Mallards Weekly Update

March 28, 2011 - Central Hockey League (CHL)
Quad City Mallards News Release


The Mallards finished the season with back-to-back losses in Dayton last weekend.

While the Mallards were enduring those two setbacks, the Fort Wayne Komets earned three of a possible four points from a two-game weekend series with Colorado to slip past Quad City into sixth place in the Turner Conference.

The Gems actually finished tied with the Mallards, but the Flock won the tie-breaker with Dayton (non-shootout wins) to secure the seventh seed in the conference.

Head to Head

The Mallards won two of their three regular season meetings with the Eagles.

The Mallards defeated the Eagles 3-2 on January 21, fell to Colorado 2-1 one night later and clinched the season series with a 4-1 win on February 8.

All three games were played at the i wireless Center.

The Flock will make its first ever visit to the Budweiser Event Center for Friday's series opener.

Playoff 101

The eight opening round Ray Miron Presidents' Cup Playoff match-ups are best-of-five affairs.

The four opening round winners in each conference will be reseeded for the best-of-five Conference Semi-Finals, which will be followed by the best-of-seven Conference Finals and Presidents' Cup Finals.

Welcome Back

The Mallards' postseason appearance is the first by a Quad City professional hockey team since the Mallards were knocked out of the 2007 United Hockey League playoffs by the Rockford IceHogs.

Eagles right wing Kevin Ulanski, then an IceHog, helped Rockford down the Mallards four games to one.

Ulanski notched a goal and three assists in that opening round series.

Three springs void of playoff hockey in the Quad Cities followed that loss to Rockford- the American Hockey League's Flames failed to reach the postseason in both 2008 and 2009 and the Mallards last season failed to qualify in what was their only International Hockey League campaign.

Leader(s) of the Pack

Obi Aduba (21-30-51) picked up an assist last Saturday night in Dayton to finish the regular season tied for the team point scoring lead with Mike McLean (18-33-51), who went pointless Saturday evening but did produce ten points (three goals and seven assists) in his last ten games.

McLean also led the team in assists.

Eric Giosa (26-22-48), who has been activated for the playoffs after finishing the regular season on injured reserve, led the Mallards in goals.

Dynamic Duo

David Brown (17-16-1, 2.33, .930, 4 SO) has returned to the Mallards to reform with Adam Russo (15-13-0, 2.88, .919, 1 SO) what is perhaps the top goaltending tandem in the CHL.

Brown is just back from the a call-up to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins during which he played in two games and posted a 3.75 goals against average and a .898 save percentage without earning a decision.

Brown led the CHL in save percentage, finished second in goals against average and was tied for second in shutouts, while Russo finished fourth in save percentage.

Iron Men

Aduba, Darren McMillan and Jason Kostadine played in each of the Mallards' 66 regular season games.

700 Club

Joe Blaznek picked up two assists in the Mallards' win last Wednesday over Bloomington to reach 700 career points.

Blaznek has scored 326 goals and collected 374 assists in 781 games over 13 seasons.

Special Teams

The Mallards entered their final regular season game leading the league in penalty killing, but ended up finishing third on the shorthand (84.4 percent) after giving up three Dayton power play goals on ten chances last Saturday.

The Mallards finished the season ranked thirteenth on the power play (16.3 percent).

On the Road

The Mallards lost their final three road games and finished the regular season 16-17-0 away from home.

Home Sweet Home

The Mallards won their last two home games to finish the regular season with a record of 18-14-1 at the i wireless Center.

(Not the) Red Light District

The Mallards were the league's second best defensive team during the regular season.

Quad City allowed 182 goals- an average of 2.76 per game.

The Flock did match a season high by allowing six goals in last Saturday's loss in Dayton.

The Mallards ranked seventeenth in goals scored, producing 186 goals for an average of 2.82 per outing.

Ins and Outs

David Brown, Giosa and Blaznek return to the Mallards' active roster for the playoffs.

Brown returns after what was his fifth AHL call-up of the season; Giosa has been activated from 30-day injured reserve (upper body) and Blaznek rejoins the team after missing the Mallards' final two regular season games while on CHL leave last weekend... The Mallards have supplemented their 19-man playoff roster with the addition of amateur defenseman Erik Spady...Defenseman Tyler Kindle, center Drew Akins and goaltender Justin Grant are not on the playoff roster.

Colorado

The Eagles finished tied for first place in the Turner Conference with the Rapid City Rush, but lost the tie-breaker by virtue of having picked up fewer non-shootout wins than Rapid City and were thus seeded second in the conference for the postseason.

The Eagles could have taken the conference title outright and with it the number one seed if they had earned at least one point in their regular season finale last Saturday at Fort Wayne, but Colorado dropped that contest 2-1...The Eagles and Rush finished tied for second overall behind the Governor's Cup regular season champion Allen Americans...Last Saturday's loss ended Colorado's five-game winning streak...The Eagles return home for their first two playoff games after playing their final four regular season games on the road.

Colorado posted identical 20-11-2 regular season records at home and on the road...Colorado finished second in the league by scoring 250 goals- an average of 3.87 per game...The Eagles also finished second on the power play (20.2 percent)...After being voted to the All-CHL Team earlier this month, Center Riley Nelson (34-59-93) today was named the CHL's Most Valuable Player.

Nelson finished fourth in the league in points and assists, just behind linemate Ulanski (35-61-96), who finished third in each of those categories.

Ulanski also ended up tied for seventh in goals... Kyle Peto (7-47-54) led defensemen in assists and was tied for second among blue liners in points...Kyle Jones, (29-10-3, 2.61, .913, 4 SO), who tended goal for the Mallards last season, finished second in the league in wins, was tied for second in shutouts and ranked fifth in save percentage (.916)...Forward Adam Chorneyko (14-18-32) was named to the CHL All-Rookie Team.

TICKETS

Playoff Tickets

Mallards first round playoff tickets will be available beginning tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m.

Tickets can be purchased in person at the i wireless Center box office, at Ticketmaster outlets, through www.ticketmaster.com or through Ticketmaster charge-by-phone toll free at 1-800-745-3000. The ticket office is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and on game days from 10:00 a.m. until the end of the first period.

Group Tickets

Groups of at least ten can receive savings off the walk-up price and a host of other great group benefits when purchasing Mallards tickets.

Mallard group tickets are a great fit for youth organizations, friends, co-workers, family groups, religious groups, school functions and business events.

For more group ticket information, fans can contact the Mallards at (309) 277-1364 and tickets@myqcmallards.com.

2011-12 Season Tickets

2011-12 Mallards season ticket packages are now available.

Season ticket holders save off walk-up ticket prices and receive a host of additional benefits.

Fans can lock in seats for the next season with a $50 per-seat deposit.

The Mallards offer early bird specials- discounted season ticket prices for seats paid for in full by April 1 or May 1- as well as convenient monthly payment plans.

For more season ticket information, fans can contact the Mallards at (309) 277-1364 and tickets@myqcmallards.com.

ON THE AIR

Mallards Hockey Presented by Genesis Power Sports Performance

Fans can listen to all the action of Mallards Hockey Presented by Genesis Power Sports Performance this week and throughout the postseason on 93.9 WYEC-FM and on www.myqcmallards.com.

Coverage starts with the Mallards Pre-Game Show Presented by Genesis Sports Medicine 30 minutes before opening faceoff.

Live pay-per-view video webcasts of Mallards action are also available at www.myqcmallards.com courtesy of CHL-TV.

Between the Pipes

"Between the Pipes," the Mallards' weekly television show, has returned on Mediacom's MC22 channel for the 2010-11 season.

New editions of "Between the Pipes" air each Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. and are rebroadcast several times each week.

Full weekly listings of "Between the Pipes" broadcast times can be found throughout the season on MC22's website, www.mc22.net.

The program features a condensed version of the Mallards' Game of the Week interspersed with interviews with Mallards Coach and Director of Hockey Operations Frank Anzalone and Mallards players, updates on the Mallards' activities in the community and more.



Central Hockey League Stories from March 28, 2011


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