Walleye News and Notes

Offensive explosion for the weekend: Over the three games the past week, Toledo bested Wheeling and Indy by a combined score of 19-4 starting Friday night with a 7-0 win over the Nailers. Defenseman Beau Schmitz scored with 9.4 seconds left in the overtime Saturday night for Toledo’s 4-3 win. Tyson Spink had a four point (2G, 2A) Sunday in the Walleye 8-1 crushing of Indy. Number 16: Saturday night’s standing room only crowd of 8,300 was the 16th sellout crowd of the season for the Toledo Walleye at the Huntington Center just two shy of the record for sellouts in a single season set in the 2015-16 season. Toledo is second in the ECHL in average attendance at 7,186 and leads the league in percent capacity at 96.7%. Hats go flying: A.J. Jenks turned the trick on Friday night scoring three goals in Toledo’s 7-0 win. It is the eighth time a Walleye player has scored a hat trick this year. Forwards Tyson Spink and Evan Rankin have done it twice with Kyle Bonis who reached it in the second game of the year along with defensemen Matt Caito and Simon Denis. Shutout king: Goaltender Jake Paterson stopped all 17 shots he faced from Wheeling on Friday night for his fifth shutout of the season, setting a new single season record for the Toledo Walleye. Teammate Jeff Lerg had four shutouts in the 2014-15 season. Paterson is also tied with Lerg for the most career shutouts in Toledo ECHL history with seven. Jake leads all ECHL goaltenders in wins (27), second in minutes played (2,262) and third in goals against average (2.41). Tyson scores to set record: Forward Tyson Spink scored at least one goal in all three games this past weekend and has at least a goal in seven straight games, setting a new Toledo Walleye record. The previous best was six straight set from January 25 through March 7, 2015, by Martin Frk. Not only does Tyson lead Toledo and all rookies in goals (31) but he is currently tied for second among all ECHL players in goal scoring. Rivals highlight three-game week: Tuesday night the Walleye travel to Cincinnati to take on the Cyclones for the fourth time this year. Toledo is 3-0-0 against Cincinnati this year outscoring the Cyclones 18-4. Saturday night the Walleye welcome the Kalamazoo Wings to the Huntington Center with Toledo owning a 4-2-1 mark against the Wings. To finish the week, the Brampton Beast roll into Toledo Sunday. The Beast have taken the last two meetings (3-1 and 5-4 in overtime). Pink in the Rink: The Walleye host their annual Pink in the Rink to raise awareness about breast cancer on both Saturday and Sunday. The Walleye will wear special Pink Jerseys on both Saturday and Sunday with them being auctioned off after Saturday’s game with proceeds benefiting Komen of Northwest Ohio and the Walleye Wishing Well. Fans can skate with the Walleye players following Sunday’s game.