season. That number is just over 10% of UHL games. Last season, over 38% of league games were decided by the shootout. The Muskegon Fury were the last team to have a game end in a shootout this season when they defeated Port Huron 5-4 in the extra session on Saturday.

FAMILIAR SCORE - Three of the last four games between Kalamazoo and Port Huron have ended with a 4-0 final score. Kalamazoo has claimed victory in two of those games.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (1-2-0) - The PrairieThunder won their second shootout victory in as many attempts with the 4-3 shootout victory vs. Quad City on Saturday...Forward Alex Goupil scored in the shootout. He has scored in both shootout attempts this season...Bloomington was 1 for 35 on the power play prior to Saturday, but broke that slump with three power play goals in the win...The PrairieThunder is 1-10-0 when the opposition scores first...The team has been outscored 28-13 in the second period.

Chicago Hounds - (1-3-0) - After scoring ten total goals in their previous two victories, Chicago has scored just three goals total in their three straight losses...Right wing Greg Koehler had his six-game point streak snapped in Sunday's 2-1 loss to Muskegon. He is now tied for the team lead in scoring...The Hounds scored two goals in a span of nine seconds during the third period of Wednesday's 5-1 win vs. Flint...Goaltender Marty Magers was 2:10 shy of recording his second shutout of the season in Wednesday's victory.

Elmira Jackals - (1-1-0) - Right wing Frank Littlejohn netted the 200th goal of his career in Friday's 3-2 win vs. Fort Wayne. The league leading fifth shorthanded goal of the season for Littlejohn also proved to be the game-winner... Captain Brent Cullaton recorded his 600th career point when he dished out an assist in Saturday's 5-3 loss... Defenseman Chris Mann has seven points (1g, 6a) in 22 games this season. He had seven points (1g, 6a) in 61 games played last season...Goaltender Kris Tebbs has started 14 consecutive games for the Jackals.

Flint Generals - (2-2-0) - Left wing Jeff Zehr has a goal in back-to-back games including the game-winner on Sunday vs. Bloomington...Zehr's power play goal in the first period on Sunday ended a 0 for 40 slump on the power play that lasted over 16 periods of play for the Generals...Defenseman Gerard Miller leads the team in scoring with 15 points (6g, 9a)... The Generals have won three of their last four on home ice...Defenseman Greg Snitowsky scored a goal in just his second game with the club after being signed late in the week.

Fort Wayne Komets - (1-1-0) - The Komets have their best 20-game start in UHL history (14-6-0)...Goaltender Kevin St. Pierre has made nine straight starts...Center J.C. Ruid is riding a four-game point streak. He registered his second "hat trick" (3g) of the season on Saturday...On home ice, the Komets have allowed just five power play goals to lead the league in home penalty killing (93.8%)... Defenseman Guy Dupuis ranks fifth in the UHL with 20 assists...The Komets average the second most penalty minutes per game in the league (36.1).

Kalamazoo Wings - (2-1-0) - Kalamazoo has won four straight games on the road...Right wing Justin Cross leads all UHL rookies with 12 goals...Forward Glenn Detulleo played his 300th career professional game on Saturday... The K-Wings have a 5-1-0 record on Sundays this season...Left wing Nick Bootland is one game-winning goal shy of tying the K-Wings all-time record of 11...Kalamazoo has only given up 12 power goals this season to lead the UHL in penalty killing (93.3%)...Center Kory Karlander is three assists shy of 300 for his career.

Muskegon Fury - (3-0-0) - The Muskegon Fury have won seven straight on the road, one shy of tying the team record...The club is 9-0-0 vs. Western Conference opponents...Muskegon has outscored their opponents 44-16 in the second period this season...Right wing Rustyn Dolyny is riding an 11-game point streak. He has a league season high ten-game assist streak...Left wing Mike Watt is riding a six-game scoring streak...Dating back to last season, the Fury are unbeaten in regulation in their last 14 games (11-0-3) vs. Port Huron.

Port Huron Flags - (1-1-1) - After trailing 1-0 through two periods on Friday, the Flags scored four goals in the third period to defeat Rockford 4-1...After missing more than a month due to injury, left wing Colt King scored five points (3g, 2a) in his first two games back in the lineup...The Flags play four games in five nights during the upcoming week with three straight at home over the weekend...Port Huron currently leads the UHL with 234 minor penalties this season...Defenseman B.J. Adams has an even or better plus/minus rating in 17 of 22 games this season.

Quad City Mallards - (1-0-1) - The Mallards are unbeaten in regulation over their last six games (4-0-2). That matches their streak of six unbeaten (6-0-0) to finish the 2005-06 regular season. Their longest unbeaten streak before that was 11 games (10-0-1) during the 2003-04 season...All seven goals by the Mallards over the weekend were scored by different players...Forward David Herring dished out an assist on Friday in his first game with the team since being acquired in a trade...Defenseman Mathieu Wathier netted his first goal with the team on Friday.

Rockford IceHogs - (2-1-0) - Defenseman Nathan Lutz has six assists over his last six games...Seven of the next 11 games for the club are on home ice...Defenseman Mike Letizia is the only player on the team to have a plus rating (plus-4) over the past five games...Center Mike Doyle netted the game-winning goal in both victories this week. He has a goal in three of the last four games...Rockford held Chicago to just three shots in the second period in Saturday's 3-1 win...The IceHogs are 1-4-0 vs. Eastern Conference opponents on the road this season.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from December 11, 2006


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