K-Wings Snap Losing Streak in Dramatic Fashion

[VodkaFish]

ROCHESTER, MI - The K-Wings snapped their seven game winless streak Sunday in Muskegon after newly acquired forward Ryan Markham scored shorthanded with less than one second left in the game. After gaining an early two goal lead and going scoreless in the second, Muskegon lit the lamp twice, once on a delayed penalty and again on a penalty shot. Adding one more in the third, the Fury took the 3-2 lead. Kalamazoo would not give up after Lucas Drake scored the game-tying goal 14:01 into the third. The game looked like it was headed for overtime when Markham lit the lamp during the last second of the game. The seven game winless streak was a season high in the IHL.

Continuing to dominate the IHL, Fort Wayne goaltender Kevin Reiter remains a force between the pipes for the Komets. Reiter added another shutout to his resume Saturday night, bringing his league-leading season total to five. Reiter denied all 36 of Port Huron’s shots Saturday to earn the victory. Three of his five shutouts have come against the Icehawks so far this season.

Flint continues to have the best power play record in the IHL. In their 37 games played, they have scored 43 goals on 210 opportunities (20.5%). Forward Michel Beausoliel has scored a team-leading eight power play goals for the Generals while defenseman Nick Tuzzolino has a team-leading 10 power play assists, which also ties him with Fort Wayne’s right wing Luciano Aquino for most power play assists by a rookie.

AROUND THE “I”

Bloomington PrairieThunder - (1-1-0-0) – Forward Jon Booras has scored at least one point in the last six games and has a goal in five of the last six games. Center Jarrod Skalde has scored has scored nine points in eight games since returning to the lineup after missing two months with a broken right fibula. He has scored at least one point in five of the eight games and has three multiple-point performances. The PrairieThunder has scored 13 of its last 21 goals over the last seven games. Loic Lacasse had a personal-best and team-best four-game winning streak snapped in his last outing. The franchise record for consecutive victories for a goalie is five. The PrairieThunder finished the first half of the season with 15 victories, four more than a year ago at this same juncture. PrairieThunder fans donated neatly $700 collected at its game Saturday to the American Red Cross of the Heartland for recent Pontiac (Ill.) flood victims.

Flint Generals - (1-2-0-0) – With a 4-1 victory over the Bloomington Prairie Thunder on Saturday night, the Generals snapped their longest road losing streak which was two straight losses and 1-2-1-0 in their last five. Eric Marvin continues with the longest streak among active goaltenders in the IHL with 22 of his last 24 games played. Marvin has seven victories on the road this season and a goals against average of less than three per game. Jason Cirone has 10 assists in his last 10 games and Michael Beausoleil has seven goals. The Generals are having their slowest month of the season with a mark of 4-4-1-0 during January. The Generals have nine wins when the goal difference in a game is three, but just five victories in one-goal games. Flint continues to play without the services of defenseman Brett Westgarth and forward Jordan Fox. Westgarth remains on call-up with the Iowa Stars (AHL), while Fox was called up again by the Albany River Rats (AHL) after Wednesday night’s game in Fort Wayne.

Fort Wayne Komets - (3-0-0-0) – Komets pad their IHL lead to nine points over second-place Flint taking all three games played during week 14 and extending their winning streak to six games. Komets improved to 27-9-3-1 for 58 points after 40 games, six points better than last year's mark after 40. Komets completed their busiest stretch of the season of 15 games in 24 nights (12-3-0-0). During that period the Komets were unbeaten at home for a 10-game home winning streak. Komets have not lost at home since December 21st (6-4 loss vs. Kalamazoo). Also during the last 15 games, the Komets have outscored their opponents 58-31. Reiter leads IHL goaltenders with 30 games played, 18 wins, 2.29 GAA and .915 SPCT, and is one win shy of tying his career best mark of 19 wins set during the 2004-05 UHL season with Missouri (38 games). Streaking Komets: Kevin Reiter 14 straight starts, 15 consecutive appearances, six straight wins, nine straight home wins. P.C. Drouin has a three-game point and assist streak (1g, 3a).

Kalamazoo Wings - (0-2-0-0) – Justin Cross played in his 100th career game last Saturday in Muskegon. Glenn Detulleo recorded his 200th career assist yesterday in Muskegon. Kalamazoo snapped a seven-game winless streak and a four game overall and road losing streak yesterday in Muskegon by defeating the Fury with one-tenth of a second remaining. Kory Karlander leads the league in scoring with 50 points. Karlander has registered points in 16 of his last 17 games (11 goals, 18 assists). Ryan Markham scored two goals in three games in first three games as a K-Wing. Kalamazoo is 0 for their last 19 on the power-play. Lucas Drake ended a 26 game goal drought by netting two last night against Muskegon. Three of the K-Wings next four games will be played at Wings Stadium. Kalamazoo is 3-0-1-2 on games played on Sunday.

Muskegon Fury - (2-1-0-0) – The Muskegon Fury split a pair of home games and a pair of road games this week, finishing 2-2-0-0 for the week and 19-17-2-0 overall at the half-way point of the season. Muskegon stands alone in fourth place in the International Hockey League with 40 points. Wednesday at Port Huron, a pair of Muskegon Fury players reached career milestones. Mike Watt had three assists in the game and passed the 200 mark for his professional career. Also Wednesday, Fury defenseman Jay Hardwick played in his 200th career game as a professional. Friday at Fort Wayne, Fury forward Robin Bouchard played in his 900th career game as a professional. Muskegon forward Robin Bouchard needs just three assists to reach 600 in his professional career, while Fury defenseman Kyle Kos is just four assists shy of 100 for his career. Fury forward Rafal Martynowski has played in 99 games in his professional career, and should hit the century mark at home Friday against Bloomington.

Port Huron Icehawks - (1-2-0-0) – The Icehawks picked up one win and two losses last week yet remain at third place in the league with a record of 20-21-0-1 and 41 points in the standings. The Icehawks poured on three third period goals in just 44 seconds on Friday, which is a single game high for the quickest time between three goals this season for the Icehawks. Not only do the Icehawks lead the league in shots in all three periods, total shots (1,425) and shot percentage (33.93), but they have also out shot their opponent in 27 of 42 games this season. They are 12-14-0-1 when out shooting their opponent. Left wing Jeff Zehr returned to the line-up on Friday and recorded one assist to extend his assist streak to five games with seven helpers in that span and his point streak to six games with nine points in that many games. The streak was snapped on Saturday. The Icehawks were whistled for just two penalties for a total of four penalty minutes in Wednesday’s game versus Muskegon, both single game lows for Port Huron this season. There were only six penalty minutes in the entire game.