Indians sweep Ice Diggers

The Michigan Soo Indians entered their weekend series against the Toledo Ice Diggers as the only team in the North American Hockey League yet to lose a game on home ice.

That streak continued for the Indians as they took on the Ice Diggers at the Chi Mukwa Community Recreation Centre on Friday and Saturday nights and handed the Ice Diggers two straight losses.

On Friday night, the Indians received goals from Andrew Broughton, Logan Bittle, Mark Lutz and James Pentecost in a 4-3 win over Toledo. Paul Scalici, Dave Fitzgerald and Mitch Sabo replied in the setback as the Ice Diggers nearly fought back to tie the game late.

Jason Kearney, who was strong in Saturday night's game, put on a goaltending clinic on Friday stopping 41 Soo shots in the loss. Derek MacIntyre stopped 16 Toledo shots in the win.

On Saturday night, the Ice Diggers looked as though they were going to hand the Indians their first regulation home loss of the season. Scalici, who had a strong weekend offensively, put the Indians behind the eight ball early as he beat Indians starter Adam Dekker on a scramble in the opening minute of the game.

Kearney made some big saves, including stops on Jason Blain, Derek Punches and Tommy Kolar late in the period to keep the score 1-0 heading into the first intermission.

The Indians broke the game open a bit in the second period. Tiger Marcotte got the Indians on the board at 13:04 on the power play when he beat Kearney with a point shot. At 17:17 Eric Curtis scored his first goal of the season again during a scramble in front of the Toledo goal.

Toledo's Jim Kozlowski tied the game at two on the power play. The goal was scored when Kozlowski and Joe Watson broke in on a two-on-one after an apparent missed offside call.

The goal didn't faze the Indians though as James Pentecost put the Indians back ahead, this time for good, when he converted a feed from Curtis with a minute left in the period.

In the third period Mark Lutz scored at 6:34 to seal the win for the Indians and improve their overall record to 31-2-6 which is good for 68 points and second place in the NAHL behind the Texas Tornado. The win also improves the Indians home record to 14-0-4.

The series also marked the Indians first set of home games after the announcement that the team would disband at the end of the season.

Indians coach Joe Shawhan was pleased with the effort his club put forth, specifically in Saturday night's game. He also said that he felt the news about the team disbanding didn't affect his team much.

"I thought we played pretty well," Shawhan said after Saturday night's game. "That was one of our better games. We played better than we've been playing. We played a better game mentally. The guys are resilient. We've got a lot to look forward to this season."

"(Friday) night I didn't think we played well," Shawhan said.

Shawhan was also happy with the play of Dekker in goal and the veteran netminder made some big saves at key times during the game. Shawhan was also happy with the play of Pentecost, Curtis and Drew Satterly who combined for five points in the win.

Dekker made 20 saves in goal for the Indians while Kearney stopped 35 shots in the loss.

The Indians will now head to Ann Arbor, Michigan on Sunday to take on the US Under-17 team in a matinee matchup. The Indians then return home to take on the Cleveland Barons next weekend at the Chi Mukwa Community Recreation Centre on Friday and Saturday nights, both at 7 p.m.