Sports stats

IceDiggers home opener this Saturday

September 16, 2004 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Alpena IceDiggers News Release


After a successful training camp the last two weeks, the Team Toledo IceDiggers host Team USA National 17's this Saturday for their home opener.

Toledo draft pick, Dale Michonski, reported to camp yesterday. Michonski, a native of the Chicago area, played forward for Team Illinois AAA last season on their top line. He adds to the already deep corps of forwards currently on the Toledo roster.

Toledo still needs to make a few decisions to get down to the NAHL 25-man roster limit prior to Saturday.

This Saturday's home opener will be played at the Toledo Ice House. Game time is 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices are $6 adults, $4 students/seniors and FREE to ages 12 & under.

Tickets can be purchased the day of the game at the ticket office.

The Toledo IceDiggers defeated the Cleveland Barons in Game Two of last weekend's home-and-home series by a score of 5-3 at the Ice Land ice arena.

Toledo opened the scoring when Steve Leppo banged home a rebound. Assisting on the goal were Eric Giosa and Jake Hovick.

The Barons would tie the game nearly five minutes later when Matt Shoueynia tipped a shot past goaltender Derek Szesny.

Giosa would score next for the IceDiggers on a feed from Hovick to make the score 2-1 for Toledo. The IceDiggers would take a 3-1 lead into the locker room when Jim Kozlowski scored his first of two goals. Assists went to Jared Katz and Steve Leppo.

The Barons would cut the lead to one when Jake Coyle scored for Cleveland. Kozlowski would answer next on nice feed from Branden Moran to make the score 4-2.

Adam Thomas would strike next for the IceDiggers, converting on a wrap-around. Assists went to Dave Layne and Kaleigh Schrock.

Cleveland would add one goal early in the third but it wasn't enough, as the solid play of Szesny would shut the door on the Barons for the remainder of the third period. Szesny ended the game with 32 saves picking up the win in net for the 'Diggers.

Fans that are unable to attend the home opener can tune into the web cast on the website by clicking on the "Diggers Live" icon on the official Toledo website. Andy Sanzotta will take the air at 7:15 p.m. with the pre-game show.

The IceDiggers have teamed up with sportsjuice.com to cover all 56 of their regular season games on the internet this upcoming season. Sanzotta will handle all the play-by-play action

Andy is a graduate of the University of Toledo. He has been a play-by-play announcer for the only 24-hour local sports network in the country, BCSN, the Buckeye Cable Sports Network.

He was hired by BCSN this past December. Over the last seven months he has covered a number of different sports including hockey, basketball, baseball, softball and tennis. Some of his highlights while at BCSN include covering five IceDigger games on TV last season and broadcasting two Toledo Storm (ECHL) games on radio.

Andy also had the honor of interviewing USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan. His most memorable experience related to hockey was meeting Gordie Howe this past winter.

Assistant GM/coach Kenny Miller had this to say about the club teaming up with Sportsjuice as well as the hiring of Andy Sanzotta: "We are very pleased to be able to cover every game this season on the internet. This will allow our fans, as well as parents from all North America, the ability to listen to the games.

"Andy is a welcomed addition to the IceDiggers family. We are very confident with the decision to have Andy as our broadcaster."



North American Hockey League Stories from September 16, 2004


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.

Other Recent Alpena IceDiggers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central