IceHogs Past...Revisited

A small group of friends and I traveled to Ohio this past weekend to watch the ECHL Elmira Jackels play the Cincinnati Cyclones. The Jackels roster contains several former UHL IceHogs players and Coach. We first caught up with Nathan Lutz, Benoit Doucet, Steve Yetman and Coach Martinson in the hotel lobby as the team was heading to the arena for Friday's game. Nathan Lutz, had been playing hockey in Europe prior to joining up with the Jackels late in 2008. Nathan wears the "C" for the Jackels Team. Steve Yetman, was a IceHog for the 2005/06 season and 13 games into the 2006/07 season. Benoit Doucet, signed with the IceHogs for the 2006/07 season playoffs on a ATO and Kaleb Betts, was a member of the 2006/07 Championship Team. Also playing for the Jackels is Mike Sgroi, who was with the IceHogs back in 2001/02. Coach Steve Martinson has been with the Jackels since leaving Rockford. He and his family appear to enjoy the quiet small town life that Elmira, NY offers them.

Elmira dominated Cincinnati on Friday night, winning 4:1. Jackel players Nathan Lutz and Michael Teslak were named #1 & #2 Stars of the Game, respectively. Nathan scored the game's first goal at 15:00 in the 1st frame. The remaining Jackel goals that night, were scored by Brandon Roach, Chris Korchinski and Mike Sgroi. Justin Johnson tallied the Cyclone's lone goal for the night. If you're wondering if Nathan still has a lethal slapshot, the answer is YES.

Saturday's game had a very different ending, with Elmira taking the loss 2:4. As fans, we expect the Officials to call the game with a unbiased eye. Not so with the Referee assigned to Saturday's game. Am I making excuses for Elmira losing? No. Can good teams overcome bad officiating? One can live in hope. There was a total of 53 PIM's handed to Elmira that night. Including Game Misconduct penalties to Kaleb Betts and Mike Sgroi.

Ironically, on the Cyclones roster this year is a name well known to IceHogs fans, goaltender Ryan Nie. Ryan was the starting goaltender for the Kalamazoo Wings during the IceHogs' run for the 2007 Colonial Cup. He also attended the IceHogs Training Camp prior to the start of this season. According to a fan in the Cincinnati stands, Ryan is the #1 goaltender for the Cyclones. On Friday night, he was watching the game from the bench. Apparently on Saturday morning he was called up to the AHL Milwaukee Admirals, so we did not get to see him in net at all this weekend.