Michigan UHL teams - News & Notes

The Muskegon Fury (2-0-0), Kalamazoo Wings (3-0-0) and the Rockford IceHogs (3-0-1) went undefeated last week in United Hockey League action behind the strength of great goaltending. Each with a goals-against average lower than 2.00, Muskegon’s Ryan Cyr picked up both Fury victories, Kalamazoo’s Ryan Nie recorded three consecutive shutouts and Rockford’s Frederic Cloutier played 240:00 minutes to post a 3-0-1 record.

The Eastern Conference’s top team, Muskegon, picked up four points to remain atop the standings with back-to-back wins over the Elmira Jackals. On Friday, Cyr stopped 39 shots en route a 4-3 win. The next night he entered the game in a relief role and shut out the Jackals for 44:27 while making 21 saves for the 4-3 victory. Cyr ended the week with a .952 save percentage and a 1.73 GAA. The two victories improved his home record to 9-1-0 and overall record to 12-3-1 this season.

Nie, the league’s hottest goaltender, has recorded three consecutive shutouts and four shutouts in his last five starts. Making 24 saves, he shut out Elmira on Wednesday, 3-0. He followed that performance with a 26-save blanking of the Port Huron Flags on Friday and a 24-save shutout against the Flint Generals on Saturday. He is currently on a scoreless streak of 203:39 minutes and leads the UHL with a 2.23 GAA. The scoreless stretch of 203:39 minutes by the K-Wings breaks the UHL team record of 189:27 minutes of shutout hockey held by the 2005-06 Fort Wayne Komets.

SHUT ’EM DOWN – Nie is approaching the all-time UHL scoreless streak for a goaltender. His current mark of 203:39 minutes is 44:53 shy of the record for consecutive shutout minutes of 248:31 set by Fort Wayne’s Kevin St. Pierre in the 2000-01 season.

MOVIN’ ON UP – With two wins this past week, Fort Wayne’s Kevin St. Pierre moved into second place in career UHL wins with 166. He trails only former Muskegon Fury and Danbury Trashers goaltender Sylvain Daigle who recorded 187 wins during his UHL tenure.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS – Muskegon’s Todd Robinson is one point away (33g, 66a) from reaching the 100-point plateau for the third time in his UHL career. He had 106 points in 72 games played during the 2003-04 season and 100 points in 66 games played during the 2000-01 season. With his next point, it will be the 96th time in UHL history that the 100-point plateau has been reached in a single season.

IT’S TRICKY – Port Huron center Mark Cadotte tallied his first hat trick of the season on Saturday in a 5-3 win over Bloomington. He lit the lamp on 3-of-4 shots in the game.

Flint Generals - (1-1-1) – Left wing Bobby Reynolds scored three goals in three games last week, including the game-winner on Friday against Bloomington…Goaltender Jason Muzzatti recorded every decision in net last week, making 83 saves and posting a 2.67 GAA…After losing in a shootout on Wednesday, the Generals are now 1-5 in shootouts this season. Flint has only scored three goals on 29 shots during extra sessions…Among defenseman, Gerard Miller is fourth in scoring with 37 points and Shaun Fisher is tied for ninth with 26 points.

Kalamazoo Wings – (3-0-0) – Center Kory Karlander set the K-Wings record for most game-winners in a Kalamazoo UHL career (12) on Friday in a 5-0 win at Port Huron…Left wing Nick Bootland tied Karlander’s record the following night in a 3-0 victory against Flint and also set the K-Wings UHL single-season record for game winners with seven…Karlander is on a seven-game point streak…Kalamazoo plays two home games this week and Wednesday’s tilt against Rockford is the first of two Education Day Games for the K-Wings.

Muskegon Fury - (2-0-0) – With the Fury’s 4-3 win over Elmira on Friday, Muskegon won their 40th game for the fourth consecutive season and for the 10th time in the past 13 seasons…The last three Fury wins have been by a one-goal margin. Muskegon leads the UHL in one-goal triumphs with 18…With two assists on Friday, center Todd Robinson became the Fury’s all-time assists leader with 422…The Fury are the first team in the UHL this season to have two 30-goal scorers in Robinson (33) and left wing Mike Watt (31). They both rank in the top five in the UHL in points.

Port Huron Flags - (2-1-0) – Goaltender Dustin Traylen picked up the decision in both of Port Huron’s victories last week. He made 60 saves for a .923 SPCT and is on a three-game winning streak…With his shootout tally on Wednesday, right wing Bobby Kukulka moved into a second place tie in the UHL in shootout goals with five…Left wing Ben Gustavson scored his first goal as Flag on Wednesday against Flint…Center Mark Cadotte’s hat trick on Saturday against Bloomington was just the second three-goal game by a Port Huron player this season.

Taken from the official UHL website