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Two Teams Punch Tickets To 2009 Turner Cup Playoffs

March 23, 2009 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


ROCHESTER, MI--- The Port Huron Icehawks and the Fort Wayne Komets became the first two teams to punch their tickets to the 2009 Turner Cup Playoffs. Port Huron (87 points) secured their spot Saturday night, earning one point in their shootout loss to Muskegon combined with a Bloomington (59 points) loss to Fort Wayne. The Komets (86 points) clinched their spot Sunday with a 4-2 win over the PrairieThunder. The Muskegon Lumberjacks (83 points) are not far behind as they need just one point to secure their spot, while the Kalamazoo Wings' (77 points) magic number to clinch is seven.

Muskegon goaltender Clayton Pool and Fort Wayne net minder Nick Boucher each recorded their second shutout of the season. Friday, Pool turned away all 35 shots he faced from Flint, helping lead the Lumberjacks to a 5-0 victory over the Generals. Saturday night, Boucher made a total of 23 saves in Fort Wayne's 3-0 win in Bloomington. There have been a total of 15 shutouts so far this season in the IHL. Six of those have come from Port Huron goaltenders with Ryan Mior leading the IHL with three, former goaltender Kevin Desfosses had two and Larry Sterling has recorded one.

The race for the top rookie in the IHL has been heating up the last couple weeks. Leading the pack after 23 weeks is Kalamazoo's Rick Cleaver who has 53 points (24g, 29a) in 61 games. Close behind with 51 points (21g, 30a) in 66 games is Fort Wayne's Rick Varone, who leads the rookies in assists with 30. Inching closer to the top, K-Wings center Tommy Lange has strung together an impressive eight game point streak, bringing his season total to 45 points (25g, 20a) in 66 games played. Lange's 25 goals puts him one goal ahead of Cleaver to lead all IHL rookies.

AROUND THE "I"

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (0-3-0-0) - The PrairieThunder needs five more victories over its final 12 games to match the three-year-old franchise record of 31 for wins in a single season. When Fort Wayne posted a shutout win Saturday at U.S. Cellular Coliseum, it marked only the third time in franchise history that the PrairieThunder was blanked at home. Bloomington has been shutout only 10 times in team history. The PrairieThunder had a season-high four-game road winning streak snapped in Fort Wayne on Sunday. Veteran defenseman Sam Miller went over the 1,000 mark in career penalties Saturday. He has logged 1,004 minutes in the penalty box. Jan Jas played in his 500th professional game Sunday at Fort Wayne during his 11-year career.

Flint Generals - (0-2-0-0) - Veteran Right Winger Frank Littlejohn is just one assist away from 200 career assists. Since coming to the Generals via trade in Mid-February, rookie forward Maxime Lincourt has scored three short-handed goals and two power play goal. He recorded his first multiple goal game of the season with a short-handed and power play goal in Saturday's 7-6 loss at Kalamazoo. Flint suffered their first shutout of the season in the 5-0 setback at Muskegon on Friday. Rookie forward and Fenton, Michigan native Mike Podelnyk, playing in his 2nd game for Flint, scored his first pro goal for the Generals on Saturday night in Kalamazoo. Podelnyk represents the 55th player to suit up for the Generals this season, a franchise record. Since December 7th, goaltender Chad Alban has appeared in 33 of 44 games. Flint played 21 consecutive games without overtime dating back to January 25th. Forward Jeff Zehr is six points shy 400 in his career. He is only 13 penalty minutes shy of 1,300 for his career. Forward Zach Pearson is scheduled to play in career game #100 Sunday afternoon against the Fort Wayne Komets. Rookie Justin Styffe has collected 11 of his 13 points on enemy ice this season, with four of his five goals have been on the road.

Fort Wayne Komets - (3-0-0-1) - The Komets completed week 23 earning seven points to clinch a playoff spot and move within one point of first place Port Huron with three weeks and 10 games remaining in 2008-09. The Komets will be entering their 49th playoff season. Fort Wayne has qualified for the IHL playoffs 42 times while earning seven UHL playoff berths. Komet streaks: Fort Wayne is unbeaten in nine straight games (8-0-0-1) and has a season-high six-game road winning streak. Center Leo Thomas has a five-game game point streak (4g, 3a). Goaltender Nick Boucher is riding a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-0-1). Milestones: Defenseman Guy Dupuis skated his 800th career IHL game Saturday at Bloomington. Defenseman Brian Boulay appeared in his 100th pro game Friday vs. Port Huron. Goaltender Nick Boucher tied his career high of 24 wins in a season with Sunday's win over Bloomington.

Kalamazoo Wings - (3-1-0-0) - The K-Wings are on a three-game winning streak. Tommy Lange is on an eight-game point and six-game goal streak, both are K-Wings season highs. The goal streak ties him for a league season-high. Lucas Drake is on a six-game point streak. Despite playing in five fewer games, Rick Cleaver leads all rookies with 53 points and remains two points ahead of Fort Wayne's Rick Varone. Tommy Lange leads all rookies with 25 goals scored. Justin Cross is on a three-game point streak. Cross recorded six points, two goals and four assists, in his last three games. Defenseman Casey Handrahan is on a three game assist streak. Joel Martin leads the league in shootout wins with six. Martin is 6-0 in the shootout. Since joining the K-Wings at the trade deadline, Dominic Osman has recorded eight points in six games played. Three different times over the past two games, the Kalamazoo Wings have recorded a goal 30 seconds or less after their opponent scored.

Muskegon Lumberjacks - (3-1-0-0) - The Lumberjacks completed a highly successful four-game week by collecting seven of a possible eight points through an undefeated record of 3-0-0-1, which came on the heels of their longest losing streak of the season of four games. With a season record 38-20-3-4, the Lumberjacks have registered three more wins and seven more points than they achieved all of last season with 11 games still remaining on the regular season schedule. In overtime this season, the Lumberjacks have posted a 4-3 record, winning the last three consecutively with all four overtime wins this season gained on the road. Since returning to the lineup following a 22-game absence due to injury, left wing Chad Woollard has assembled a current seven-game point streak, scoring 11 points (7g, 4a). Since his acquisition February 18th from Flint, John DiPace has averaged over a point a game for Muskegon with 16 points (7g, 9a). Muskegon rookie right wing Chad Costello has scored 14 of his 16 goals so far this season on the road. All three of his GWG have also been struck abroad. With four goals this past week, Luke Stauffacher eclipsed the 100-goal plateau in his pro career.

Port Huron Icehawks - (1-0-1-1) - The Icehawks picked up four of six possible points in the standings during Week 23 and on Saturday became the first team to clinch a berth in the Turner Cup Playoffs. The Icehawks are unbeaten in regulation in their last five games overall (3-0-1-1) and unbeaten in their last eight road games (5-0-2-1). They hold an overall road record of 20-7-3-2. All three of the Icehawks games last week were decided in overtime or a shootout. The Icehawks have lost their last six overtime contests. They are 1-6 in overtime games this season and 3-3 in shootout games. Center Bryan Smolinski is riding a five-game assist streak, with four goals and eight assists in that span. The NHL veteran has 17 points (5g, 12a) in 12 games with Port Huron this season. Smolinski is also closing in on a pair of career milestones. He is five games shy of 2,000 professional games and seven goals away from 300 pro goals. With ten games left in the regular season, the Icehawks (39-18-63) are just two wins and one point shy of where they finished the 2007-08 campaign (41-29-2-4).



International Hockey League 2 Stories from March 23, 2009


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