IHL 2 Rockford IceHogs

Komets edge IceHogs 4-3

Published on March 17, 2007 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Rockford IceHogs News Release


Fort Wayne, Ind.- A popular cliche in sports is "it's a game of inches". That couldn't have been any truer for the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday night as they were just inches away from completing an improbable comeback, falling to the Fort Wayne Komets 4-3 at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne.

Short-handed for nearly the entire final five minutes and down 4-2 Rockford used some desperation to make things interesting. Hogs center Preston Mizzi finished off a 2-on-1 short-handed breakaway with Jesse Bennefield and lit his 25th lamp of the season past Dan McWhinney at 19:15 of the third period to pull the Hogs within one goal.

Down 4-3 and with seconds remaining in regulation, Hogs defenseman Luke Fritshaw would lead one final rush while short-handed and attempted to set up Bennefield in front. Bennefield got a piece of the centering pass, but it sailed inches high and by the time the puck hit the back glass, the final horn sounded and Rockford's comeback fell short.

Mizzi put Rockford in position to make the comeback when he redirected a Luke Fritshaw shot on the power play past McWhinney at 11:13 in the final frame. McWhinney relieved Kevin St. Pierre, who was not feeling well, at the beginning of the third period. Rockford was put in the 4-1 hole after Komets winger Daniel Goneau deflected in his 20th goal of the season past Frederic Cloutier just: 36 into the period.

Fort Wayne struck quickly twice midway through the first period. At 7:42 winger Matt Syroczynski fired in his 16th goal of the season off of a rebound sitting on the door step to begin the scoring. Just 18 seconds later Pascal Morency snuck in his sixth goal of the campaign past Cloutier to push the lead to 2-0. Rockford got a goal back, however, while on a 5-on-3 power play. Defenseman Dan Boeser ripped in his fourth tally of the season off of a Preston Mizzi face-off win at 17:09.

Rockford coughed up another goal in the second period while the Komets were on the advantage. Defenseman Guy Dupuis blasted in his ninth goal of the season at 7:37 making it 3-1.

Fort Wayne outshot the IceHogs 33-26 in the game and McWhinney got the win making seven saves. Cloutier turned away 29 shots in the loss. Rockford was 2-for-6 on the power play.

Next Home Game: Sunday, March 18 vs. Flint Generals. The puck drops at 3:05 p.m. Rockford and Flint meet for the final time this season. Sunday is a Dollar Days with the IceHogs, sponsored by 97ZOK. Also, don't forget your skates as the Hogs are hosting a post-game skate with the IceHogs players brought to you by CoCo Key Water Resort.

Check out the Rockford IceHogs Statistics

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 17, 2007


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