Series Preview - North Division Semifinal: #2
April 7, 2015 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Keystone Ice Miners News Release
2015 NAHL Robertson Cup Playoffs, North Division Semifinal
#2 Keystone Ice Miners vs. #3 Soo Eagles
Series Preview
Game 1: Friday, April 10th - The Ice Mine - 7:30 PM
Game 2: Saturday, April 11th - The Ice Mine - 7:30 PM
Game 3: Friday, April 17th - Pullar Stadium - 7:30 PM
Game 4: Saturday, April 18th - Pullar Stadium - 7:00 PM*
Game 5: Monday, April 20th - The Ice Mine - 7:30 PM *
*If necessary
By the numbers:
Reg. Season Keystone Ice Miners Soo Eagles
Overall Record 31-24-5 31-25-4
Home Record 15-12-3 15-11-4
Road Record 16-12-2 16-14-0
Goals For/Gm 2.6 3.0
Goals Against/Gm 2.3 3.1
Penalty minutes/Gm 13.9 20.8
Power Play 14.2% (18th) 12.0 (24th)
Penalty Kill 85.6 (7th) 80.3 (18th)
Head to head (Keystone won 4-3-1):
September 26th-27th, 2014 - Pullar Stadium, Sault Ste. Marie, MI
September 26th : Keystone: 6, Soo: 3 - In the only game of the season in which the Ice Miners scored more than 5 goals, Noah Batis netted a pair and Cameron Smith notched three points, including his first NAHL goal - the eventual game winner. After the Ice Miners jumped out to a 4-0 lead, the Eagles notched three goals over a 10 minute span in the 3rd period to pull within 5-3 before Garrett Hallford's empty netter put the game away.
September 27th : Keystone: 3, Soo: 1 - Nick Kossoff was spectacular, making 37 saves on 38 shots for his first NAHL victory. Austin Romzek, Vito Aluia, and Scott Donahue scored for the Ice Miners while Bruno Birzitis tallied Soo's lone goal.
November 15th-16th, 2014 - The Ice Mine, Connellsville, PA
November 15th : Soo: 2, Keystone: 1 - Neither team scored in the first period but it only took 44 seconds of the 2nd period before Chase Matson put Soo up 1-0. Raymond Brice added a goal in the middle frame despite an 11-10 shot edge for the Ice Miners. Matt Jones put Keystone on the board early in the 3rd, but Sean Keating stopped 28 of 29 shots for the Eagles' first win of the season series.
November 16th : Soo: 3, Keystone: 2/SO - Austin Romzek and Tommy Horn scored first period goals for the Ice Miners around Nick Belger's goal for Soo. After no one scored in the 2nd period, Pat Gazillo tied the game with just under five minutes to go in regulation and sent the game to overtime and an eventual shootout. Romzek and Belger traded goals through the first three rounds and Denver Pierce beat Nick Kossoff in the sixth round before Sean Keating stopped Jacob Coleman to end the game.
February 6th-7th, 2015 - The Ice Mine, Connellsville, PA
February 6th : Soo: 0, Keystone: 1 - In his third start of the season against Soo, Nick Kossoff again stole the show, coming up with a 36 save shutout, including 17 in the 2nd period. Jack Berry kept the Ice Miners off the board too, until Jon Hall scored off the third period's opening faceoff, just nine seconds in. After the game, Soo would trade Sean Keating to Aberdeen for Chad Catt.
February 7th : Soo: 2, Keystone: 1 - In a game that started in Pennsylvania and ended in Michigan, Soo got two goals in the first period, from Matt Menta and Brad Pung. Matt Jones scored to halve the margin in the 2nd period, and a pane of glass shattered with 12:42 remaining in the 3rd period to suspend the game until March 13th. Jack Berry survived a Keystone offensive push once the game resumed at Pullar Stadium, and Soo walked away victorious.
March 13th-14th, 2015 - Pullar Stadium, Sault Ste Marie, MI
March 13th : Keystone: 4, Soo: 1 - In a game with 74 combined shots - 40 by Soo, Alex Blankenburg was strong, stopping 39 shots. Tommy Horn, Noah Batis, Jacob Coleman, and Austin Romzek tallied for Keystone in their first look at Chad Catt since the Blaine showcase (with Aberdeen). Brad Pung had Soo's only goal.
March 14th : Keystone: 1, Soo: 4 - Despite his previous success against the Eagles, Nick Kossoff didn't fare as well on this night, surrendering three first period goals - the first to Denver Pierce, and the next two to Trevor Cope. The Ice Miners found their game after inserting Blankenburg but got only one goal back when Michael Maiden tallied early in the 3rd. Darren Brady added an empty netter to seal it.
Offense, Defense, Goaltending, & Special Teams
Offense: The Soo Eagles are led by forward Trevor Cope (Michigan Tech commit) who racked up 24 goals and 30 assists during the regular season. Sandis Zolmanis also reached the 50 point mark with 13 goals and 38 assists. Brad Pung led the way in head-to-head scoring with 2 goals and 4 assists in the eight games against the Ice Miners during the regular season. Soo's 182 goals was the 2nd highest mark in the North Division. Keystone's Matt Jones was the only Ice Miners to get to 40 points with 17 goals and 24 assists. Taylor Fernandez's four point final weekend stopped him one shy as he finished with 39 (13 goals, 26 assists). Against Soo, Matt Jones had 2 goals and 5 assists. Austin Romzek also scored three times while adding two assists in the regular season head-to-head. The Ice Miner's team goal total of 153 was the 2nd lowest among all NAHL playoff qualifiers.
Defense: The Ice Miners gave up 45 less goals than the Eagles during the regular season. In fact, with their mark of 185 goals surrendered, only the Johnstown Tomahawks gave up more goals than Soo among North Division teams. Conversely, the Ice Miners tied for the 5th fewest goals against in the NAHL (140). Niko Coffman finished with the best +/- rating on the Ice Miners defense core (+16), while Alex Archibald was a +15. Ji Young Li is the only Keystone D-man with a negative rating, but has only played 15 games this season, after being added to the roster in late January.
Goaltending: The Ice Miners finished the regular season with two of the top three save percentages in the NAHL between their pipes. Alex Blakenburg (.932 SV%) won 17 games while Nick Kossoff (.931 SV%) finished in a second place tie with 6 shutouts. Each 'tender won twice against the Eagles, evenly splitting eight games with four starts each. Kossoff was pulled on March 14th, in a 4-1 loss at Pullar Stadium, but shut the Eagles out at the Ice Mine on February 6th. Soo acquired Chad Catt from Aberdeen and ran with him. Catt went 7-4-3 in 14 games as an Eagle down the stretch, posting a 2.25 goals against average and a .920 save percentage. Catt went 1-1-0 with a .932 save percentage against the Ice Miners while Jack Berry went 1-2-0, with an impressive 1.67 goals against average. Sean Keating, who went the other way in the Catt trade had a 2-1-0 record against Keystone before being dealt.
Special Teams: Neither powerplay is anything to write home about, but Soo's ranks dead last in the league at just 12%. The Ice Miners also possess the stronger penalty kill with a 85.6% rate, good for 7th in the league. It should be noted that the Eagles led the North Division in penalty minutes, with a mark of 1248, nearly 100 more than the team with the 2nd highest number (Johnstown). Only the last place Springfield Jr. Blues took less penalty minutes than the Ice Miners.
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