Indy Faces Cincinnati in Home Opener

LAST TIME OUT: The two teams faced off against one another in a preseason home-and-home matchup in early October. Indy took the first game with a dominant third period, scoring three out of the game's four goals. Forwards Karl El-Mir and Spencer Watson tallied what would be the first goals of the preseason before netting several goals of their own on to start the regular season. Cincinnati's success story was similar to Indy's Friday, scoring three goals in the final stanza to take a 4-1 win in the second preseason matchup.

THE MATCHUP: The Indy Fuel (2-2-0-0) makes their first appearance at home taking on Cincinnati (1-0-1-0) who is coming off of an overtime loss to the Kalamazoo Wings. Before falling to Kalamazoo, the Cyclones opened the season with a 4-2 win over the Wheeling Nailers. Indy began their season with two statement wins over Wichita and Kansas City, winning by a total of 11-6 but followed it up with two losses to Wheeling, with both game-winning goals coming in the final minute of the game.

HOT HANDS: Indy's Spencer Watson currently leads the team in points (7) and is tied for fourth in the league in goals and points. The high-scoring forward opened the season, scoring two goals and one assist in two dominant wins over the Wichita Thunder and Kansas City Mavericks. Watson followed up the offensive weekend scoring two goals and two assists in two games against the Wheeling Nailers this past weekend.

GOALTENDING MATCHUP: Both Chase Marchand and Charles Williams have split the season so far, each goaltender playing one game per weekend. Williams opened last weekend against Wheeling after earning his first win of the season against Wichita on October 11. Making 23 saves on 27 shots, Williams took his first loss of the season against the Nailers on Friday night. Marchand also took his first loss of the season on Saturday, stopping 27 of 31 Wheeling shots. Cincinnati has played two games so far this season, starting Michael Houser in both games. The eighth-year pro has appeared in both games for Cincinnati, helping the team to three out of a possible four points, dropping one point in an overtime loss against the Kalamazoo Wings on October 19. Houser has stopped 54 out of 60 shots he's faced in two games earning a .900 save percentage.

LOOKING AHEAD: After this weekend's back-to-back homestand against Cincinnati, the Fuel goes back on the road on November 2 for their first game of the season against the Fort Wayne Komets. In keeping with the Central Division matchups, Indy returns home to face the Toledo Walleye on November 8 and the Cincinnati Cyclones on November 9, then finishes off the three-game homestand against Kansas City on November 13.