Mallards, Generals clinch playoff berths

Published on March 26, 2007 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO --- In an exciting week of United League Hockey (UHL) action, the Quad City Mallards and the Flint Generals clinched playoff berths while other teams fought for postseason positioning.

The Mallards went 2-2-0 on the week and clinched their 12th-consecutive UHL post-season berth with a 4-2 win over the Bloomington PrairieThunder on Wednesday. Quad City holds an 11-point edge in the standings over the Chicago Hounds, the fourth-place team in the Eastern Conference. The Hounds have six games remaining, and Chicago will clinch a playoff spot with four more points.

With a 5-2 win over the Mallards coupled with a loss by the Elmira Jackals, the Generals clinched a spot in the playoffs on Saturday night. Flint finished the week with a 2-0-0 record and have 69 points on the season. They lead the Port Huron Flags by six points in the Eastern Conference standings. With seven games remaining, the Flags need five points to clinch a spot in the postseason.

The race for the top seed in the Western Conference is heating up after a 3-1-0 week by the Rockford IceHogs. Rockford cut the gap between them and the first-place Fort Wayne Komets by three points. Rockford sits two points back with 92. Both teams have six games remaining on the schedule. The IceHogs will play Chicago and the Elmira Jackals twice and both the Bloomington PrairieThunder and the Muskegon Fury once. The Komets have Flint (twice), Chicago, Bloomington, Muskegon, and the Kalamazoo Wings remaining on the schedule.

GREATEST OF ALL TIME - Exactly one week after Mike Modano of the NHL's Dallas Stars broke Joe Mullen's all-time record for NHL goals by an American-born player, Don Parsons of the Quad City Mallards passed Mullen to become the all-time American-born goal-scoring leader. Parsons scored a goal in the final minute of a 5-2 loss against the Flint Generals on Saturday night. The goal was his 38th of the season and the 623rd of his professional career, one more than Mullen's professional total.

FANTASTIC FURY - The Muskegon Fury were the first team to reach the 100-point plateau this season. It is the fourth-consecutive year that Muskegon has reached 100 points. The Fury hold a six-point advantage over the Fort Wayne Komets in the race for the Tarry Cup, awarded each year to the team that finishes the regular season with the best overall record, as determined by points earned in the standings. Muskegon can clinch the best record in the UHL with seven points in their final six games.

DÉJÀ VU - In the span of 2:22, Quad City scored two power play goals in the second period against Fort Wayne on Friday. With identical scoring, both goals were tallied by defenseman Dale Lupul with the assists credited to right wing Patrick Nadeau and defenseman Sergei Durdin.

LEND ME YOUR EARS - The final two UHL Battle of the Bands competitions will take place this week. The first will be hosted by Rockford on Friday, and the second one will be in Quad City on Saturday. After a winning band from the final two events is selected, the UHL will post mp3s of the five winning bands on the UHL website (www.theuhl.com) for online voting for the 2006-07 UHL Battle of the Bands Champion. Voting will take place online beginning Wednesday, April 11 and ending Wednesday, April 18. The winning band will be announced during the final week of the UHL playoffs, and will then travel to New York City to audition for music executives and possibly earn a recording contract with a music label.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (1-3-0) - The PrairieThunder defeated the Muskegon Fury for the first time in franchise history on Sunday. Forward B.J. Gaustad scored the decisive goal in a 5-4 shootout victory...Defenseman Jarad Bourassa is on a three-game goal streak. He has scored a career-high 17 goals this season...Rookie left wing Jamison Orr tallied an assist in his first professional game on Wednesday...Forward Alex Goupil has recorded 11 points (6g, 5a) in his last seven games...Coupled with losses by other teams, Bloomington must win all six of its remaining games to make the playoffs.

Chicago Hounds - (2-2-0) - The Hounds are one of the league's hottest teams with a 10-4-1 record in March...Forward Todd Grant leads the team in scoring with 49 points on 25 goals and 24 assists...With a 3-2 win over Port Huron on Friday, the Hounds made their final trip to Michigan during the regular season. Chicago has posted a 6-11-3 record against teams from the Wolverine State this season. In their final game against a team from Michigan, the Hounds will host the Flags on Wednesday...Chicago will play five of their final six games at home.

Elmira Jackals - (0-2-0) - Elmira is on a six-game losing streak, but the Jackals are still in contention for a playoff berth. Coupled with losses by Port Huron and Chicago, Elmira would need to win a minimum of four games in their final six matches to make the postseason...Right wing Frank Littlejohn (36 goals) is one score away from tying the single-season club record for goals...Left wing Mike Olivera scored his first goal as a Jackal in a 4-2 loss to Kalamazoo on Saturday...Center Glenn Detulleo is averaging 1.00 points per game since joining the Jackals 11 games ago.

Flint Generals - (2-0-0) - The Generals have clinched a playoff berth for the first time in the last three seasons...Right wing Mike Kinnie is on a nine-game point streak (5g, 6a), equaling the longest streak of the season for Flint...Four other Generals have current point-scoring streaks of three games or more: left wing Bobby Reynolds (7 games), right wing Jan Jas (4 games), defenseman Gerard Miller (3 games) and defenseman Martin Ondrej (3 games)...Flint will play road games this week at Fort Wayne and Port Huron. The Generals are 15-16-4 on the road this season.

Fort Wayne Komets - (1-1-1) - Rookie goaltender Dan McWhinney is unbeaten in regulation in six-consecutive starts after dropping a 7-6 shootout to Quad City on Friday...Goaltender Kevin St. Pierre tied his own record of 58 games played by a goaltender (set in 2003-04) on Sunday in a 6-2 win over Chicago...The Komets scored six power-play goals in 14 opportunities last week, and they lead the UHL with a 20.4 percent power-play conversion rate...Center J.C. Ruid tallied four power-play assists last week...This Friday's game will mark the Komets' 300th regular-season match in the UHL.

Kalamazoo Wings - (3-0-0) - For the third time this season, the K-Wings are on a season-high five-game winning streak...Goaltender Ryan Nie recorded his league-leading seventh shutout of the season in a 2-0 win against Port Huron on Sunday. In his last 13 starts, he has a 10-3-0 record with six shutouts...Center Kory Karlander (41 goals) is two scores shy of tying the K-Wings UHL franchise single-season goals record. He also is on a four-game point streak (5g, 4a)...Right wing Justin Cross is tied for the UHL lead among rookie skaters with 25 goals.

Muskegon Fury - (2-1-1) - With 48 total victories, the Fury stand two wins away from their third consecutive 50-victory season...Muskegon needs five points to clinch the Eastern Conference title...In their last five home games, the Fury is 3-0-2 and has outscored its opponents 16-10...Right wing Ryan Menei scored his first professional goal in a 3-1 win over Fort Wayne on Saturday...Center Todd Robinson set a Fury record with his ninth short-handed goal of the season on Friday...Robinson's 121 points rank as the 26th-best single-season point total in UHL history.

Port Huron Flags - (1-2-1) - The Flags are five points away from making the postseason for the first time since the 2003-04 season...With his third multiple-goal game of the year on Friday, left wing Colt King recorded his 20th goal of the season...On Saturday, defenseman Phil Angell tallied the first goal of his professional career in a 4-3 win over Bloomington...The win against the PrairieThunder was Port Huron's 10th road victory of the season...Since joining the Flags at the beginning of March, left wing Scott Wray has tallied 18 points (10g, 8a) in 14 games.

Quad City Mallards - (2-2-0) - In the Western Conference, the Mallards are two points away from clinching the third-seed in the playoffs...Defenseman Sergei Durdin had a five-game point streak snapped on Sunday 4-2 loss to Rockford. He tallied seven assists during the stretch...Forward Chad Woollard recorded his fifth multiple-goal game of the season on Friday against Fort Wayne...Defenseman Dale Lupul scored three power-play goals last week...Quad City plays the Eastern Conference's top two teams this week, Muskegon and Kalamazoo. This season, the Mallards are 3-6-1 against those foes.

Rockford IceHogs - (3-1-0) - The IceHogs are 18-0-1 this season when scoring four or more goals in a game. They beat Chicago, 6-4, and Quad City, 4-2, last week...With three points last week, center Preston Mizzi moved into second place on the IceHogs' scoring list with 139 points. He will tie the all-time record with five more points...Six of the IceHogs last 11 goals have been scored on the power play...Defenseman Nathan Lutz is one power-play assist shy of the single-season club record of 23...Rockford is 14-1-1 over its past 16 home games. The IceHogs will play two home games this week.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 26, 2007


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