Jets on Season-High Nine-Game Unbeaten Streak
January 15, 2007 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Fargo-Moorhead Jets News Release
Fargo (ND) The Fargo-Moorhead Jets are on a season-high nine-game unbeaten streak after wins over Bismarck and Southern Minnesota last weekend. Since suffering the most lopsided defeat in franchise history on Dec. 15th (12-1 loss to Alexandria), the FM Jets have gone 8-0-1 and extended their lead in the North American Hockey League's Central Division to 10 points.
The only game during this nine-game stretch that the FM Jets' haven't come away with the full two-points for a victory is a 3-2 overtime loss to Southern Minnesota on Jan. 5th. With that lone exception, it's been all Fargo-Moorhead with four wins against Bismarck, three against Southern Minnesota and another against Alexandria during the streak.
Last weekend, Rob Johnson (Duluth, MN) scored a hat trick on Jan. 12th to guide the FM Jets to a 5-2 home win over the Bismarck Bobcats. The following night, Johnson added two more goals and Austin Lee (Bloomington, MN) played well in net to earn a 4-1 win at the Southern Minnesota Express.
The wins improved the FM Jets' record to 26-9-2, 54 pts, good for a 10-point lead over second place Southern Minnesota, the largest such lead in the division since Dec. 2nd. In addition, the wins brought the FM Jets to within four points of the South Division's St. Louis Bandits for the best record in the entire NAHL.
This unbeaten streak, trumps an eight game winning streak the FM Jets had in October, and is the longest such streak since the 2005-2006 team began the season with ten straight victories. The FM Jets go for a new franchise record for longest streak without a regulation loss this weekend with games Saturday and Sunday at North Iowa, a team the FM Jets have defeated 10 of 11 meetings over two seasons
Nevertheless, despite the winning streak and sizeable division lead, the humbling thing is that there are still 25 games remaining in the regular season and mathematically clinching anything is still a ways off. The FM Jets' magic number to clinch a playoff spot is 25 and the number to clinch the division title is 32.
New Assist Leader
With three assists against Bismarck and another pair versus Southern Minnesota, Chris Connolly (Duluth, MN) has become the FM Jets' franchise leader in career assists. Connolly's 78 assists, surpasses former FM Jet player Phil Fox on the all-time leader board.
Connolly also had 108 points for his career, fourth highest all-time for the FM Jets.
Power Play's Strong Weekend
The FM Jets were definitely clicking on the power play this weekend, going 4/9 versus Bismarck and 2/10 at Southern Minnesota. For the weekend, the power play was 31.6%, almost double the season average.
Breaking Through
Over the past two seasons, Chris Connolly (Duluth, MN) has been one of the FM Jets' major weapons but almost seems to sneak up on everyone while others get most of the publicity. He is Randy Jackson on American Idol, Stephen Colbert's character in Anchorman and Alden Brown to the entire Food Network.
Well, not as though he hadn't already earned it, but Connolly is definitely worth plenty of attention now. Over the last 10 games, he has a team-high 20 points (8 goals), with two game winners.
Division Leaders
Each of the top four scorers in the Central Division hail from the Fargo-Moorhead Jets. Jesse Echternach (Bemidji, MN), Chris Connolly (Duluth, MN), Rob Johnson (Duluth, MN) and Matt Moreland (Grand Forks, ND) are 1-4 in order.
In net, Austin Lee (Bloomington, MN) has the lowest goals against average and highest save percentage of all goaltenders in the division.
NAHL Leaders
Matt Moreland (Grand Forks, ND) leads the NAHL in shorthanded goals with 5, while Rob Johnson (Duluth, MN) is second in power play goals with 12.
Austin Lee (Bloomington, MN) is third among all goaltenders in GAA at 2.26
Central TEAM GP W L OTL PTS WPCT GF GA PIM HOME ROAD L-TEN STREAK Fargo-Moorhead 37 26 9 2 54 .730 138 101 834 14-7-1 12-2-1 8-1-1 4-0-0 Southern Minnesota 41 21 18 2 44 .537 127 117 851 9-13-1 12-5-1 5-4-1 0-1-0 Springfield 40 18 18 4 40 .500 113 121 1145 11-7-0 7-11-4 4-5-1 0-3-0 Bismarck 41 14 21 6 34 .415 114 152 900 8-8-3 6-13-3 2-8-0 0-1-0 Alexandria 39 16 22 1 33 .423 106 131 915 7-12-1 9-10-0 6-4-0 1-0-0 North Iowa 38 15 20 3 33 .434 109 142 1023 8-9-2 7-11-1 2-5-3 0-0-1
Last Week
Jan. 12 Bismarck Bobcats 5-2 W
Jan. 13 @ Southern Minnesota Express 4-1 W
This Week
Jan. 20 @ North Iowa Outlaws 7:05pm
Jan. 21 @ North Iowa Outlaws 5:05pm
The FM Jets Junior A Hockey Club is in its fourth season as members of the North American Hockey League. The NAHL is the nation's largest Junior A hockey league and is now in its 31st year of operation. For more information, visit fmjets.com or call (701) 235-2354.
Jets home games are played at the John E. Carlson Coliseum in Fargo, ND. All games are broadcasted on Today's Hot New Country 103.9 THE TRUCK and audiosportsonline.com.
North American Hockey League Stories from January 15, 2007
- Peterson takes player of the week honors - Alpena IceDiggers
- U.S. National Under-17 Team Falls to NAHL-Leading Phantoms, 7-4 - U.S. National Team
- Phantoms top Team USA - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- Jets Player Tabbed by NHL Central Scouting - Fargo-Moorhead Jets
- Jets on Season-High Nine-Game Unbeaten Streak - Fargo-Moorhead Jets
- Wildcats Earn Three Points Against Fairbanks - Wichita Falls Wildcats
- IceDiggers sweep Phantoms - Alpena IceDiggers
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