Ice make Thanksgiving a happy one in OT

The Indiana Ice will have a very happy Thanksgiving after a huge overtime victory in Green Bay tonight.

Defenseman Ryan Obuchowski -- who has a knack for scoring goals at big times in games -- buried a shot at 2:16 of overtime to give the Ice a 4-3 road victory against the USHL-leading Gamblers.

Obuchowski scored twice, also tallying the Ice's first goal, and the Ice rallied from a two-goal third-period deficit to win. Tonight's game almost mirrored the Nov. 11 game between the two teams at the Pepsi Coliseum. Tonight, the Ice came back from a two-goal third-period deficit to win in OT. Tonight, the Ice were dominated for much of the first period and fell behind 2-0, but scored a late goal to make it close.

The goals for Obuchowski were his second and third of the season. He now has eight career USHL goals. He also scored a PPG with nine seconds left in the first to cut a Green Bay lead to 2-1 and give the Ice a big boost going into the first intermission.

Green Bay's Brandon Kirk and Sam Herr scored in the first period -- leading scorer Nolan LaPorte assisted on both -- to make it a 2-0 game before Sheldon Dries was sent off with 42 seconds left in the period, putting the Ice's league-best power play on the ice against the Gamblers' league-best PK.

So far, the Gamblers are 0% against the Ice on the PK -- the Ice were 2-for-2 tonight, they also scored on their only PP in the teams' first meeting. Green Bay's PP was 0-for-6.

Green Bay outshot the Ice 13-4 in the second, but Dries' goal with 4:40 left was the only tally, making it a 3-1 game going into the third.

There, newcomer Ryan Cole assisted on Robbie Baillargeon's PPG just 1:23 into the period -- and with just one second left on Andy Welinski's penalty -- to make it a 3-2 game. The goal extended Baillargeon's scoring streak to seven games. He has six goals and three assists in that span, and is now 7-7-14 for the season in 14 games.

Jacob Fallon then tied the game on assists from defensemen Alexander Kuqali and R.J. Boyd with 7:56 left, and Jon Gillies held the fort down from there. The Ice had to kill off late penalties to Emil Romig and Christian Hilbrich in the final four minutes -- one of which carried over into OT -- before winning it.

Gillies made 36 saves -- all in regulation -- as the Ice were outshot 36-28. The Ice had the only three shots of overtime. Ryan McKay made 24 saves in the loss.

The Ice are now 9-4-2. They and Youngstown -- which also won tonight -- vaulted Cedar Rapids and are now in a third-place tie in the USHL East with 20 points. Dubuque (23 points) and Green Bay (25 points) are in the top two spots, as GB grabbed a point tonight.

The Ice play their next seven games at home. The next three are against Western foes -- Sioux Falls on Friday, Fargo on Saturday and Sioux City on Dec. 2. Then, Green Bay comes back for games Dec. 3 and 4 -- the Sunday game will drop the puck at 3:05 p.m.

Three stars
1. Ryan Obuchowski (Ice), 2 goals, GWG, +1, 6 shots
2. Jacob Fallon (Ice), 1 goal, GTG, +1, 2 shots
3. Brandon Kirk (GB), goal, assist, +3, 2 shots

USHL boxscore