Michigan UHL teams - News & Notes

It came down to the final day of the United Hockey League season to determine the Tarry Cup championship, the best overall record in the regular season. Heading into Saturday’s action, the Fort Wayne Komets and Muskegon Fury had identical point totals of 104. Fort Wayne held the total wins tiebreaker over Muskegon, therefore a win by the Komets would clinch the top spot in the UHL no matter the outcome of Saturday’s games.

Muskegon suffered a 7-2 loss at the hands of the Quad City Mallards and goaltender Kevin St. Pierre pitched a 3-0 shutout over the Kalamazoo Wings to help lead Fort Wayne to the third Tarry Cup championship in the team’s history.

SCORING CHAMPIONS – Muskegon center Todd Robinson led the league in points with 123 to claim this season’s scoring title. His total of 123 points is the 23rd-best season by a player in UHL history. In addition, he led the league in assists (79) and game-winning goals (11), ranked second in goals with 44 and tied for second with a plus-38 rating. His 11 game-winning goals tied a UHL single-season record held by seven other players. Kalamazoo center Kory Karlander ended with season with 45 goals to lead the league in that category.

BEST BETWEEN THE PIPES – Kalamazoo rookie goaltender Ryan Nie led the league in goals-against average (2.02), save percentage (.929) and shutouts (seven). Nie’s 2.02 GAA ranks first in UHL history among goaltenders with at least 30 appearances. He bested Joel Martin’s career mark of a 2.20 GAA set as a K-Wing from 2004-2006.

PENALTY KILLERS - By killing 90.2 percent of their penalties this season, the Kalamazoo Wings set a single-season UHL record. They broke the league record of 89.0 percent set by the Muskegon Fury in 2004-05 and their team record of 84.2 percent set during the 2003-04 campaign.

Flint Generals - (2-1-0) – Left wing Jeff Zehr led the Generals with 64 points, 30 goals and 15 power-play goals. He ended the season on a five-game point streak (3g, 6a)…Goaltender Jason Muzzatti ended the season on a three-game winning streak, tying his longest streak of the year…Defenseman Gerard Miller ranked fourth in the league at his position with 57 points (13g, 44a)…The Generals led the league in power-play goals with 102, the only team to reach triple-digits…Defenseman Martin Ondrej was the only Flint player to play in all 76 games during the 2006-07 campaign.

Kalamazoo Wings – (2-1-0) – The K-Wings finished the season by winning 10 of their last 12 games…Kalamazoo reached 100 points for the second-consecutive season…Center Kory Karlander became the first K-Wings player to lead the league in goals scored (45)…Defenseman Jason Lawmaster ended the season on a five-game point streak (4g, 1a)…Right wing Justin Cross tied for third among rookies in goals scored with 26…Saturday’s 3-0 shutout loss to Fort Wayne marked the first time in 100 games that the K-Wings were held scoreless at home.

Muskegon Fury - (0-2-1) – The Fury captured their second conference championship in the past three seasons with 49 wins and 104 points…Muskegon fell one victory short of their third-consecutive 50-win season, but reached 100 points for the fourth-straight year…The Fury’s longest winless streak of 2006-07 came in the final five games (0-3-2)…Muskegon had three players rank in the top-10 in scoring, center Todd Robinson, left wing Mike Watt and right wing Rustyn Dolyny…The Fury also had four of the top five players in plus/minus rating. Defenseman Dave Van Drunen led the league with a plus-46 rating.

Port Huron Flags - (1-1-1) – Saturday’s 5-4 win over Elmira ended a seven-game (0-4-3) winless streak for the Flags…Port Huron set a franchise record with 68 points this season, exceeding the old mark of 52 set last year…Left wing Scott Wray recorded a point (3g, 10a) in seven of the final 10 games and ended the season on a three-game streak…Center Greg Bullock and center Jeremy Tucker tied with a team-high 74 games played in a Flags uniform this season…Bullock tied for second in the league with 30 power-play assists and for first on the Flags with three game-winning goals this year.

Taken from the official UHL website