Saturday, November 19, 2011

Ice split weekend, fall to Waterloo 4-2

The Indiana Ice split a two-game Iowa road trip, falling 4-2 to the Waterloo Black Hawks in a penalty-filled game Saturday night.

Four of the six goals were scored on the power play, and both teams spent considerable time on it -- as both were 2-for-8 with the man advantage, and the game featured 135 penalty minutes -- 64 by the Ice, 71 by Waterloo.

Much of the action came in the opening 20 minutes, as the host Black Hawks scored four goals in the span of 6:38 to take a 4-1 lead going into the first period break and chased Ice netminder Jon Gillies early.

The Ice had two early power plays, but were unable to convert. On the Hawks' second PP, Tony Camaranesi scored to make it 1-0 with 9:30 left in the opening period. The next Ice penalty resulted in another goal by Taylor Cammarata with 4:07 left in the first, as the Black Hawks' top two scorers netted goals that made it a 2-0 game. Fifty-one seconds later, Waterloo's Jamie Hill scored to make it 3-0 and call it a night for Gillies, who allowed three goals on nine shots in 16:44 of action.

Dalton Izyk came on and quickly got a boost when the Ice scored with 2:21 left in the first -- and 55 seconds after Hill's goal. Just five seconds into a holding penalty to Waterloo's Aaron Pearce, Alexander Kuqali buried a point shot on assists from Jacob Fallon and Daniil Tarasov to get the Ice on the board. It was Kuqali's second goal of the year and the third of his USHL career. But, just 29 seconds later, Waterloo's Joe Rehkamp restored the three-goal edge with his third goal in the last two meetings against the Ice, completing a flurry that saw the two teams combine for four goals in 2:15.

Kuqali's goal capped a pretty good week for the Ice defenseman, who also committed to RIT earlier in the week. 


But that was just the start.

With exactly a minute to go in the period, the two teams got into a melee that saw the Ice's R.J. Boyd get into a melee that saw four players ejected and five given fighting majors -- as , which escalated as the Blackhawks' Mitch Witek, Peter Hand and James Hansen got involved, as did the Ice's Woody Hudson. Of the five players, Witek was the only one who got out with only a 5-minute major -- the other four were all given game misconducts. Boyd was given an instigator, a major and a game. Hand was given a major and a game misconduct. Hansen was given a game misconduct for leaving the bench, while Hudson got two fighting majors, a third major for leaving the bench and a double-game misconduct -- one for leaving the bench, one for fighting -- 37 PIMs in all for the Ice forward.

So, both teams were playing with shortened benches with only 16 skaters available for the second period -- a bench that got shorter for Waterloo when Hill and Scott MacDonald were both given 10-minute misconducts for abuse of officials.

The Ice spent much of the second period with the man advantage, earning four power plays. On the third, Cody Bradley was able to score on a feed from Sean Kuraly -- but they could not take further advantage, as Waterloo goaltender Jay Williams shut the door, making 28 total saves on the night on 30 Ice shots -- 10 in each period.

Gillies made six saves and took the loss, allowing three goals. Izyk stopped 17 shots in his 43:16 of action.

The Ice are now 8-4-2 and in a tie with Cedar Rapids for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. They play three games this coming week -- heading to first-place Green Bay for a Thanksgiving Eve showdown, and then returning to the Pepsi Coliseum for the first of seven straight at home to face Sioux City (Friday) and Fargo (Saturday).

The game also saw an Ice streak snapped, as forward Robbie Baillargeon was held scoreless for the first time in six games. Tarasov had eight shots and did get on the scoreboard with an assist. He is the league's second-leading scorer with 21 points on the year. It was his second straight game with a point.


3 stars
1. Jay Williams (WAT), 28 saves, 2GA, win
2. Joe Rehkamp (WAT), goal, assist, +2, 3 shots

3. A.J. Michaelson (WAT), 2 assists, +2

USHL boxscore

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