It all ended with Indiana Ice captain Nick Bailen going around the locker room giving a hug to each of his teammates after the defending Clark Cup champions were eliminated three games to one in the East Division Finals by the Green Bay Gamblers.

“Somebody always is going to win and somebody has to lose,” commented Bailen who ended his career with the Ice. “It was hard to end the series this way and very hard to accept.”

Ultimately the Gamblers showed why they built the best record in the United States Hockey with a 45-10-5 slate which included a 15-game winning streak. They used their superior fire power closing out Indiana with a 4-2 victory Saturday at Pepsi Coliseum.

After the Ice took game one of the best-of-five series with a 2-1 victory in Green Bay, the Gamblers flexed their muscles to win the next three contests to advance to the Clark
Cup finals.

Indiana, the defending Clark Cup victors, kept it close in all games but the second game--a 9-4 win in game two on Gambler ice. The Ice dropped a heartbreaker Friday 4-2 after rallying to tie the score late in the third period only to be shocked by giving up a short handed goal with less than two minutes to play.

The difference Saturday was a pair of second period power play goals which gave the visitors a 3-2 lead heading to the third period. Indy pulled out all the stops in the game’s final three minutes including pulling their goaltender Casey DeSmith in the final moments of the game.

Green Bay scored an empty net goal with 1:15 remaining to conclude the scoring and the Indiana season.

“You like the challenge to have the team count on you,” stated DeSmith, who came on to lead Indy in goal to a 3-2 series victory over the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders in the first round. “We were able to pull through in the RoughRider series and I wish we could have done the same against Green Bay.”

“I am going to train very hard this summer and expect to be back here next year,” added DeSmith.

The hosts surrendered a 2-1 first period lead when the Gamblers converted with the man advantage twice in the second period. Anders Lee tied the score 2:39 into the middle frame and Reed Seckel gave the visitors the lead at 3-2 heading to the final 20 minutes after he scored with the man advantage with 2:35 remaining in the second stanza.

The Ice needed a wake up call at the opening faceoff. Green Bay thoroughly dominated from the start. The wake up call came after over 12 minutes had been played in the first period. The start of the game was primarily played in the Ice defensive zone. The visitors held an 8-1 shots on goal advantage and held a 1-0 lead after Christopher Crane scored 6:12 after the opening puck drop.

Indiana awoke from the slow start when Kevin Goumas took a puck from a scrum in their defensive zone and carried the puck along the boards into the Gambler zone. After the visitors collapsed on Goumas, the winger backhanded a pass into the slot to Antti Roppo who was charging from the blue line. Roppo finished the play at 12:28 on the Ice’ second shot of the period with Alexander Kuquali also credited with an assist.

Max Cook became Indy’s franchise leader in playoff goals scored (9) when he collaborated with Bryon Paulazzo and Nick Mattson on the host’s first power play of the game. Cook put home the rebound of Paulazzo’s shot off the post at 18:32 of the opening frame. Mattson led the rush from the defensive zone setting up Paulazzo’s shot.

“It was a tough series but our guys gave a great effort but that is all I could ask for,” stated Indiana head coach Jeff Blashill who ended his two years as coach with a Clark Cup championship. “Our guys just did not execute as well as they did at times.”

Blashill moves on to the NCAA division one coaching position at Western Michigan.

“I have great memories of some great people,” continued Blashill. “I loved every minute of it.”