#jbaker

The orange sweaters appear to be imbued with bad luck, as the Quad City Mallards lost another contest while sporting the alternate uniforms. The Cincinnati Cyclones defeated the Mallards 6-2 tonight in what could only be described as a poor performance by the home team.

The two teams shared aggressive play during the first period, the first ten minutes being roughly evenly matched between the teams. However, the game quickly turned in the Cyclones’ favor.

A defensive lapse following Andrew Blazek came out of the penalty box led to an uncontested breakaway against Brody Hoffman, Seth Ambroz managing to lift the puck to the very top corner stick-side. Jack Downing and Brett Wysopal assisted on the opening goal.

Colin Mulvey capitalized on a rebound after Branden Gracel took a shot,  Wysopal earning another assist. Jonathan Diaby then went on to give Cincy a 3-0 lead at 17:35 of the first period with help from Zaach Budish and Downing.

Mallard Jake Baker left the game late in the second period after being hit in the face with a puck as it careened off the glass. He immediately fell to the ice, being helped up by athletic trainer Jon Piche. Baker then began to skate to the bench before dropping to one knee, and then the other before staying hunched over for a moment. He proceeded to skate to the bench, but then headed to the locker room and did not return. He got an MRI following the game; no further word has been released as of writing.

The third period saw five goals scored, three of them in a row by Cincinnati. Joe Wilson slid the puck past Hoffman on a two-on-two breakaway and a rebound. Budish and Downing both assisted on Wilson’s goal.

Kyle Follmer played defense during the third period, having done so before when Baker had been recalled to the Manitoba Moose last week. 

The Mallards believed they had scored a goal towards the middle of the final period, the goal light even going off, but it was waved off. The officials deemed that the puck had bounced off the post and not crossed the line, much to the displeasure of fans and players. A renewed energy was shown by the Mallards following the non-goal, but the team couldn’t come back from a 4-0 deficit.

Tommy Mele increased Cincy’s lead while on a delayed penalty powerplay, Steve Weinstein and Diaby assisting. A minute later, a breakaway by Budish would cement an already solid win for the visiting team. 

Matt Neal ended Andy Iles’ shutout at 13:48, Vladimir Nikiforov and Matt Carey helping. The team was able to muster one more goal, Carey finding the back of the net with help from Kevin Gibson and Nikiforov.

The three stars of the game were

CIN - 19 Downing

CIN - 24 Budish

CIN - 1 Iles 

Iles made 32 saves for Hoffman’s 25.

With the Mallards loss, the Missouri Mavericks clinched a playoff berth. Currently, the Mavericks are first in the Western Conference in the standings. The Mallards are still four points out of a playoff spot.

Twenty-seven penalty minutes were assessed during the first period of the Quad City Mallards home opener, 15 from a single play. The Tulsa Oilers faced the Mallards at the iWireless Center tonight, the visitors winning 1-0.

Few chances amounted to a single goal being scored. Tulsa had only two shots on goal more than the Mallards, the Oklahoma-based team having an even twenty. However, the first period proved to be reminiscent of the movie Slapshot.

Around six minutes into the first period Jake Baker leveled Darian Dziurzynski near the Mallards bench. Dziurzynski was slow to retake his feet, but returned to the game.

At 6:53 of the first period Austin Coldwell and Brady Ramsay dropped the gloves. This was Coldwell’s first professional fight, his most recent fight in juniors coming in the 2009-10 USHL season when he played for the Des Moines Buccaneers.

With just more than seven minutes to play before the first intermission, Ryan Tesink earned a five-minute major boarding penalty against Dziurzynski, sparking a fight. Baker and Brian Nugent squared off, Baker having the upper hand as he has half a foot on Nugent.

Towards the end of the first period, Dziurzynski was clipped by a Mallards player on the Mallards blue line, falling to the ice and taking a moment to stand. He skated shakily to the bench, almost falling sideways at one point. A trainer attended to him as soon as Dziurzynski sat on the bench, but he remained until the period ended. He did not return to the game. No word has been released as of yet on his condition, but it appeared from his actions after the third hit that he suffered a moderate to severe concussion.

Vladimir Nikiforov had a chance to score a breakaway goal after the Tesink penalty was killed, but mishandled after several dekes.

During the first period the Mallards were very aggressive, but after the first intermission they were much more subdued.

The Oilers scored on the powerplay at 6:38 of the middle frame, Brandon Wong getting help from Matt Konan and Dennis Brown.

Steve Michalek played his third straight game for the Mallards, making 19 saves on 20 shots. Kevin Carr earned an 18-save shutout.

The three stars of the game were

TUL - 10 Wong

TUL - 37 Carr