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Home Sweet Home

February 8, 2010 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- Home ice was sweet for five teams this past week. Six of the nine games played during Week 17 were won by the home team. With the exception of Dayton, every other team has a winning record at home. Muskegon is the only team who has 20 or more wins, racking up 21 wins at LC Walker Arena so far this season. The -˜Jacks are also currently on a nine-game home winning streak, the second longest in the IHL this season behind Port Huron, who had an 11-game home win streak from November 15th thru January 15th.

Port Huron continues to lead the IHL in power play goals, scoring a total of 44 goals on the man advantage in 46 games played. They also have the best power play percentage at 21.8%, with Bloomington close behind at 20.3%. On the other end of special teams, the Icehawks are also leading the league in the penalty kill, killing off 170 of 195 chances they have faced, giving them an 87.2% rating when being a man down.

The Komets came out strong against the second place Icehawks on Friday, scoring nine goals during the contest. The nine-goal output ties Muskegon for a league-high this season. Fort Wayne tallied five goals alone in the second period which is the most by a team in second stanza this season. Last year, the Komets scored 11 goals once and 10 goals twice.

Goaltending has been solid this season in the IHL, where nine of the 12 goaltenders who have played at least 870 minutes have a goals against average above 3.00. Of those same 12 netminders, 10 have save percentages of.900 or above. Ten different goaltenders have recorded shutouts this season, totaling 16 shutouts. Last season at this time, there were 11 shutouts by nine different goaltenders.

Around the "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder (1-1-0-1)- Craig Macdonald and Matthew Spiller recorded the club's first ever double hat trick in 7-5 victory over Flint. The hat trick for Spiller, a defenseman, was the first in his 521-game professional career. Defenseman Matt Frick returned to action Wednesday against Flint after missing three games to snap a 93-game consecutive streak with the PrairieThunder. The PrairieThunder racked up 104 minutes in penalties during two games in Muskegon over the weekend, but managed to kill off all but two of 19 Lumberjack power plays. Wednesday is not the day to play the PrairieThunder. The team has a 5-1-0-1 record in the middle of week and has seven more such dates before the season ends.

Flint Generals (1-1-0-0)- The Generals had a light week this week, playing only two games. Wednesday, they traveled to Bloomington and were down 5-1 after two periods. They fought back but came up short and lost 7-5. Friday, they weathered the storm in Dayton and won the contest 2-1. Forward John Mori scored back-to-back shorthanded goals Wednesday against Bloomington and Friday against Dayton. The shorthanders were the sixth and seventh by the Generals this season, which ties them for second with Fort Wayne. Despite his 9-13-2-1 record, rookie netminder Rob Nolan is ranked fifth in the IHL in goals against average (2.62) and fourth in save percentage (.919). The Generals have their best record going in to the third period with a lead. They are 10-0-1-4 when leading after two periods of play.

Fort Wayne Komets (1-2-0-0)- The Komets completed week 17 out-scoring their opponents 11-5 but ended up with a 1-2-0-0 record for the week to show for it. After a 2-1 setback to Dayton on Coliseum ice Wednesday snapping a six- game Fort Wayne home win string, the Komets blitzed the visiting Port Huron Icehawks 9-1 Friday scoring the most goals in a game this season. Feast turned to famine at Quad City Saturday as the Komets finished the week suffering their first regulation loss to the Mallards this season 3-1. The Komets enter week 18 of 2009-10 in third place with a 26-15-0-2 record trailing first-place Muskegon by 13 points. Netminder Tim Haun registered a career high 16th win Friday vs. Port Huron. Sean O'Connor (RW) skated his 100th pro game Wednesday February 3rd vs. Dayton.

Muskegon Lumberjacks (2-0-0-0)- Muskegon remains undefeated on home ice since the beginning of the new calendar year (9-0-0-0). Their last setback on home ice was back on 12/26/09 when Fort Wayne upended the -˜Jacks 7-2. The Lumberjacks have been dominating as the best first period team in the IHL, outscoring their opposition 60-35 overall and 34-14 on home ice. When Jordan Little (12:29), J.T. Dahlinger (13:43) and Adam Welch (14:26) connected 1:57 apart in the second period on Friday in the Lumberjacks 7-1 victory over Bloomington, it represented their fastest three goals of the season. Center Todd Robinson has matched his and the IHL's longest point streak of the season at 13 games and counting. He has scored three goals and 20 assists during the streak.

Port Huron Icehawks (1-2-0-0)- When the Icehawks maintain a lead after the first forty minutes this season, they almost always go on to win. Port Huron is 20-2-0-0 when leading after the second period. The Icehawks fell behind early in losses on Friday and Saturday and couldn't recover. They are 20-3-0-1 when scoring first this season, but 10-10-0-2 when giving up the first goal. The Icehawks play a three game series with the Flint Generals this week, including two games in Port Huron and one at Perani Arena. The Icehawks lead the season series with the Generals 6-2-0-0. Port Huron's three game road trip last week kicked off a busy road schedule for the Icehawks in February. Overall, the Icehawks play just four home games during February and a total of eight games on the road.

Quad City Mallards (1-0-0-1)- The Mallards are unbeaten in regulation in their last four games overall (3-0-0-1) and have suffered just one regulation loss in their last ten home games (8-1-0-1). Jerad Kaufmann set a team season high by making 46 saves in the Mallards 3-2 shootout loss to Port Huron last Wednesday night. In the Mallards' next outing, a 3-1 win over Fort Wayne last Saturday night, Kyle Jones established a personal season high by stopping 38 shots. Last Saturday's win over the Komets was the Mallards' first regulation victory in nine games against the Fort Wayne this season and just Quad City's second win of any sort over the Komets this year. The Mallards have successfully killed off their opponents' last 15 power plays.

Dayton Gems (2-1-0-0)- One of Dayton's top scorers this season is rookie Mike Vaskivuo, who in 44 games has 16 goals and 15 assists for 31 points. Vaskivuo is in the top 20 for scoring in the IHL. Also chipping in the scoring column is veteran John Snowden with 16 goals and 14 assists in 41 games for a total of 30 points. In the last five games, Jon Ornelas has three goals and one assist for four points. Goalie Derek MacIntyre has accumulated 705 saves so far this season. He is third in the league in saves and is tied for the most shutouts in the IHL with three. The Gems head into a busy week with four games in five days. The Gems head to Quad City Wednesday, then play a home-and-home series with Muskegon Friday and Saturday. The Gems will return home on Sunday to face-off against the Mallards.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from February 8, 2010


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