By the Numbers Tonight's Storylines Friday February 28
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Media Contact: Scott Montesano Office: (515) 278-2827 x 7027 Cell: (315) 292-0064 [email protected] Friday February 28, 2014 Des Moines Buccaneers (17-22-6, 40 PTS) vs. Muskegon Lumberjacks (20-22-4, 44 PTS) Muskegon (MI) @ 6:15pm (central) By the Numbers Tonight’s Storylines Place in Western Conference: 5 Series History with the Muskegon Lumberjacks The Lumberjacks won for the first Points Back of Playoffs 20 time ever in the series on January 3rd in Des Moines, capitalizing on a late major penalty Current Streak: Point 2 assessed against the Buccaneers and scoring a 5-2 victory. With eight minutes Longest Win Streak: 3 remaining, and the score tied 2-2, Muskegon was given a five-minute major power play Longest Point Streak: 5 (4-0-1) and put three shots in the net to earn the win. Longest Losing Streak: 4 Des Moines had rallied from being down 2-0 after the first period to tie the game in the Longest Winless Streak: 4 (0-4-0) second on goals by Kevin Antipov and Marcel Godbout. Home Streak: 0-1-2 The Buccaneers are now 8-1 all-time against the Muskegon Lumberjacks, though four Road Streak 2-0-1 Most Points in First 0 of the games have been decided after regulation. Most Behind Playoffs: 22 Winning with Comfort Under Jon Rogger, the Buccaneers have sweated out most of High Water Mark: 0-0 their victories. Since the start of 2012-2013, the Buccaneers have won 42 games with all Low Water Mark: 16-22-6 (-12) but 16 being decided by two goals or less. Home: 9-12-3 Fewer Power Plays The Buccaneers have had just 185 power plays, the fewest in the Away: 8-10-3 entire USHL. That’s an average of 4.1 per game. Scoring First Goal: 12-2-2 In the eight games played in February, Des Moines has averaged just 2.4 advantages Opponent Scores First Goal: 5-20-4 per game. Take 0-25 shots: 4-10-2 Working Overtime In February, five of the eight games have gone past regulation Take 26-30 shots: 3-5-1 including two straight games. Take 31-35 shots: 6-4-0 Take 36+ shots: 4-3-3 For the season, the 11 games that gone to overtime ranks tied for the second most in Outshooting Opponent: 6-4-3 the USHL with three other teams. Shots Tied: 0-0-0 Affiliate in Line-Up This weekend the Buccaneers will have a pair of affiliate players Outshot by Opponent: 11-18-3 skating in the games as they get a taste of USHL play. They include forward Matt Goree Leading After One: 7-1-1 of the Michigan Nationals midget team and forward Nikita Pavlychev from the Wilkes- Tied After One: 6-7-4 Barre/Scranton AAA midget program. Trailing After One 4-14-1 Goree will make his debut while Pavlychev played two games without a point on Leading After Two: 12-0-2 December 13th and 14th at home vs. Green Bay. Tied After Two 5-3-3 The 50 Game Split Since 2009-2010, through 50 games the Buccaneers have averaged Trailing After Two: 0-19-1 a record of 20-26-4 (44 points) Overtime: 0-0-1 Shootouts: 5-0-5 Firing Shots on Net The Des Moines Buccaneers are 10-7-3 when they register a One-Goal Games: 10-6-6 minimum of 31 shots on goal. Two-Goal Games 0-6-0 The Buccaneers are averaging 29 shots per game, 12th in the USHL. Wearing White: 11-10-3 Collecting Points The Buccaneers enter the weekend having earned points in six of their Wearing Dark: 4-12-3 last eight games (3-2-3). Wearing Special: 2-0-0 Ruck Standing Out Goaltender Ryan Ruck has been fantastic in the second half of the Games After Win: 7-7-2 season with a GAA of 2.43 and save percentage of .930 since the start of January. Games After Loss: 10-14-4 Reaching .500% In order for the Buccaneers to finish with a record that is East Conference: 5-14-2 statistically .500% or better, they must win at least 10 of their final 15 games. West Conference: 12-8-4 That would end the season with a 27-27-6 record. Team Above .500% 7-16-1 Team Below .500% 7-5-4 Staying out of the Box The Buccaneers have been short-handed 186 times, the fifth First Place Team: 3-3-0 fewest amount in the USHL. Second Place Team: 0-4-0 However, for fans looking to place blame on the officials, Des Moines has been on the Last Place Team: 5-2-1 power play just 178 times which is the second fewest in the USHL. PP three times or less: 9-11-3 Starting Hot The Buccaneers are 8-4-3 in games in which they score a first period goal. PP four times or more 8-11-3 Topping Last Season Three-year veteran Tanner Karty has registered a career-high in SH three times or less: 8-4-2 points with 28 (12g, 16a) this season. SH four times or more: 9-18-4 Second-year vet Ryan Galt has 26pts (12g, 14a) which matches his number from last Game has at least two fights: 4-5-0 season. Brick Walls Buccaneer goaltenders Billy Christopoulous and Ryan Ruck have combined for 10 games with at least 40 saves. The Buccaneers are 5-3-2 in those games. Christopoulos has seven such games and Ruck comes in with three Hottest Teams Since Holidays With an ongoing USHL record 22 game point streak, it’s no surprise the Waterloo Blackhawks have been the hottest team over the last month with a perfect 13-0 record. Other USHL teams who have had a strong 2014 include Indiana (.786%), Dubuque (.692%) and both Cedar Rapids and Chicago (.667%). Fargo has been the worst with a 1-12-2 (.143%) record. Ruck Under Three Goaltender Ryan Ruck has allowed three goals or less in 13 of his 18 starts in net. Des Moines is 7-5-1 in those games. Rare Goalie Point Goaltender Ryan Ruck earned an assist in the third period of the Buccaneers’ 3-2 win at Lincoln on Jan. 25th, making him the first Buccaneers’ netminder to register a point since Charles Williams on March 12, 2010. Chance for a Run? After running up against some of the hottest teams in the USHL over the last several weeks, the Bucs schedule cools off some. While nothing is a guaranteed victory, the combined winning percentage since the holiday break of the Bucs next three opponents is .336% Success Against the West With 16 of their final 21 games against fellow Western Con- ference teams, the Buccaneers can go in with the confidence gaining knowledge that they had had some decent success in conference play. The Buccaneers are 9-8-3 against Western Conference teams, including a 6-3-2 record in their last 11 games. Des Moines has three with Sioux City and Waterloo, two with Fargo, Lincoln, Omaha & Sioux Falls and one against Tri-City. January Splits Marcel Godbout, Tanner Karty and Corey Schueneman led the Bucs with seven points each. Goaltender Ryan Ruck had a .928 save percentage. Norlov Makes Impact When a team takes a player in the third round of the Phase II draft they dream of that player having an impact on many games, and Swedish born forward Oskar Norlov has done just that. Norlov has played in the last seven games since joining the Bucs in early January. He has 5pts (3g, 2). Nearing 30 Third year Buccaneer Tanner Karty has scored 29 goals in his 116 game career and is just one away from 30. Get Out Early Scoring that first goal has proven to be the key in most Buccaneers’ games this season as the team is 9-2-1 (.773%) when scoring first as opposed to 5-16-2 (.273%). The Buccaneers have won their last five games when scoring first. Des Moines has been limited to only 17 first period goals, but have 71 the rest of the game. Schueneman Standing Out Veteran defenseman Cory Schueneman has 7pts (1g, 6a) and is a +7 rating in the month of January. Godbout Gaining Momentum Rookie forward Marcel Godbout is has 6pts (2g, 4a) and is a +4 rating in the month of January. Happy Holiday Season The Buccaneers went 3-2-1 (.583%) in December, their first winning month of the season. Des Moines averaged 3.2 goals per game, a positive sign after struggling to score in November. Ryan Galt 6pts (2g, 4a) led the team followed by Marcel Godbout, Tanner Karty and Michael Marnell who each had 5 points. The team combined for a +22 rating. Working Overtime Four of the last nine Buccaneers’ games have gone all the way to a shootout. Prior to this, the Bucs had gone 14 straight games without an overtime game. Post-Holiday Improvement The Buccaneers are in a position that, with a good post-holiday run, they will finish with a good record and possibly be in the playoff hunt. Over the previous five seasons, the Buccaneers are 54-100-20 (.368) after the holidays The only post-holiday break winning record came in 2010-2011 (19-17-4) Winning Percentage into Holidays The Buccaneers .458 winning percentage heading into the holiday break is actually better than the .438% average over the previous five seasons.