After starting the season with a 2-20-1 record, the Icecats have caught fire as of late, winning four games in a row and seven of their last 11 games.

Their slow start could be blamed on injuries, since at one point they had seven players out. But now the Cats use that difficult time as a learning experience.

“The injuries have been brutal this year, if I can recall correctly we had 7 players out at one time. I was one of them, and being on the bench knowing I couldn’t play was killing me.”Alternate Captain Steven Sakas (senior) commented,  “We lost a lot of team chemistry during that stretch. I do believe that a positive came out of it though. We had many players coming back at the same time, and after our injury leaves, we were all ready to get back out there and put in our best effort. I believe that this is one major factor in our recent success.”

Since the Cats have been able to get their full team back and healthy, they seemed to find their stride when they dominated Niles with a 6-1 victory. Captain and league all-star Justin Agemura (junior) netted a hat trick along with goals scored by Brandon Peter (senior), David Mattson (junior) and Jack Glenn (junior).

Along with getting players back from injury, Head Coach Sean Brown has mixed up some of the lines and defensive pairings to give the team a spark. For instance, he moved Peter from defense to forward, then mixed up some of the other groups to get a good fit.

Agemura liked how Brown was helping the team turn their season around:“We have made a few line changes as well as being more disciplined towards wrongdoings such as penalties,” Agemura said.

Similar to the Blackhawks’ line of Panarin-Anisimov-Kane, the Icecats have been led by their Justin Vieth-Agemura-Mattson line. The trio on the first line are the top three leading scorers on the team. All three players have at least 32 points, including the team’s leader Vieth (junior), who has 38 points and 18 goals. The team’s fourth-leading scorer is Mitch Cox (junior), who has 18 points.

“I think as a line we are able to connect very well. We are not selfish and pass as much as possible to get the D moving and to create better scoring chances,” Agemura said.

As a group, they know how important they are to the team since the do most of the scoring. On top of their superb offensive ability, they play well on both ends. It all started with Agemura, who centers the line and is the team’s top face-off guy.

Sakas also noticed the contributions by the first line: “I believe that our first line is special because as a defenseman, I can say with 100 percent certainty that I know they will always be in the right position. They also pass the puck better than any line I’ve seen this season. They aren’t in it for themselves, they are in it as a team. This is what has made them so unreal.”

The Icecats look to continue their hot streak as of late when they play games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend.