UHL season opens, excitement begins

Published on October 16, 2006 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release


LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO --- The 16th season of the United Hockey League (UHL) began on Friday and each of the ten UHL Member Clubs hit the ice during the weekend. The defending Colonial Cup Champion Kalamazoo Wings picked up where they left off from a season ago as they won their opener with a 4-0 victory at Elmira. Despite the loss, the Elmira Jackals hosted the largest audience in their history for the game as a sell-out crowd of 4,126 filled the First Arena.

The Fort Wayne Komets and Rockford IceHogs renewed a rivalry that has escalated through meetings in each of the last two playoff years. The visiting Komets won 4-2 in front of 5,736 at the Rockford MetroCentre. Komet goaltender Kevin St. Pierre made 51 saves in the winning effort.

The Bloomington PrairieThunder played their first UHL game on the road in Muskegon. The Fury spoiled Bloomington's debut with a 7-3 victory. Three different players each had two goals for Muskegon.

In a battle of teams with coaches making their UHL debuts, the Port Huron Flags edged the Flint Generals by the score of 2-1 on Friday giving Stan Drulia his first victory. The following evening, the Generals would gain revenge with a 2-1 win and give Kevin Kerr his first UHL coaching victory.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS - The Bloomington PrairieThunder had a highly successful home opener on Saturday. A crowd of 5,102 watched the first UHL game in Bloomington at the brand new U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The PrairieThunder treated the fans to a 4-2 victory over the Fort Wayne Komets.

The Chicago Hounds won their first game in the UHL on Saturday by defeating the Rockford IceHogs 4-3 in Rockford. The Hounds will play their home opener on Friday, November 3rd at the brand new Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

FAN SUPPORT - UHL fans displayed their support during the opening weekend of the regular season. Elmira hosted a record crowd, Bloomington welcomed over 5,000 fans, and the Rockford IceHogs hosted nearly 10,000 fans over their two weekend home games. Average attendance for the weekend in the UHL was 3,485. The average attendance on opening weekend a season ago was 3,205.

SAVE THAT PUCK - UHL alum Raitis Ivanans netted his first goal in the National Hockey League (NHL) on Thursday. Ivanans scored the lone goal for the Los Angeles Kings during their 4-1 loss to the Dallas Stars. It was just the seventh career NHL game for the winger who began his professional career in the 1997-98 season with the Flint Generals. He also skated with the New Haven Knights in the 2001-02 season and the Rockford IceHogs for parts of the 2002-03 and 2003-04 seasons.

AROUND THE LEAGUE

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (1-1-0) - Center Tyler Rennette scored the first goal in team history with a shorthanded unassisted goal in the second period of Friday's 7-3 loss to Muskegon...Bloomington rebounded the following evening with a 4-2 win vs. Fort Wayne to give coach Derek Booth his first UHL victory. Forward Andre Niec scored the first home goal in team history 4:30 into the contest. Forward B.J. Gaustad scored the game-winning goal and goaltender Jeff Reynaert earned the win with 39 saves.

Chicago Hounds - (1-0-0) - Right wing Greg Koehler scored the first goal in team history with 1:13 remaining in the first period on Saturday...The Hounds netted two shorthanded goals in the 4-3 win vs. Rockford plus added a power play goal...Former IceHogs players Steve Cygan and Maris Ziedins each tallied a goal in the win. Cygan's was the game-winner...Goaltender Marty Magers made 37 saves in the victory...Nine different players for the Hounds recorded a point in the win.

Elmira Jackals - (0-2-0) - The Jackals jumped out to the league lead in penalty minutes with 179. Left wing J.F. Soucy leads the league with 51 penalty minutes followed by right wing Frank Littlejohn (30), defenseman Chris Shaw (24), and right wing Curtis Tidball (24)...Frank Littlejohn scored the first goal of the season for the team on Sunday. The goal was shorthanded making him one of four UHL players who netted a shorthanded goal in the opening weekend.

Flint Generals - (1-1-0) - All three goals by the Generals during the weekend were on the power play...The Generals lead the league by allowing an average of 26 shots per game...Forward Jan Eriksson scored his first professional goal on United States ice in Saturday's 2-1 win. The native of Finland leads the team with two points (1g, 1a)...Goaltender Bryan Worosz won his UHL debut on Saturday making 27 saves...Captain Jason Selleke scored the game-winning goal on Saturday.

Fort Wayne Komets - (1-1-0) - Friday's 4-2 win vs. Rockford was the first season opening win for the Komets since 2001. They are 3-3-2 in their eight UHL season openers. All eight have been on the road...Center Bruce Richardson recorded his 200th professional assist on the Komets fourth goal of the game. Richardson also dished out an assist on the first goal of the game. He leads the team with four assists on the season...Goaltender Kevin St. Pierre made a league season high 51 saves on Friday. His highest save total a season ago in a game was 46.

Kalamazoo Wings - (2-0-0) - Kalamazoo is 4-0-0 in season openers under head coach Mark Reeds...In two games during the weekend vs. Elmira, the K-Wings killed off all 17 power play opportunities by the Jackals... Kalamazoo outscored Elmira 9-1 in two games. Six of the nine goals were on the power play...12 of the 16 skaters for the K-Wings recorded a point during the weekend...Right wing Tyler Willis is one assist shy of 100 in his K-Wings career and four shy of 400 for his professional career.

Muskegon Fury - (2-0-0) - Muskegon outscored their opponents 16-5 in two games during the weekend. They outscored the opposition 8-0 in the first period...Defenseman Philippe Plante dished out three assists on Friday and again on Saturday. He leads the league with a plus-8 rating...Captain Rustyn Dolyny had the game-winning goal in each of Muskegon's two victories...Center Todd Robinson is eight points shy of 500 for his Fury career...Muskegon was 6 of 24 (25%) on the power play over two games...Muskegon is six victories shy of 600 in their UHL history.

Port Huron Flags - (1-1-0) - Center Jeremy Tucker netted the game-winning goal in his debut with the Flags on Friday...Through two contests, all of the Flags have an even or better plus/minus rating...Goaltender Dustin Traylen was in net for both of Port Huron's games during the weekend and had impressive totals with a 1.52 GAA and a .943 SPCT...The Flags were just 1 for 17 on the power play to open the season...Port Huron will face the Elmira Jackals in each of their next three games.

Quad City Mallards - (0-1-0) - Forward Jesse Rycroft netted both goals for the Mallards in their season opening loss. He had just one multi-goal game a season ago as a rookie and totaled nine goals for the year...Forward Patrick Nadeau is two games shy of 400 in a Mallards sweater. It is the eighth season for Nadeau with Quad City... Defenseman Jami Yoder is two games shy of 600 for his professional career.

Rockford IceHogs - (0-2-0) - It is the first time since the 2000-01 season that the IceHogs have started 0-2-0... Rockford allowed two shorthanded goals in Saturday's 4-3 home loss. Over the previous two seasons combined, the IceHogs have allowed just nine shorthanded goals on home ice...Winger Chaz Johnson scored three goals during the weekend...Five different players who once wore an IceHogs uniform played against the team during the weekend. The four skaters combined to score six points (3g, 3a) and one goaltender made 37 saves.

UHL Standings:

http://www.theuhl.com/standings.aspx

UHL Scoring Leaders:

http://www.theuhl.com/scoringleaders.aspx

UHL Statistics:

http://www.pointstreak.com/prostats/text/mainmenu.html?leagueid=257&seasonid=1323

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International Hockey League 2 Stories from October 16, 2006


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