Mayor Gillis Drops Puck in Dayton Gems 9-1 Victory

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Mayor Dee Gillis (pictured) dropped the ceremonial puck on Sunday afternoon during Tipp City Community Night at the Dayton Gems. Several members of the team and staff jokingly requested Mayor Gillis to drop the puck during every game next season as in this foray, the Dayton Gems scored more points (9-1) than any game of the season this year. Our own team photographer Andrea Nay was at the game to capture the action on the ice. Check out her photos here.

Official Press Release – Courtesy of the Dayton Gems

Dayton, OH – The Dayton Gems outmatched and overpowered the Berry Conference’s Laredo Bucks with a convincing 9-1 victory on Sunday afternoon inside the historic Hara Arena. Scoring for the Gems were Damian Surma, Kyle Bochek, Matt Larke and two goal performances by Nic Polaski, Brandon Naurato and Nick Fanto.

Boxscore available here.

Nic Polaski was all over the ice for the Dayton Gems, as he tallied two goals and two assists in Dayton’s 9-1 win over the Laredo Bucks. Polaski’s tallies came at 10:51 into the first period to make the score 2-0 Dayton and 13:21 into the first to make the score 3-0 Dayton.

The Gems were led by goalie Larry Sterling, who finished with 33 saves while allowing one goal. The solid play of Sterling will be reflected in his goals against average, which pre-game was 2.68.

Dayton avoided man-down situations well, tallying one major for five minutes in penalty time. The Gems ended up below its season average of 14.0 penalty minutes per game. Dayton bested its season scoring average. This season, the Gems average 2.8 goals per contest. The 39 shots that Dayton put on net surpassed the Gems’ average of 26.5 shots per game this season.

Dayton also got points from Damian Surma, who also registered one goal and one assist, Nick Fanto, who also had two goals and one assist, Kyle Bochek, who also tallied one goal and two assists, Brandon Naurato, who also had two goals and two assists, and Matthew Larke, who also registered one goal and one assist. In addition, Dayton received assists from Jonathan Ornelas, who had two, Tim Hartung, who had three, and Brett Lutes, John Kennedy, and Andy Zulyniak, who contributed one a piece.

Laredo’s offense put 34 shots on goal during the game, while the Gems were led by goalie Larry Sterling, who finished with 33 saves while allowing one goal.

Goaltender Ryan Rondeau took the loss for the Bucks and made 14 saves before being replaced by Torrie Jung who made 16 saves. Laredo totaled seven minutes in penalty time with one minor and one major and had no power play opportunities. Dayton finished 0 for 1 with the man advantage.

With the win, the Gems improve their record to 22-27-13 and extend their winning streak to two games.

The Gems return to action on Cassano’s Italian Ice on Tuesday when they host the Quad City Mallards for a final time inside Hara Arena at 6:30pm. Tickets are still available by calling the Gems ticket office at 275-7777 or by visiting the “all new” www.DaytonGems.com.

The Kettering Medical Center is the official presenting sponsor of the Dayton Gems.