Game Recaps 1/18/25

WATERTOWN WOLVES at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

4-Goal 3rd Seals it for Binghamton

by Brooks Hill



Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears stormed back in a big way to defeat the Watertown Wolves 4-2 on Saturday night. Josh Fletcher scored the game-winning goal late in the third period and CJ Stubbs extended his goal streak to six-straight games. 

On First Responders Night at the arena, neither was able to convert in the opening period. Watertown had the only power play in the frame but failed to convert. Binghamton had 20 shots on goal to start the contest, but the teams went into the room still searching for the first goal. 

It wasn’t until Trevor Neumann started the scoring at 7:24 that the game had a goal. For the second-straight night, Watertown got the opening tally. Anton Borodkin made 34 saves in the first two periods, as the Wolves had the advantage 1-0 going into the third. 

Watertown was back on the power play in the third, but Binghamton was the team to light the lamp. Kyle Stephan blocked a shot and passed it up to a breaking CJ Stubbs who buried his chance, tying the game at 1-1. Stubbs goal also extended his streak to goals in six-straight. Time was rapidly approaching 0:00, then CJ Stubbs was able to score again, giving the Black Bears a lead for the first time with 4:06 left. The Wolves, however, did not go away. A 2-on-1 developed, and Carter Thorton found the tying goal with 2:43 remaining. 

The scoring didn’t stop there… 

It appeared the game was destined for overtime, but the third line had different plans. Josh Fletcher crashed the net off a Cam Clark rebound, and scored his first goal of the season, giving Binghamton another lead. The Wolves got the puck into the offensive zone, but Clark was able to steal it and cashed-in the breakaway goal to seal the deal. Binghamton wins 4-2, and scores all four goals in the third period. 



MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at PORT HURON PROWLERS

Fetterly Drives Prowlers to Fifth-Straight Win

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers won their fifth-straight game as they defeated the Mississippi Sea Wolves 4-2 at McMorran Place. With the win and Watertown’s loss tonight, Port Huron moves into second in the Empire Division.

“The guys are coming together,” said Prowlers captain Austin Fetterly. “The chemistry with all the lines has been clicking and it shows in the last few games. The room is feeling pretty light right now and we’re a tight knit group which is what we need to drive us forward.”

For the third time in four meetings this season, Mississippi scored within the first 61 seconds. Ross Bartlett found Philip Wong this time and it was a quick 1-0 lead for the visitors.

The Prowlers responded quickly as Jamie Bucell found a spot to tuck the puck short-side on Samuel Best. That tied score carried late into the second.

With under three minutes left in the middle frame, Tucker Scantlebury got a two-on-one chance and found Fetterly on the back side who tapped home his 10th of the season.

Port Huron clung to that lead into the final minutes of the game. The Sea Wolves appeared to tie the game with a power play goal from Tanner Coleman, but someone on the Mississippi bench threw a stick onto the ice out of frustration during the play so it was taken off the board. 

The Sea Wolves incurred a couple of penalties after the review and the Prowlers ended up on a power play. Matt Graham scored a five-on-three goal shortly after to put the game out of reach. He then hit the empty net to reach 499 career points.

Sam Turner scored with 10 seconds left for Mississippi.

The line of Fetterly, Bucell and Scantlebury each recorded two points with the Port Huron captain earning a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist and fight). Yoshihiro Kuroiwa got his second win in as many starts with a 25-save effort.

“They make the game easy,” Fetterly said of his linemates. “They’re not just smart, they’re the hardest workers on the ice… Their passion drives their game and it’s something I really appreciate playing with them.”

Disallowed Goals Cost Sea Wolves, 4-2

by Jon Kliment

Port Huron, MI - A day after arriving dropping the season series to the Prowlers the Sea Wolves look to finally put up a win against their cross division foe. Port Huron gave up a goal early last night but found another gear in the final 25 minutes of the game scoring 5 unanswered. 

In similar fashion to Friday night the Sea Wolves scored first as Ross Bartlett chased down the puck staying out to continue chasing, Bartlett sent a pass to the slot and found Philip Wong who snapped the puck behind Yoshihiro Kuroiwa for a 1-0 lead at 1:01 of the first. 3:41 later Jamie Bucell finished off an overwhelming attack against Mississippi finding a way to put the puck behind Sam Best to tie the game at a goal a piece.

For the second night in a row Port Huron got the best of the second period as Austin Fetterly was able to beat Best on a one timer from Tucker Scantlebury to give the Prowlers a lead heading into the third period of play, 2-1.

In the third period after some confusion and the Sea Wolves scoring a goal that was blown dead and saw Mississippi put down 5 on 3 for Unsportsmanlike Conduct Matt Graham netted a power play goal at 17:23 to give Port Huron a 3-1 lead before the Sea Wolves had a power play of their own and pulled Best for an extra attacker and Graham shot from 150 feet away to make it 4-1.

Best stopped 32 of 35 in the loss.

The Sea Wolves return to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum next week for a three game set against the Defending Commissioner's Cup Champions, the Binghamton Black Bears. Join us and get your tickets on Ticketmaster or from the Coliseum Box Office!

MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at DANBURY HAT TRICKS

 McCollum’s Second Career Shutout Powers Hat Tricks to Weekend Sweep

by Wyatt Kopelman

Danbury, CT - Conor McCollum registered his second career shutout, Dylan Hullaby scored the game-winning goal in the second period, and the Hat Tricks defeated the Motor City Rockers, 1-0, at the Danbury Ice Arena on Saturday.

McCollum stopped 44 shots and Hullaby logged his first Hat Tricks goal in his second game to lift the Hat Tricks to their third weekend sweep of the season and first shutout since their 4-0 home victory against Port Huron on Dec. 23, 2023. Danbury took the season series over the Rockers, 4-3.

Hullaby and Noah Robinson connected on an odd-man rush to lift Danbury ahead at 6:53 of the second. Hullaby notched his second point with the club since arriving via trade from Monroe on Monday.

A penalty shot was awarded to Motor City’s Cody Oakes, who was replaced by Eli Rivers due to injury 5:08 into the second. Rivers failed to convert through the five-hole, however, as McCollum stymied Danbury’s first opponent penalty shot since Jan. 28, 2022, when Carolina’s Dan Martin attempted.

Conversely to their 6-1 home win on Friday, the Hat Tricks started slowly without many sustained trips in the offensive zone through the game’s first 26 minutes. But Hullaby’s snipe in the middle frame was the only one needed to nudge Danbury to within four points of Watertown for third place in the Empire Division.

McCollum won in consecutive starts for the third time this season and earned first-star recognition.

Up next, the Hat Tricks take on Watertown on the road on Friday for the start of a home-and-home with the Wolves. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS at MONROE MOCCASINS

ROCK LOBSTERS EDGE OUT MOCCASINS 6-4 IN HIGH-SCORING GAME

by Joseph Furtado

Monroe, LA - Despite a valiant effort from Monroe’s top line, the Athens Rock Lobsters secured a hard-fought 6-4 victory Saturday night at the Civic Center. Two power play goals helped propel Athens past Monroe in a tight contest.

The Moccasins came out strong, overcoming an early shorthanded goal from Malik Johnson to take a 2-1 lead in the first period behind goals from Kyle Heitzner and Corey Cunningham. However, Athens stormed back in the second, with Daniil Glukharev, Brandon Picard, and Michael Greco each finding the back of the net to give the Rock Lobsters a 4-2 lead. Declan Conway’s power-play tally late in the frame cut the deficit to one heading into the third.

Monroe pressed hard in the final period, as Heitzner struck again at 13:43, finishing off a feed from Scott Coash to make it 5-4. However, Glukharev sealed the game for Athens less than a minute later, scoring his second of the night on the power play to cement the 6-4 final.

Monroe outshot Athens 34-31, but the Rock Lobsters’ special-teams performance made the difference. Athens went 2/8 on the power play, while Monroe went 1/9.

The Moccasins Heitzner netted two goals and an assist, while Coash chipped in three assists. Despite the effort, Athens came away with the win improving their season record to 10-3-2-4-4. With the loss, Monroe falls to 12-11-5-0-2 and will look to regroup as they welcome the Blue Ridge Bobcats to town for the first time next week.

Crustaceans Edge Out Moccasins in 10-Goal Thriller

by Matteen Zibanejadrad

Monroe, LA - The Rock Lobsters remain undefeated at Monroe Civic Center, winning their sixth game of the campaign in Monroe with a 6-4 scoreline on Saturday night.

The Moccasins started off well offensively, yet found themselves down 1-0 as Malik Johnson buried a shorthanded breakaway.

The hosts eventually found a lead however, scoring back-to-back goals in four minutes through Kyle Heitzner and Corey Cunningham to secure an advantage at the 17:33 mark of the first period.

The Monroe lead didn’t last long into the second period, with Daniil Glukharyov scoring 19 seconds with a left-circle wrister.

The Russian started a three-goal run for Athens, as his notch was followed up by quick releases from Brandon Picard and Michael Greco to put the Rock Lobsters up 4-2.

Both teams would then go blow for blow, starting with Declan Conway on a second-period power play to scratch back to within one.

Filip Virgili became the fourth member of the Rock Lobster squad to reach the 10-goal mark this season, poking one through Sean Kuhn.

After Heitzner scored his second of the game with less than seven minutes to go, Glukharyov followed suit and dealt the dagger into the skin of the snakes.

The Rock Lobsters (18-3-2, 48 pts), now in the top-four playoff spots of the Continental Division have a chance to leapfrog the River Dragons with a two-game set next weekend in Columbus.

CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Birds Outbattle Bobcats 4-1 

by Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - After the Blue Ridge Bobcats dished out a dominant 4-2 defensively-minded victory the previous night in Winston-Salem, the Carolina Thunderbirds returned the favor in a 4-1 victory before a crowd of 1,771 at Hitachi Energy Arena.

Former Bobcat Dimitri Selyutin opened the scoring with his first goal with Carolina less than seven minutes in to put the Thunderbirds on the board first. The very next shift, Blue Ridge answered in the form of a power net drive from Vladislav Vlasov, whose second goal in as many nights tied the game at 1.

From there, the 'Birds battened down the hatched on the Bobcats and greatly limited their scoring chances throughout the contest. Nate Keeley's shorthanded goal late in the first served as the game winner. Ahead 2-1 after 1, Carolina withstood the few charges the Bobcats were able to mount, adding another from Keeley early in the third and an empty netter from Zach White to seal the deal.



The Bobcats are back in action next week in Monroe, LA at the Monroe Civic Center to take on the Moccasins. Both games are slated for an 8PM EST puck drop, with the Wilderness Mountain Water Company Pregame Show on BobcatsTV and 96.5 "WCGX" The Cat.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at DASHERS of DANVILLE

Dashers Crumble Late

Tie Longest Losing Streak in League History

by Devin Dobek

Danville, IL - Now into the back half of the season, the Dashers needed to find ways to win and fast. In a game where they led 4 different times, Parker Rutherford’s 53 save effort would not be enough as an untimely penalty led to the demise of the Dashers.  

Down to just 9 forwards and 4 defenseman dressed tonight, the Dashers would have their hands full against a prolific Zydeco offense. Before many could get to their seats, Zydeco goalie Brendan Colgan made a costly turnover to Yosuke Jumonji who set up Bo Zinchenko with an open net to make it 1-0 Dashers just 91 seconds in. The Dashers have had trouble protecting leads all season long, and everyone inside the David S. Palmer arena anxiously awaited to see how the next few minutes would unfold. It took just 6 minutes for Scott Shorrock to catch the Dasher D sleeping and rifle a wrister through the legs of Parker Rutherford. Tied at 1, tensions rose. Narek Aleksanyan took the games first penalty for roughing, and added an extra 2 minutes for delay of game when he and Braydon Crowe got involved with some extracurriculars. Crowe was also sent off for roughing but the Dashers went to the man advantage. On the power play, a Trey Fischer shot with purpose gave a juicy rebound to the captain Justin Brausen who snapped home his 5th of the season to put the Dashers back in front at 2-1. The horn sounded with the shots 18-11 in favor of the Zydeco but the score 2-1 Dashers.

With the lead heading into the second frame, the mission would be to protect it and add some more tallies for Steve Esau’s group. It took just over 100 seconds for the Zydeco to thwart that memo when Brodie Thornton blasted one past the glove of Rutherford on the first Zydeco power play to make it 2-2. Searching for a way to bounce back, Zac Horn fired a perfect pass off the pad of Brendan Colgan that found the awaiting stick of Lucas Rothe who fired the pill into the open net for his first as a Dasher to re-secure the 1-goal lead at 3-2. Another 12 minutes rolled by with the Zydeco turning up the heat in the shot department. The equalizer came when Narek Aleksanyan picked up a vacant puck on the doorstep of Rutherford’s cage and wrapped it home. The shots at the conclusion of period 2 were 40-23 in favor of Baton Rouge but a tie score set the stage for an exciting 3rd chapter on tap.

20 more minutes to snap the skid. Would the Dashers have it in them? The frame started on a positive note when Bo Zinchenko made a power move to the goal and muscled a snapshot past Colgan to make it 4-3 Dashers. 12 minutes to go. The turning point came when Jhuwon Davis was assessed a double-minor for high-sticking Chris Ciolek, opening up 4 minutes of power play time for one of the league’s best against the league’s worst kill. It took just 12 seconds for Kevin Szabad to find the five-hole and tie the game. Still on the powerplay, 54 more seconds ticked off before the Zydeco broke the deadlock on a Narek Aleksanyan missile to make it 5-4 with 6 minutes to go. A pair of empty-netters sealed the victory for Baton Rouge at 7-4 as the Dashers fell in heartbreaking fashion yet again. Parker Rutherford made 53 saves on 58 shots he faced in the losing effort. 

Zydeco 4 Goals in Third was the Difference

by Bryan Flores

Danville, IL -  It was a tight game for the series finale, but for the Zydeco, it proved to be a character-building game.

The Dashers Hockey Club started the scoring just 2 minutes into the game thanks to Bohdan Zinchenko. Six minutes later Scott Shorrock would net the tying goal thanks to Aaron Shahin. With the game tied Justin Brausen finds the lead for the Dashers making it 2-1 after 1 period of play. In the second Brodie Thornton on the Power Play would tie up the game at 2. Lucas Rothe would find the goal to give the Dashers the lead again. The Zydeco would answer back again as Narek Aleksanyan earned his second goal in two games, tying up the game at 3. In the third Bohdan Zinchenko would net one past Breandon Colgan to get another lead for the Dashers making it 4-3. Kevin Szabad would tie up the game again for the Zydeco making it 4-4. A minute later Aleksanyan would get his second goal of the game and third point making it 5-4. In the final two minutes with the net pulled the Zydeco would score two straight empty net goals to make the lead 7-4, and that’s where the game would end.

Winning goaltender Breandan Colgan earns his 13th win of the season after saving 31/35 for a s% of a 0.886 improving his record to 13-6-0-2. 

On the other side losing goaltender Parker Rutherford faced 58 shots in the game saving 53/58 for a s% of a .914, his record falls to 1-11-0-2. 

Next up for the Zydeco they travel down to Topeka, KS to take on the Dashers in a neutral site game next weekend. 

After earning 3 more crucial points they keep up with division leaders to stay in striking distance of the number one seed.