Indians shut down Toledo

One week after clinching the North American Hockey League's North Division title, the Soo Indians showed no signs of slowing down this weekend.

Back home to finish the regular season with six straight home games, the Indians swept the Toledo IceDiggers with wins on Friday and Saturday nights.

On Friday, the Indians were paced by a four goal second period en route to a 6-2 victory over the IceDiggers. Eric Curtis led the way offensively for the Indians with a goal and two assists while Tom Kolar also chipped in with a goal and two helpers.

Jim Jorgensen, Joe Beaudry and R.G. Flath also scored in the win. Beaudry and Flath each added an assist while defenceman Mark Lutz picked up two helpers.

Dave Fitzgerald and Dan Peace scored the Toledo goals, both coming on the man advantage.

On Saturday night, the Indians got off to a slow start and didn't seem to completely recover despite knocking off the IceDiggers by a 2-0 score.

The teams played to a scoreless first period, although the Indians did have a chance to open the scoring but Jason Blain was stopped twice from point blank range by Toledo goaltender Justin Marriott, who was named the game's second star.

The Indians did manage to open the scoring in the second period as Kolar picked up his second goal of the weekend to put the Indians up 1-0 just over five minutes into the period with a power play marker.

At 10:36, Beaudry picked up his second of the weekend as he converted a perfect feed from Andrew Broughton past Marriott.

The teams again played to a scoreless period in the third as the Indians won the game 2-0 and improved their overall record to 41-4-6 and a perfect 20-0-4 on home ice.

The Indians received a strong performance from netminder Derek MacIntyre, who kept the IceDiggers at bay in being named the game's first star. Indians coach Joe Shawhan was straightforward following the game about his team's play and the play of his goaltender, although he did give the IceDiggers credit on their effort.

"We didn't play well tonight," Shawhan said of his team's effort. "I thought MacIntyre kept us in the game. Toledo played an inspired game though too."

The Indians are now preparing to take on the Youngstown Phantoms next Friday and Saturday nights before closing out the regular season at home to following weekend against the Springfield Jr. Blues. All four games are set for 7 p.m. at the Chi Mukwa Community Recreation Centre (Big Bear Arena).