The
Quad City Ice Eagles maintained their hold on first place in the CIHL with a
pair of wins over the Champaign Chiefs in games played Saturday afternoon at
the QCSC. The Eagles won the non-league
game 3-1, and finished the sweep with a 5-3 win in the league contest. Game summaries follow.
In
the first game, the Eagles extended their mastery over the Champaign team
behind the excellent goaltending of Brandon Kruse, who held the Chiefs to one
goal. The teams played through a
hard-hitting scoreless first period, but the Eagles appeared to take the lead
early in the second when Chad Dotterer’s wrist shot clearly beat the Champaign
netminder, but the puck rebounded out of the net quickly, and neither official
saw what most of the fans did.
Champaign took advantage of that break when they took a 1-0 lead on a
goal by Marxmiller. With just 2:28 left
in the second, Josh Moon buried the first Eagle goal, assisted by Busch and
Jacobsen, and less than a minute later, Ryne Takacs added another, assisted by
Welsh and Muenstermann, giving the Eagles a 2-1 lead after two periods.
Ryne
Takacs gave the Eagles some breathing room when his goal midway through the
third extended the lead to 3-1, which turned out to be the final score. The Eagles outshot the Chiefs 19-15.
Ninety
minutes later, the two teams returned to the ice for the league contest, with
Brandon Morgan in the net for the Ice Eagles.
Right Wing John Carr opened the scoring for QC at 7:06 of the first,
assisted by Moon and Balsar, and Carr added his second of the game in the first
minute of the second period, this one assisted by Jason Corcoran. A minute later, Champaign cut the lead in
half, but Justin Welsh countered that with one of his own with just 15 seconds
left in the period, assisted by Takacs to rebuild the Eagle lead to two goals
entering the third. Champaign’s Stewart
scored to make the score 3-2, but Robbie Jacobsen answered with a short-handed
goal, a 40-foot slap shot assisted by Carr to make the score 4-2. Busch made it 5-3 with an assist to
Dotterer, and a late Champaign goal made the final score 5-3.
Champaign
outshot the Eagles 34-22, as Morgan fine work in the net proved to be the
difference. The win boosted the Eagles’
CIHL record to 4-1, and the overall record to 16-4-1, with games scheduled for
Sunday in Iowa City against Des Moines.
