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Race For Final Playoff Spot Heats Up

April 5, 2010 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- The race for the fourth and final playoff spot continues to heat up as the Bloomington PrairieThunder, Flint Generals and Quad City Mallards continue to battle for their chance to play in the 2010 Turner Cup Playoffs. Flint capped off Week 25 winning two of their three games, including one against Bloomington this past Wednesday. Bloomington earned four out of eight possible points during the week, missing the chance to widen their gap over the Generals. Quad City dropped both of their games this past week, staying idle in the standings. A win by Bloomington or a loss by Quad City will eliminate the Mallards from the playoffs.

Bloomington will play five of their last six games on the road, including one more match up with the Generals in Flint and two more in Quad City. The PrairieThunder are 10-16-2-5 away from US Cellular Coliseum. Flint will play five of their last eight games on home ice, where they have gathered an 18-9-2-4 record at Perani Arena. Quad City splits their remaining six games, three at home and three on the road. The Mallards have a 19-11-1-4 record at iwireless Center and a 6-23-3-3 record on the road.

Looking to take home the Huber Trophy, the Muskegon Lumberjacks remain steady atop the IHL standings, needing just seven points to clinch the regular season championship. With their 5-2 win Saturday night over Quad City, Muskegon reached 100 points for the seventh time over the past 11 seasons. The 'Jacks are also two victories away from their fifth 50-win season, and the second under head coach Rich Kromm.

With Muskegon's 4-3 overtime loss in Dayton on Wednesday, the Lumberjacks earned their first loss in overtime of the season. The Port Huron Icehawks remain the only IHL team to not have recorded a loss in overtime with just two weeks remaining in the regular season. The Icehawks are 3-0 in the extra session.

Around the "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder (1-1-1-1)- With its win over Flint on Saturday, the PrairieThunder tied the club record for victories in a season with 31 and eclipsed the club record for points in a season with 72. The previous record was 69. John Snowden recorded the third hat trick in the last seven games for the PrairieThunder in its 5-2 win over Flint on Saturday. Bloomington was converted just one of its last 21 power play opportunities. Since returning from the 30-day injury list, goaltender Andrew Martin has posted a 3-1-1-1 record with a .899 save percentage (170 of 189 shots). Forward John Snowden and defenseman Preston Briggs have combined to score 20 points since joining the team 10 games ago. Snowden has 13 points in nine games and Briggs seven points in 10 games.

Flint Generals (2-1-0-0)- The Generals won two of their three games in Week 25, earning four points to pull within seven points of fourth-place Bloomington for the fourth and final playoff spot. With eight games left in the regular season, the Generals have two games in hand on the PrairieThunder. Flint has gone 7-2-1-0 in their last 10 games. The Generals have three of the IHL's top 20 scorers: Jamie Schaafsma (12th ) with 59 points, John Ronan (tied for 13th ) with 58 points, and John Mori (16th ) with 57 points. Rookie netminder Rob Nolan is currently second among IHL goaltenders in saves (1,197) and minutes played (2383:44). He is also fourth in save percentage with a stellar .914. Defenseman Brandon Gentile currently leads IHL defenseman in shooting percentage with a .119, scoring eight goals on 67 shots.

Fort Wayne Komets (2-1-0-0)- Guy Dupuis registered his 500th regular season point as a Komet Saturday night. Dupuis posted a three-point night scoring a goal and adding two assists in a 4-3 home win over Port Huron. Besides 500 regular season points, Dupuis also owns Fort Wayne career defenseman records of 114 regular season goals and 124 all-time career goals (including the playoffs). The Komets only allowed one goal in 13 penalty kills for the week and lead the IHL with a penalty kill success rate of 86.6%. The Komets scored on four of six power plays in two home games last week to lead the league with a 25.2% success rate with the man advantage at home. The Komets added another short-handed goal last week (P.C. Drouin Thursday against Dayton) to lead the IHL with 15 short-handed tallies this year.

Muskegon Lumberjacks (2-0-1-0)- The Lumberjacks latest undefeated streak has reached seven games (6-0-1-0) and is 8-1-1-0 in their last 10 decisions. Their home win streak has reached five in a row, outscoring the visitors 22-9. The defense combination of Jason Lawmaster and Nick Schneider equaled a Lumberjacks single game season high when they both carded healthy plus-four ratings in the club's 5-2 win over Quad City. Muskegon's five goal second period in Saturday night's win over Quad City represented the team's second best single period offensive output so far this season. Earning the win Saturday, goaltender Sebastien Centomo has taken over the league-leadership in victories with 26. In one goal games on the road, the 'Jacks have a record of 10-1-1-3, the best in the IHL.

Port Huron Icehawks (2-1-0-0)- With a 4-3 loss at Fort Wayne Saturday, the Icehawks are now four points behind the Komets in the IHL standings. The Komets have one game in hand as well, making all six remaining games must-win matchups for the Icehawks if they hope to move back into second place. The Icehawks will play their final road contests of the season with games in Flint on Wednesday and Friday. Captain Kris Vernarsky snapped a 28-game goalless streak with a power play goal in Friday's shutout victory over Quad City. Saturday at Fort Wayne Vernarsky scored twice in a 4-3 loss to the Komets. It was the first time in a calendar year that Vernarsky found the back of the net two times in a game. Vernarsky has at least one point in three consecutive games.

Quad City Mallards (0-2-0-0)- Last Friday's 6-0 loss at Port Huron marked the fourth time this season the Mallards have been shutout. Justin White has collected eight assists in his last six games. Chris Lipsett (26-34-60) has scored four goals and collected five points in his last five games to pull within one point of Patrick Levesque (29-32-61) in the race for the team point scoring lead. One win by the Bloomington PrairieThunder or one regulation loss for the Mallards will eliminate Quad City from playoff contention. The Mallards have gone 2-7-0-1 in their last ten games. The Mallards have two of the IHL's top 15 scorers. Right wing Patrick Levesque has recorded 29 goals and 32 assist for 61 points, which tied him for ninth overall. Right wing Chris Lipsett has scored 26 goals and 34 assists for 60 points, which rank him eleventh overall.

Dayton Gems (1-1-0-0)- Rookie Tim Hartung is tied for fourth among IHL scorers in shorthanded goals, while rookie Mike Vaskivuo is tied for third among IHL scorers in game-winning goals with six. Defenseman Russ Smith leads the IHL in minors with 50 this season. He has a total of 271 penalty minutes this season, with only 56 of those coming in a Gems uniform. Netminder Derek MacIntyre continues to be a workhorse in net for the Gems, leading all goaltenders in minutes played (2757:32) and saves (1,412). MacIntyre also is tied for the league lead in shutouts with three. The Gems earned a 4-3 overtime win against the first-place Muskegon Lumberjacks Wednesday. It was the first overtime loss for the 'Jacks this season.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 5, 2010


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