One to two inches of snow fell Friday evening and the Palmer Dragons slipped in the standings with a tie Friday, followed by a loss Saturday when the Northern Illinois University Huskies visited the Quad Cities Sports Center. The good news is Robert Morris College comes to town this weekend and the Dragons can gain ground as quickly as the snow melted this past weekend.
     “We took the body, had some spark in the first and third periods, made some smart plays and fell asleep in the second. Some calls didn’t go our way, and fortunately we managed to stay out of the box in the third,” said team Vice President Jeff Jones.
          The Dragons froze their opponents with a quick 3-0 lead Friday, then spent most of the evening in the penalty box. The Dragons were whistled for 9 minor penalties to the Huskies 3 (plus a bench minor for too many men on the ice).  A couple of big hits by Northern Illinois on Palmer defenseman Jeremy Reynolds ignited the Huskies, and the Dragons hibernated and found themselves in the penalty box. The Huskies went on to score 3 power play goals and another even strength goal. The Husky Idiatrod was on until Rian Fitzpatrick tripped it when he found the back of the net midway through the third period and tied the game 4-4. Sontino Bedogne and Mike Ferry set up Fitzpatrick who buried the shot from in close.
   Palmer forward RJ Gelinas gave Palmer a1-0 lead when he skated across the front of the net and redirected a nice pass out of the left corner by Rich Cicala. Justin Berlin then scored twice, lifting one high glove side from in front and chipped another from about the same spot with one hand while holding off a defender with the other. Jeff Jones, Gus Mallis and Aaron Todd assisted on the plays.
    “Aaron and Jonesy were feeding me all night. It was the hard work by those guys. I switched sticks before the game from graphite back to wood and it paid off.,” said Berlin.
    Palmer netminder Mike Hoehle made 2 great saves to protect the 4-4 tie when he stopped a breakaway with 40 seconds left. A Northern Illinois skater skated in alone from center ice and Hoele made a right pad save.
     “We had a brief defensive breakdown. He came in on me. I fake poke checked when I saw the puck. He then went to his backhand and I stuffed it with my right pad,” said Hoehle.                                    
  “We squandered 3 points to a weaker team. Next week is a big week in the standings. We need the support of the fans for the edge in a very important weekend,” added team President Gus Mallis.