ROCHESTER, Mich - Here we are another week into the International Hockey League’s sophomore season.  Week 5 brought even more parity to the six team league as we now have three teams tied for first place, and two teams tied for fourth place.  Coaching changes have been made in Flint, Tyler Willis has returned to Kalamazoo, and Fort Wayne suffered the season worst upset so far.

Tuesday Nov. 11

Tuesday was hockey night in Port Huron when the Bloomington Prairie Thunder came to town to take on the much improved Ice Hawks.  The Ice Hawks lost their first four games of the season but had won four of their last five coming into Tuesday’s matchup.  This game went back and forth until the third period when the Ice Hawks erupted with three unanswered goals beating out the Thunder for a final of 5-3.  Jamie Carroll received the first star of the game for scoring 2 goals one of which was the game winner just over 8 minutes into the third period.  Carroll leads Port Huron in points with 14 for the season.

Thursday Nov. 13

The league leading Fort Wayne Komets traveled north to Flint to take on the Generals Thursday night.   Despite being outshot 23-32 Fort Wayne dominated the scoring in this one.   Left Winger P.C. Drouin lit the lamp twice once on a power play in the first and again in the second with a shorthanded goal.  Drouin leads the defending champs in points this season with 20, which includes 3 power play goals and 2 shorthanded goals.  The Komets ended the night with a 3-1 win.

Friday Nov. 14

The Bloomington Prairie Thunder invited the Port Huron Ice Hawks back home with them on Friday for a rematch of Tuesday night’s game.  Port Huron picked up right where they had left off when Jeff Zehr scored the first goal of the game just five minutes into the first period.  The Ice Hawks did let up in the second period allowing Bloomington to bring the game within one goal when Leo Thomas scored just before the second intermission.  Unfortunately for the Thunder heir losing streak would continue when in the third the Ice Hawks scored three unanswered goals to win the game 5-1.  There was some action as the buzzer sounded in the third when Port Huron’s Jeremy Tucker fired a shot from the blue line to the goal.  Bloomington’s Sam Miller took offense and the two traded

Photo by Barry Jones

blows to end the game. 

Friday was also when the Kalamazoo Wings welcomed the Flint Generals to Wings Stadium.  Flint was coming off of a loss Tuesday night against the Komets and the Wings had 6 days to think about the last loss they suffered when Port Huron shut them out 0-5 the previous Saturday.  Kalamazoo controlled this game from the beginning.  The man advantage worked for the Wings scoring 3 of their 6 goals off the power play.  Kalamazoo went 3 for 9 with the man advantage while Flint just 1 for 9.  The surprising star of the night was defensemen Rod Aldoff.  Aldoff had one goal and two assists helping the Wings beat the Generals in a final of 6-1.  Rod received second star of the night behind Kalamazoo’s Lucas Drake who performed a hat trick Friday night.

Also on Friday the Muskegon Lumberjacks traveled to Fort Wayne to take on a hot Komets team.  The last time these two teams met Muskegon beat the Komets 6-4 in Muskegon.  Fort Wayne out shot the Jacks 36-25 and went 2 for 5 on the power play, but it was not enough.  The Jacks kept battling and end up winning this game 5-4.  The biggest surprise is

Photo by Jennifer Sleeper

the person who scored 3 of the Lumber Jacks goals, Frank Littlejohn.  Littlejohn is known throughout the league as a tough guy, not a scorer, but that did not stop him from getting a hat trick against the Komets.  Prior to Friday night Littlejohn had only notched one goal this season.

Saturday Nov. 15

Saturday night found the Port Huron Ice Hawks visiting Perani Arena in Flint to take on the Generals.  This was a very tight game throughout.  So close in fact it had to be decided in a shootout after the score was tied 3-3 at the end of regulation and a scoreless overtime.  We saw six shooters get denied before Jamie Carroll of Port Huron slid one by Flint’s Chad Alban in the fourth round of the shootout.  The Generals John DiPace’s shot was blocked by Ice Hawks net minder Kevin Desfosses to give Port Huron the 2 points.  Desfosses has only played 4 games for the Hawks but has the best GAA (1.71) and SV% (.938) in the league.

After Muskegon beat the Komets to be tied for first in the league they traveled from Fort Wayne to Bloomington to take on a Thunder team who has lost their last 4 games.  The beginning of the game appeared to be much of the same for Bloomington when Muskegon took a 2-0 lead 6minutes and fifty-two seconds into the first period.  Unlike the previous four games it did not appear that Bloomington wanted to give up.  The Thunder ignited after a Don Parsons goal a few minutes before the first intermission.  The Thunder ended up with six unanswered goals before Muskegon scored two in the third settling on a 6-4 Bloomington win.  Talking with Thunder Right Winger Brett Holmberg after the game Holmberg said “We just did not give up; we knew it was still way too early after they scored their second to be hanging our heads”

One of the exciting parts of the game occurred after Jon Booras scored the fifth goal for the Thunder.  Muskegon Coach Bruce Ramsey earned a game misconduct and an early exit after screaming at the linesmen and the referee while throwing water bottles as well as a water cooler onto the ice.

The upset of the season also occurred Saturday when the Komets made the trip to Kalamazoo to take on the Wings.  The Wings never trailed in the game beating the first place Komets 6-2.  Fan Favorite Tyler Willis showed fans just how glad he was to be back by scoring two of the 6 goals.  Fort Wayne went 0 for 10 on the power play Saturday night while

Photo by Jennifer Sleeper

the Wings went 2 for 7.

Week 5 was more than we thought it could be an exciting week filled with upsets, tantrums, and a few hat tricks.  A few side items I would like to mention; as of Monday Nov. 17, Peter South has left the Flint Generals just three games after the Generals announced South would be a co-coach beside Bobby Reynolds.  Reynolds will now serve as the only head coach for the generals.  The Bloomington Prairie Thunder welcome rookie forward Jacob Anderson, the son of Atlanta Thrashers’ head coach John Anderson.  Anderson played in Saturday’s game against Muskegon and had an assist.

Contact the author at justin.boyd@prohockeynews.com.
Contact the photogtrapher at barry.jones@prohockeynews.com.
Contact the photographer at jennifer.sleeper@prohockeynews.com.