Mior Records Gems First Shutout

Published on November 9, 2009 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- Dayton goaltender Ryan Mior recorded the league's second shutout Saturday against Flint in the second game of a three-game home stand for the Gems. Mior turned away all 32 shots he faced from the Generals to earn Dayton's first shutout of the season. In 19 games last season with Port Huron, Mior had recorded a league-high four shutouts for the Icehawks. Forward Michael Mullen notched in the only tally in the game for Dayton, helping push the Gems to earn their second victory in as many nights.

Friday was a night of shootouts as all three games played went into the extra session. Port Huron defeated Bloomington by a final score of 4-3, Fort Wayne squeaked out the 4-3 shootout win over Flint and Dayton edged out Muskegon 3-2. At this point, all seven teams have seen at least one overtime period. It took 22 games to reach the league's first shootouts, with two overtime games being the only extra hockey played up to that point. Last year it took 34 games for the league to see the first shutout, only having one overtime game played in the process.

The Icehawks suffered their first loss on home ice at McMorran Arena Saturday. The PrairieThunder were looking for revenge after losing in a shootout the night before to Port Huron and defeated the Icehawks 5-1, ending their four-game home winning streak. Bloomington and Fort Wayne are the only two teams who remain undefeated at home with the PrairieThunder riding a four-game home winning streak and the Komets having a two- game winning streak at Memorial Coliseum.

Flint goaltender Rob Nolan has been solid between the pipes for the Generals, despite carrying a winless record. The rookie netminder has a deceiving 0-3-0-0 record so far this season but currently leads all IHL goaltenders in save percentage with a .937. Nolan has only allowed seven goals against in four appearances, giving him league-leading 2.20 goals against average.

AROUND THE "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder (1-1-0-1)- The PrairieThunder' s 6-3-0-1 record is the best start in the franchise four-year history. Bloomington has won all four of its games at home and five straight dating back to last season. Bill Bagron' s hat trick was the sixth in team history and came in four minute, 23 second span. Two of the goals were even strength and one was the game-winner. Bagron has scored at least one point in eight of the team' s first 10 games. Jamie Carroll has scored at least one point in seven of the eight games he has played with the team, including getting a point in the last seven games. Ryan Finnerty has scored at least one point in nine of 10 games and his tied with teammates Bill Bagron and Craig Macdonald for fourth in the league in scoring.

Flint Generals (1-1-0-1)- With two points in Sunday's game, Tyler Howells is climbing the defensive leader ladder with five points. New comer Steve Silver is making a name for himself already, with two points in his three games thus far in a Generals sweater. Jake Pence is still in the mix with four points and a plus-4. Three rookies John Mori, Steve Silver and netminder Rob Nolan find their names in the mix of the league leaders. Mori is fourth among rookie point getters and sec- ond in shots, while Silver who has appeared in just three games has a plus-4. Despite being 0-3, Nolan's name is on top among goaltenders in the league. Although Bryan Smolinski is not new to hockey, he is a new face on the Generals roster and through three games he has shown why most of his career has been with NHL teams, making an immediate impact.

Fort Wayne Komets (1-0-0-0)- The Komets made their only game of the week count when they clipped the Generals at Flint Friday 4-3 in a shootout. It was the first time this season the Komets needed the shootout to decide the game. Last year, the Komets went to the shootout 11 times (2-9). The Quad City Mallards will visit Friday for their first trip to Fort Wayne since March 23, 2007 when the Komets suffered a 7-6 UHL shootout loss. The Dayton Gems will make their first Fort Wayne appearance since March 29, 1980, a 6-3 Komet win. Winger Matt Syroczynski is entering his third week of call-up at the AHL's Norfolk Admirals. In four games Syroczynski has a goal and an assist. He scored the game winner in a 2-1 win at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Friday night and was a starter and dished an assist in Saturday's 6-1 win at Syracuse.

Muskegon Lumberjacks (2-0-0-1)- The first period continues to be a strong one for the 'Jacks as they are the best in the IHL so far this season, outscoring their opposition 13-5. In Sunday's 5-2 win over the first place PrairieThunder, the Lumberjacks 18 shots on goal in the first period marked their best effort in a single period this year. However, in the next period, the 'Jacks had only three shots on goal, which represented a season-low for a single stanza. Showing vast improvement in the penalty-killing department, the Lumberjacks defused 14 of 15 enemy man advantages this weekend for an efficiency rating of 93.3%. Rookie defenseman Justin DaCosta's first professional goal was the game-winning goal in Sunday's 5-2 victory over Bloomington.

Port Huron Icehawks (2-1-0-0)- Right wing Mike Kinnie is currently riding a six game point streak with five goals and four assists in that span. He also has netted goals in his last two games. Kinnie continues to lead the league in goals (8), power play goals (5) and shots (45). The Icehawks are undefeated when scoring first this season (5-0-0-0) and also when leading after the first period (4-0-0-0). The Icehawks currently leads the league on the penalty kill overall. They have killed off 91.2% of penalties and allowed just three power play goals against in 34 shorthanded situations. Rookie Mikael Be- dard has come up big in clutch situations this season. He scored the game winner in a shootout on Friday and though he has scored just one goal in regulation this season, it was a game winner (Oct. 31 vs. Dayton).

Quad City Mallards (0-1-1-0)- Members of the line of Terry Harrison, Mike Zbriger and Patrick Levsque have scored four of the Mallards' last five goals and six of the team's last eight. On the season the trio has combined to produce nine of the Mallards' 14 goals and 50 percent (19 of 38) of the points recorded by the team. Harrison has recorded a goal and an assist in each of his last three games. The Mallards have given up five power play goals (on 16 shorthanded situations) in their last three games after not surrendering a goal in their first three outings (12-for-12). Obi Aduba scored his first goal as a Mallard last Wednesday in Quad City's 6-3 loss at Bloomington. Darren McMillan picked up his first Quad City point by recording an assist in that game.

Dayton Gems (2-1-0-0)- The Dayton Gems have posted all four of their wins against the state of Michigan this season and have collected nine out of a possible 14 points. The Gems have given the Muskegon Lumberjacks and the Flint Gen- erals fits this season, collecting all but one point, but the same cannot be said about the Icehawks as Port Huron has won both meetings. Phil Youngclaus was certainly getting the puck on net during Friday night's game against the Muskegon Lumberjacks. He notched nine shots on goal. When the Dayton Gems hit Flint on Wednesday night, there will be just two venues in the IHL that the team has yet to visit. The Gems will partially take care of that this Saturday when they travel to Fort Wayne, but won't venture up to Quad City until December.

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from November 9, 2009


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