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Two teams vie for Tarry Cup in final week

April 10, 2006 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO --- Only one week remains in the 2005-06 United Hockey League (UHL) season and two teams find themselves with identical records in the chase for the Tarry Cup, the UHL regular season championship. The Kalamazoo Wings and Muskegon Fury have battled all season long for not only the overall league lead, but for the top spot in the Central Division. Each team has a record of 50-17-6 and three games remaining on their schedule.

As Kalamazoo and Muskegon contend for a Tarry Cup title, they are also competing for the top seed in the Colonial Cup playoffs. The team who doesn't capture that spot will drop to the fourth seed in the first round of the playoffs. Based on the league format, the regular season winners of each division earn the top three seeds in the UHL playoffs while the second place teams in each division earn the next three seeds for the first round.

Muskegon's final three contests are against three playoff-bound teams with a home game vs. Adirondack followed by road trips to Fort Wayne and Rockford. Kalamazoo also faces Adirondack on home ice before traveling to meet Missouri and Fort Wayne.

MR. DURABLE - Motor City Mechanics goaltender Rod Branch has rarely taken a night off this season as he appeared in his 70th game of the season on Sunday. That mark is a new UHL record for goaltenders, eclipsing the total set by J.F. Rivard of Thunder Bay during the 1997-98 season. The previous evening, Branch also topped the record for minutes played in a season by UHL netminder. Currently, he has played 4037:05 minutes this season, breaking the mark of 3918:20 set by Sylvain Daigle during the 2003-04 season for the Muskegon Fury.

3 TEAMS 2 SPOTS - Six teams have now punched their ticket to the Colonial Cup Playoffs as Adirondack and Fort Wayne clinched berths during the week. There are just two spots remaining for the postseason and three teams will compete this week to capture one of those berths. Quad City has made an impressive run in the final weeks of the season, including four wins this week, to propel themselves into the seventh playoff spot. They are two points ahead of the Motor City Mechanics and both teams have two games remaining. The Richmond RiverDogs trail Motor City by two points for the final playoff spot. Richmond has three games left on their schedule including an important match-up with Quad City on Friday.

SHIRTS OFF THEIR BACKS - The Rockford IceHogs held their 7th annual jersey auction on Friday night. The team wore special military themed jerseys that were auctioned for charity after the game. The IceHogs raised $56,825 from the auction with all proceeds going to the IceHogs Charitable Foundation which will distribute the funds to local not-for-profit organizations. In the seven years of the event, the team and their fans have raised nearly $375,000 for charity.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Adirondack Frostbite - (3-2-0) - Center Greg Koehler is riding a nine-game point streak...Center Sylvain Cloutier netted four goals on Wednesday vs. Roanoke. He also broke his own team record by scoring his 18th power play goal of the season...Cloutier had reached career highs this season in goals (31), assists (56), and points (87)... Adirondack needs three wins in the final four games to tie their record for wins in season which they set last year.

Danbury Trashers - (4-0-0) - Jamie Thompson became the first player in Danbury history to convert a penalty shot when he scored in the first period on Sunday vs. Adirondack. The goal was also his first since February 8th...The Trashers have four shorthanded goals in their last two games...Left wing David Beauregard registered a "hat trick" (3g) on Wednesday vs. Elmira...In his last six appearances, goaltender Jayme Platt is 6-0-0, with a 1.67 GAA and a .942 SPCT.

Elmira Jackals - (0-4-0) - Rookie left wing Jarrett Konkle set the team record on Sunday when he scored his 37th goal of the season...Defenseman Trevor Burgess dished out six assists during the week to push his season total to 50 assists. He is just the second player in team history to reach 50 assists in a season...Left wing Kevin Cooper had his three-game goal streak snapped on Sunday. He had four goals in the first three games of the week.

Flint Generals - (2-0-0) - The Generals earned victories over playoff-bound Muskegon and Fort Wayne during the week...Forward Dave Stewart netted three goals in the two wins...The Generals defeated Fort Wayne 5-2 on Saturday despite being out-shot 42-20...Flint converted 3 of 8 (37.5%) on the power play and killed off 9 of 10 (90%) opponent power plays in the two wins...The Generals are 3-0-1 in their last four home games.

Fort Wayne Komets - (1-1-2) - Greg Puhalski coached his 600th career UHL game on Saturday...The Komets set a UHL team record with 59 shots on goal in Friday's 6-3 win vs. Port Huron. In four games during the week, Fort Wayne out-shot their opponents 176-97...Center Colin Chaulk has scored a season career high 26 goals and compiled a career high 152 penalty minutes...Defenseman Guy Dupuis has dished out a career high 44 assists.

Kalamazoo Wings - (3-0-0) - Kalamazoo has won five straight games...Rookie center Jason Deitsch is riding an 11-game point streak...Left wing Lucas Drake registered a "hat trick" (3g) on Friday, then the following night center Kory Karlander also recorded a hat trick when he netted three power play goals...Goaltender Joel Martin tied a team record with 34 wins this season...Kalamazoo tied a team record on Sunday when they earned their 50th win of the season.

Missouri River Otters - (2-1-0) - Rookie goaltender Corey Wogtech earned his first professional shutout when he stopped all 25 Roanoke shots in Saturday's 2-0 victory. It was also his first win in an Otter uniform this season... Defenseman Tim O'Connell dished out three assists in Friday's 6-5 victory vs. Roanoke...The Otters recorded season highs in shots on goal (46) and goals (6) in Friday's win.

Motor City Mechanics - (0-2-1) - Right wing Tyler Donati registered his first professional point when he dished out an assist in his pro debut on Friday...Center Adam Edinger became the third UHL player this season to surpass 50 goals when he scored two on Friday. He is two points shy of setting a new season career high...Center Greg Bullock played in his first game on Friday since February 22nd and scored a goal in his return to the lineup.

Muskegon Fury - (1-2-0) - With their 5-3 win vs. Rockford on Saturday, the Fury reached 50 wins for the second straight season...Muskegon has set a team record with 98 power play goals this season...Right wing Robin Bouchard continues to lead the UHL in scoring and has set team records for goals (59) and power play goals (34)... Muskegon has a 27-5-2 record vs. opponents outside their division this season.

Port Huron Flags - (0-2-0) - Goaltender Scott Hay stopped 53 shots in the 6-3 loss to Fort Wayne on Friday. The 53 saves was one shy of tying the league season high...Defenseman Shayne Tomlinson scored two goals on Friday. He had two goals in his first 50 games this season...Left wing Brett Lutes registered a goal in his first game back in the lineup after being sidelined for over a month with an injury.

Quad City Mallards - (4-0-0) - The goal by Jeff Petruic on Friday was the 700th point of his career...Winger Chad Woollard skated in his 400th pro game on Friday...Goaltender Jason Tapp has not lost on home ice since February 24th. He is 7-0-1 during that stretch...Three of the four games for the Mallards during the week went to the shootout...Center Patrick Nadeau converted both of his shootout attempts during the week and has been successful on his last four attempts.

Richmond RiverDogs - (3-2-0) - Richmond played five games in six days during the week...Forward Todd Grant has 19 points (8g, 11a) and a plus-5 rating in 18 games with the RiverDogs. He had eight points (4g, 4a) and a plus-four rating in 26 previous games with two different teams (Kalamazoo, Elmira)...Grant netted the game-winning goal in the last two Richmond victories...Defenseman Dan Vandermeer had six assists during the week and center Mike Oliveira had six goals.

Roanoke Valley Vipers - (0-3-0) - Left wing Mike Wiggins had multi-point games on Friday (1g, 1a) and Saturday (1g, 2a). He has five multi-point games in his last eight played...Right wing Jan Jas dished out four assists on Friday. He has multi-point games in three of his last five played...Winger Mark Scott has a point in six of his last eight games including five multi-point games...Forward Chris Affinati scored a goal in his second game with the squad on Friday.

Rockford IceHogs - (1-1-1) - Center Preston Mizzi scored four goals in Sunday's 8-0 win vs. Muskegon...Rookie goaltender Brenden Cuthbert earned a shutout in his first start with the IceHogs on Sunday. He made 42 saves in the win and added an assist...Rockford won on Sunday despite being out-shot 42-20...Defenseman Steve Pelletier has appeared in 153 straight games for the IceHogs...The IceHogs set a Rockford team record on Sunday with their 47th win of the season and a team record with 102 points in the standings.



International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 10, 2006


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