Ruskowski Reaches 600 Wins
Conway, Mallards Blank Tulsa 3-0
MOLINE, Ill. (December 22, 2012) – Quad City Mallards coach and general manager Terry Ruskowski reached 600 career professional coaching wins Saturday night as goaltender Neal Conway made 16 saves in his Quad City debut and the host Mallards shut out the Tulsa Oilers 3-0.
Rookie Conway- who signed with the Mallards earlier this week after playing eight games earlier this season for the Rapid City Rush- needed to make no more than six saves in any single period as the Mallards muzzled the Oiler attack while scoring once in each period themselves.
Patrick Levesque- who also had an assist- jammed in the opening goal from the side of the net at 16:20 of the first period.
Matt Boyd doubled the Mallard lead with a point blank backhander at 16:03 of the second period. Mike Hellyer assisted on each of the first two Mallard goals.
Anthony Perdicaro capped off the Mallard win by scoring from the side of the cage at the 16-minute mark of the third period.
With tonight’s milestone victory, Ruskowski lifted his record to 600-428-105 over 18 seasons and 1133 games as a pro head coach with the Columbus Chill (ECHL), Houston Aeros (IHL), Knoxville Speed (UHL), Laredo Bucks (CHL), Rio Grande Valley Killers Bees (CHL) and now the Mallards.
Ruskowski has made a habit of making coaching history in recent weeks. On November 30, Ruskowski moved into third place in Central Hockey League history in games coached when he guided the Mallards to a 2-0 win over the Mavericks in Missouri in his six hundred fifty-seventh CHL game. Tonight’s game was his six hundred sixty-sixth as a CHL coach.
Yet another milestone looms on the horizon for Ruskowski, who is now 14 wins away from becoming the fourth coach in league history to reach 400 CHL victories. Ruskowski, who is in his first season with the Mallards, has piloted his CHL clubs to a 386-214-66 record. He took the Mallards’ reins after
serving as head coach of the Bucks- who he steered to CHL titles in 2004 and 2006- for nine seasons before piloting the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees last year.