North Andover, MA – The Islanders Hockey Club were treated to an inspirational speech before Sunday’s tilt when boxing legend and World Champion Micky Ward spoke to the boys of the IHC about what it takes to be a champion.  “We just watched his movie “The Fighter” last weekend on the bus and to have him come and speak to the guys was a real thrill for everyone,” stated GM/Head Coach Sean Tremblay.  We are always finding ways to motivate and inspire our guys to achieve greatness and what better way to end our first half than to hear from such an amazing champion.  I remember watching his fights and hold them as some of the best fights I have ever seen.  His words were perfect for our guys to hear and he did a great job sending us a real inspiring message.  I can’t thank the Champ enough for taking the time to come and speak to our team.”

 Micky would speak about being able to take a punch and that is what the IHC did in the first period.  Despite outshooting the Bandits 9-4 they would find themselves down 1-0 when Mortiz Wirth would score from the blue line with a seeing eye shot off the post. 

The IHC would throw a flurry of punches of their own to start the second period when they would score three goals in less than a minute!  Jeremy Cote, Tyler Levine, and Justin Pearson would all score from the 2:02 mark to the 3:00 mark and the Isles would never look back.  Mark Cheremeta and Jeremie Lavallee would throw the knock out punch scoring before the mid-way point of the second.

 In the third Nick Parody and Hunter McCoy would keep their scoring touch alive, as they would score to open up the period.  Christian Thomas would score for the Bandits, but the Isles would close out the scoring on a Jeremy Cote rebound on the PP.  Justin Ferguson would earn his fifteenth win of the season in net. 

The IHC improve their first place record to 25-2-0. This marks the conclusion of the first half of the year and the team will take a break until resuming play at the USPHL Winter Showcase in Marlboro January 5-7, 2018.