January 10, 2020. It was yet another sold out crowd at the Huntington Center in Toledo, OH for the Toledo Walleye versus the Indy Fuel. The atmosphere was “marvelous” for a Friday night. ECHL minor league hockey had all of their 26 teams in motion throughout the United States, as the Canadian teams were not home games. The Walleye and Fuel were moving all the way to a shootout round. Moving, we the fans, to our feet cheering in support.
The Fuel got the first goal in the first period, but the Walleye fought to get an even score by the end of third period regulation play. Still, an even score remained at the end of the overtime period. Therefore, a shootout determined the winner, Indy.
It was great to see some Grand Rapids, Toledo’s AHL players back in Toledo. One of the fan favorite’s, Pat Nagle was between the pipes. Nagle recently was on a family leave for the birth of his son based on social media posts. We are not sure how soon until he will return to Grand Rapids. In addition, I enjoyed seeing the defensive play of Blake Hillman.
Therefore, this was the first Shootout loss for the 2019-2020 Central Division season based on echl.com standings. The two meet again tonight, Saturday, January 11 at the Huntington Center.
