#ryan mcgrath

Should I drop for NFTs? 

MOLINE, IL – A quiet farewell wasn’t what the Quad City Mallards had in mind on Friday, and Kalamazoo shared the sentiments. In a game that repeatedly became deadlocked, a shootout was finally necessary to decide the contest. The Mallards could act as spoilers with a win, able to eliminate their old Central Hockey League foes the Kansas City Mavericks if the Cincinnati Cyclones also picked up two points that night.

Though out-shot 15-10 in the first period, the Mallards dominated play. They controlled possession of the puck for much of the frame, and if not completely in possession of it the puck was not kept for long by the Wings. The Mallards played an aggressive game, answered by the Wings in equal measure.

With thirty seconds remaining in the Mallards’ first penalty kill of the night Justin Taylor lit the lamp behind Eric Hartzell. The puck was passed from the right dot across to the left goal line, where Taylor managed to send the puck into the net top shelf. The Mallards weren’t keen on the change in score, however.

Off the ensuing face off, Ryan McGrath went on a breakaway along the boards after receiving the puck from Kyle Novak. McGrath streaked in to Michael Garteig’s left, disturbing the water bottle behind the goalie as the puck met twine.

Kalamazoo took the lead back just under four minutes into the sandwich stanza when Jimmy Mullin beat Hartzell over the left shoulder from the right dot. At the face off to Hartzell’s right, Josh Pitt won the draw before dropping the puck to Mullin.

In what would be a common occurrence for the night, McGrath was checked hard into the boards at the Mallards’ blue line. The Mallard player wasn’t appreciative of the attention, and a scrum quickly grew when both Jake Bolton and Stanislav Dzakhov skated over to stand up for their teammate. Ben Wilson was assessed a minor for roughing from the scrum after punching Bolton in the face with his gloves on.

Dzakhov scored his first professional goal to tie the game at two apiece roughly four minutes after the scrum had broken out. Travis Armstrong assisted on the wraparound goal that came from right to left on Garteig.

Four goals were scored in the third period, one of which echoed one from the first period. After being held off the scoresheet during a power play, the Wings took the lead back just under two and a half minutes into the final frame. Kyle Blaney won the face off to Hartzell’s right, giving the puck to Lane Scheidl. Scheidl then shot from the far edge of the circle to bring down Hartzell’s save percentage.

Matt Pohlkamp scored after a breakaway out of the penalty box, and six minutes later Kalamazoo was once again in the lead. Brendan Bradley was credited with the goal that appeared to win the game for the visitors. Six minutes still remained in the game, however, and the Mallards were hungry for a win in front of a crowd of 5,402.

Alex Globke scored the goal to send the teams into overtime with only 27.5 seconds remaining on the clock. Hartzell had come off the ice to give the Mallards the extra attacker in hopes of tying, and tie it they did. There was a scrum in front of Garteig’s crease just outside of the blue paint, and as Globke fell the puck went in. With many bodies around it might have been difficult to see, but the official was adamant with his gesturing to the net that it was indeed a goal. Garteig disputed the goal, as there were bodies dangerously close to where they shouldn’t be, but after some conferencing the officials decided the official was correct in his call.

A little more than two and a half minutes into the period of extra hockey, Aaron Irving gave McGrath a knee to the knee in Kalamazoo’s zone. McGrath was in great pain, attempting to skate off the ice but being unable to put weight on the knee and instead laying on the ice writhing. Play went down to the Mallards’ zone as the home bench yelled at the officials for a whistle, as did Kalamazoo. As the puck scurried around the Mallards’ defensive zone Garteig came out of his crease to help McGrath towards the bench. A water bottle sailed through the air, and still play continued for several seconds before a whistle finally blew. Heated words were exchanged at one end of the ice as off-ice crew helped the injured McGrath off the ice.

After several minutes, it was decided that Irving would be assessed a five minute penalty for kneeing and a game misconduct for the same call. Only three minutes was put on the penalty clock, however, as Nick Bligh went into the sin bin as well. The flying water bottle had originated on the Mallards’ bench, and had narrowly missed hitting a referee in the head. Instead, the referee was hit on the skate with the bottle.

The two teams decided to give the assembled crowd a show, as it took six rounds of the shoot-out to decide the game. For the Mallards, only Quentin Shore and Chris Izmirlian found the back of the net, while Danny Moynihan was the only player from Kalamazoo to beat Hartzell in the one-on-one portion of the game.

With the Mallards’ victory as well as Cincinnati’s victory, the Kansas City Mavericks were eliminated from playoff contention. Now only the Indy Fuel and Kalamazoo fight for the final berth in the Central Division.

The Mallards will close the 2017-18 season against the Cyclones. Puck drop is set for 7:05, and is a Jimmy Johns Fan Appreciation Night. The TaxSlayer Center is running a season ticket renewal drive for $25. For that amount, fans can lock in one seat for the 2018-19 season. This deposit is fully refundable, and multiple seats can be bought. Those who put down a deposit, as well as current season ticket holders, are first in line for seats for the next season of Quad City hockey.

MOLINE, IL – The Quad City Mallards and Toledo Walleye faced off for the second to last time this season, as well as the second to last time ever. The day after announcing that the team would be ceasing operations at the end of the season on April 7th, the Mallards began the final 11 games of their ECHL history. Five home games remained before Wednesday’s contest, two of them being against the Walleye.

In the first period the Mallards looked like the lesser team, which shouldn’t be surprising due to the fact that the Illinois-based team is dead last in 7th place in the Central Division and the bottom of the league. Toledo, in contrast, has clinched a play-off spot and rests in first place in the Central Division. The home team was out-skated and out-shot during the first 20 minutes, going down 2-0 after goals by Kyle Bonis and A.J. Jenks.

The first Toledo goal came just over 90 seconds after the game began, Bonis firing the puck in topshelf from the left corner of the crease. Recently returned from the AHL’s Stockton Heat C.J. Motte had a terrific save about midway through the period after he went out of his crease to attempt to play the puck near the boards, the defensemen in black helping out as well with the stop. Shortly after that, however, Jenks added to the lead.

After much scrambling infront of the net and many saves by Motte, Jenks rifled the puck in topshelf to double up the Toledo lead. Ryan Obuchowski assisted on both opf the first period goals. After one period, Toledo had seven more shots on goal than the Mallards, sending 20 shots Motte’s way.

A fire was lit under the Mallards during the first intermission, as they came out of the locker room looking like a different team. Their play was more aggressive, their passing was crisper, and their skating faster. It took almost eight minutes for the Mallards to end Pat Nagle’s shutout in the second frame, Ryan McGrath finding twine while the Mallards were on the power play. Quentin Shore was at the right corner at the goal line when he passed it up to Jamie Tardif infront of the net. Tardif then back-handed it to McGrath from the right to left, McGrath lighting the lamp.

Gergo Nagy and Shore had a stupendous scoring opportunity at 12:59 after Nagy came out of the box. Nagy went on the breakaway, dropping the puck between the dots to Shore who was following close behind. Shore’s shot went high, however, and McGrath’s marker was the only one to be scored in the middle frame.

Halfway through the final frame Toledo scored again, Tyler Barnes shooting the puck into the gaping net while Motte was down on his left side.

Twenty-eight seconds after Toledo once more took a two goal lead the Mallards struck back, Chris Izmirlian netting his third goal of the season.

The Mallards and Walleye looked like much more evenly matched teams in the second and third periods compared to the opening frame, as Quad City eventually took the lead in shots on goal 44-39. Both teams earned three penalties apiece, the Mallards the only team to capitalize on the man advantage.

With this loss the Mallards have been officially eliminated from the play-offs, the first time in five seasons. The Mallards had previously made the play-offs the final two seasons in the CHL and their three previous season in the ECHL.

The Mallards and Walleye will finish up their season long series and the four game home-and-home series on Friday at 7:05 at the TaxSlayer Center. Friday’s contest is another $2 Hot Dog/$2 Beer Night presented by 97X, as well as a metro night presented by Metrolink.

MOLINE, IL – It was a tale of Jekyll and Hyde for the Quad City Mallards on Sunday when they took on the Fort Wayne Komets. The team that left the ice for the first intermission was far different than the one that returned for the start of the second period. Three unanswered goals in the third period spelled doom for the Mallards in what would be a 4-3 loss for the Illinois-based team.

The Mallards took an early two goal lead just under three and half minutes into the first period, Gergo Nagy being credited with the first goal. The puck bounced off of Ryan Lowney’s shin pad, bouncing uncontrollably towards the net. Neither Lowney nor Jason Binkley was able to corral the puck before it slid past Garrett Bartus. A minute later Matt Pohlkamp added to the Mallards’ lead with help from Jake Bolton and Triston Grant. Pohlkamp shot from the right circle, deflecting the puck ever so slightly up off Bartus’ left pad to send the puck careening into the net.

Halfway through the game Grant began his night-long parade to the penalty box, earning a double minor for roughing after a face off at center ice. Grant had just returned from a five game suspension for incidents during the Mallards’ game in Indy on February 22. Bobby Shea was Grant’s combatant, each only getting a shot in before the officials separated them. Shea then scored the first goal for the Komets with just under two minutes remaining in the first period, going top shelf from the left circle. Ivan Kulbakov was diving to make the save but was unable to stop the shot.

The Mallards had looked good up until that point. They appeared to be the dominant team in the first period, out-shooting the Komets 13-7 and out-scoring them 2-1. Things quickly changed for the home team in the second period, however. While no goals were added in the sandwich stanza, the Komets out-skated and out-passed the Mallards.

Jamie Tardif scored the third goal for the Mallards ten and a half minutes into the second period, deflecting Ryan McGrath’s shot from the blue line while just past the mouth of the crease. Five minutes later it appeared that the Komets had brought themselves within one goal when Dennis Kravchenko went on a breakaway, but the goal was disallowed due to goaltender interference. Komets head coach Gary Graham was not happy with the call, earning himself a two minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Komets, and Kravchenko, really would end up being within a goal five minutes into the final frame, however.

Kravchenko buried the puck behind Kulbakov with a one-timer that traveled too fast from left to right for Kulbakov to track. Two minutes later Gabriel Desjardins made his way onto the scoresheet with the tying goal, the perfect set up between him and Shea giving the goal. Shea was at the left corner when he passed it up to Desjardins at just past the blue paint smack dab in the center. The game-winning goal trickled five-hole on Kulbakov after a break away by Garret Thompson, who had slid face-first into an upright late in the second period after Pohlkamp tripped him.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Grant earned his final penalty of the night by knocking out Justin MacDonald. Grant continued attempting to punch MacDonald after the two were already on the ice with the officials ontop of them in hopes of breaking it up. MacDonald was taken to the locker room after the encounter, Grant being removed from the game with a match penalty for fighting.

The Mallards will travel to Wichita for a Wednesday game this week before heading to Toledo for a pair of weekend games against the Walleye. Puck drop is set for 6 CST on Wednesday and 6:15 CST on Friday and Saturday. The Mallards will return home for a Wednesday game of their own on March 14, when they will take on the Walleye.