PrairieThunder registers first win of season
Published on October 18, 2009 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Bloomington PrairieThunder News Release
DAYTON, Ohio - All the disappointment Bloomington PrairieThunder coach Jarrod Skalde felt Saturday following a season-opening loss at Muskegon was eased Sunday with a 4-2 International Hockey League victory over the Dayton Gems before 832 people at Hara Arena.
"We'll take 1-1," said Skalde. "Our effort was much better and we looked more like a team. The guys appeared to be more comfortable with each other. The top guys stepped up and were top guys. We were much better in the defensive zone and appeared to be more comfortable. We gave Paulo a chance to see the shots at him.
"The challenge today was how we would respond after a disappointing game Saturday night. I thought everyone stepped up and met the challenge. We'll work this week on continuing to develop our lines and let guys get more comfortable playing together."
Colaiacovo saved 29 of 31 shots to earn his first win as a PrairieThunder goaltender and Jon Booras scored two goals to reach the 200-point mark in his career as Bloomington evened its record at 1-1. Dayton dropped to 0-1-1.
Booras started the scoring with his first goal of the season off assists by Craig Macdonald and Bill Bagron with 2:38 remaining in the opening period. The Gems tied the game, 1-1, with 2:28 remaining in the second period on a goal by John Snowden with an assist to Nathan Oke.
Defenseman Brian Boulay gave the PrairieThunder a 2-1 advantage with 16:15 left in the game off a rare goalie assist by Colaiacovo. Booras then extended the lead to 3-1 with what proved to be the game-winning goal four minutes later off an assist by Macdonald.
Dayton drew within 3-2 with 11:30 remaining on Mike Vaskivuo goal on an assist by Mark Versteeg-Ltywyn before Ryan Finnerty punched in his first goal as a PrairieThunder with 4:39 to go off an assist by Brett Holmberg to ice the triumph.
Dayton outshot Bloomington, 31-23. The PrairieThunder shut Dayton out on four power play opportunities. The PrairieThunder was never on the power play. Bloomington had 13 minutes of penalties and Dayton seven.
The PrairieThunder returns to action Friday at 6 p.m. at Fort Wayne against the two-time defending IHL champions. Bloomington opens it home season Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. game against Dayton at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Tickets for all PrairieThunder games are available at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum box office, calling Ticketmaster at 800-745-3000 or 309-585-0507, ext. 304.
Skalde will hold his first radio show of the year Tuesday from 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. at Show-Me's Restaurant in downtown Bloomington.
Greg Halbleib, the "Voice of the PrairieThunder" will serve as host for the show, which will air on Radio Bloomington's WJBC (1230 AM). The one-hour show will focus on the team's opening weekend games at Muskegon and Dayton along with the home opener Oct. 24 at 7:05 p.m. at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.
Skalde, who will be joined by PrairieThunder players on his shows, also can be heard live each Monday at 4:10 p.m. on WJBC on the R.C. McBride Show and each Thursday at 8:10 a.m. on the Scott Laughlin Show during the season.
Radio Bloomington is the "official broadcast station" of the PrairieThunder. All PrairieThunder road games can be heard on WTRX (93.7 FM) with all home games on wjbc.com.
International Hockey League 2 Stories from October 18, 2009
- PrairieThunder registers first win of season - Bloomington PrairieThunder
- Jacks Open 50th Season - Muskegon Lumberjacks
- Jacks Weekly Notes - Muskegon Lumberjacks
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