TEAM OPENS BANKERS LIFE FIELDHOUSE FRIDAY, NOV. 9 AGAINST GREEN BAY

THIS WEEK’S SCHEDULE                                                SEASON RECORD 3-9-1

Wednesday, Oct. 31                             at Youngstown                         7:15 pm

GAMES WILL BE AIRED ON USHL.FASTHOCKEY.COM.

PRACTICE SCHEDULE: The Ice is scheduled to practice Monday from 3:10-4:20 pm and Tuesday from 2:55-4:55 pm.  Practice will also be held Thursday from 2:55-3:55 pm and Friday from 2:55-4:55 pm.  All four practices will be at Pan Am Plaza.

WORKHORSES: The Indiana Ice finished off a brutal three-week stretch as the team went 0-3-0 to finish their ninth game in 21 days.  Austin Ortega logged three assists and Dalton Izyk recorded 44 saves as the Ice fell to Team USA U18 6-4 on Tuesday in Ann Arbor.  Rinat Valiev scored the lone goal in Friday’s 5-1 defeat at Cedar Rapids, while Brian Morgan closed out the long week with a pair of goals on Saturday as the Ice were toppled by the Lincoln Stars 4-3 from Pan Am Plaza.

MARKSMEN: The Ice boasts two of the league’s top eight goal scorers in the forward tandem of Austin Ortega and Brian Morgan.  The duo is tied for third with seven lamplighters on the season and are 1-2 on the Ice in overall scoring with 12 (Ortega) and ten points (Morgan).  On a side note, Morgan has the game-winner in all three Ice wins this season and is tied for second in the USHL in that category.

BREAD AND BUTTER: Indy continues their strong effort on special teams as the Ice is ranked second in the league with a 21.6% power play conversion and is tied for fourth on the penalty kill on home ice (90.0%).  As a special teams unit, Indiana has been only awarded 37 power play opportunities, compared to 64 opportunities for the opposition.

TEAM MUTTERINGS: Zach Aman is riding a three-game point streak that includes four assists…Mikhail Plotnikov has goals in two of his last three games…Drew Smolcynski has three points (2G, A) in his last three games…Dalton Izyk has 111 saves in his last three starts in net…30 of Indy’s 38 goals this season have been scored in the first and third period…11 of the Ice’s 13 games have been decided by two goals or less.

BIG COLLEGE THREE:  A former forward and two goaltenders highlight the Indiana Ice alumni report this week.  Forward Nic Dowd (09-10) has been sizzling out of the gate for St. Cloud as the junior forward is tied for second in the nation in scoring with ten points (4G, 6A) in his first six games.  Between the pipes, sophomore Casey DeSmith (09-11) and freshman Jon Gillies (10-12) have started every game for New Hampshire and Providence respectively.  DeSmith went 1-0-1 with a .945 SV% in a three-point weekend for UNH against Northeastern, while Gillies was 2-0-0 with a .964 SV% in a weekend sweep for Providence against Maine.