GAME RECAPS 12/9/22

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at PORT HURON PROWLERS


PROWLERS DROP SERIES OPENER WITH COLUMBUS

by Will Wiegelman



Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers fell to the FPHL-leading Columbus River Dragons 5-3 at McMorran Place on Dec. 9. Jacob Kelly led the way with a hat trick for Columbus and was named the game’s first star.

Lane King converted a tap-in on a four-on-one rush to open the scoring early in the first period as the River Dragons took advantage of a bad bounce. Kelly doubled the advantage just past the midway point of the frame as he beat Wyatt Hoflin five-hole from in tight. Cody Wickline added one more before the first 20 minutes was up to give Columbus a 3-0 lead heading into the locker room.

The Prowlers got one back in the middle period when Austin Fetterly found Evan Foley on a two-on-one seconds after Port Huron killed off a penalty. The Prowlers’ P.K. was two-for-two on the night. Kelly responded with two more of his own before the period ended to complete the hat trick and give his team a 5-1 advantage.

Danick Rodrigue replaced Hoflin in the Port Huron net to start the third and stopped all eight shots he face. Liam Freeborn and Joe Deveny scored in the final frame but the comeback fell short.

Hoflin finished with 24 saves on 29 shots in 40 minutes of work. This is the second time he has been pulled this season in a game against Columbus. Foley and Gino Mini each finished with two points while Dalton Jay picked up an assist in his 300th FPHL game.

Kelly added and assist for a four-point night to lead all scorers. Wickline had two assists for a three-point evening. Breandan Colgan remains undefeated in regulation after a 40-save performance.

These two teams battle again Saturday, Dec. 10 at McMorran Place with puck drop scheduled for 6:05 P.M.. The Prowlers will be wearing specialty jerseys which will be auctioned off to benefit the Law Enforcement Torch Run for Special Olympics Michigan and it will also be teddy bear toss night.


WATERTOWN WOLVES at ELMIRA MAMMOTH


Wolves Win Game 1 of 3 Defeating Mammoth, 3-1

by Jacob Johnson



Elmira N.Y.- The Elmira Mammoth end their 3-game winning streak at the hands of the Watertown Wolves by a final score of 3-1, Watertown ends a losing streak of their own which stops at 4 games. 

Thomas Proudlock put the Mammoth on his back in the first period making 18 saves, Watertown dominated time of possession in Period 1 but could not find the back of the net. The first period would end scoreless between the two teams. 

The first 10 minutes of period 2 would be much more even than the first 20 minutes of action between these two clubs. 

Samuel Hrabcak would put an end to the scoreless game working his way down the far side and dragging by Proudlock, he would bury it top shelf and give the Wolves a 1-0 lead. The goal would be unassisted. 

Just about 3 minutes later in his first game of the season, Mammoth Forward Kyle Stevens tipped in a shot from the point off the stick of Mo Levac and put it into the back of the net. Stevens first of the season would be assisted by Mo Levac and Nick Gullo. 

The 2nd period would end all tied up at 1. 

A minute and forty seven seconds into period 3 Jackson Bond would wrap around the back of the net and squeeze it by the post and the pad and give Watertown a 2-1 lead. That goal was unassisted as well. 

Watertown would not look back and held the lead the rest of the game. The Mammoth would pull Proudlock and Larry Yellowknee fired a shot from his defensive end into the empty net to seal the deal. Chase Carter would receive the assist. 

That would be the final score of 3-1. Watertown jumps back up into 3rd place with the win just 1 point above Elmira. 
 
The Mammoth will look to get back on track as these two teams play both Saturday and Sunday in the Watertown Municipal Arena. Saturday, puck drop is 7:30 and Sunday is a 7:00 start time.


MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at DANBURY HAT TRICKS


Hat Tricks Back to Winning Ways on Home Ice


by Chris Lynch



Danbury, CT - After suffering their first regulation loss of the season, Danbury returned home looking for some chicken soup in the form of a win. The Hat Tricks rewarded their fans with possibly their most complete effort of the season over the Motor City Rockers. 

The opening period was relatively sedated. The first five minutes went by without an interruption. The game appeared likely to head into the first intermission scoreless until Motor City turned the puck over and Michael Marchesan promptly deposited the puck in the net for a 1-0 intermission lead. 

Brendan Sheehan erupted in the second period. He scored two goals within 2:15 of each other in the early portion of the stanza and assisted on Kyle Gonzalez’ goal late in the frame, which was Gonzalez’ first of the season. 

Michael Marchesan added a second goal early in the third period while Dustin Jesseau scored off a Brendan Sheehan feed for a 6-0 Hat Tricks lead and Sheehan’s fourth point of the evening. 

Immediately as the goal went in, Danbury was assessed two penalties. One for an un-sportsmanlike conduct penalty against Connor Lind and the other a bench minor against Head Coach Billy McCreary. In the ensuing five-on-three power play for Motor City, Josh Colten scored to break the shutout. 

Kyle Gonzalez added a second goal to his personally tally to end the Hat Tricks scoring while Dylan Johnson added one more score for Motor City to end the night 7-2 in Danbury’s favor. 

Ten different Hat Tricks recorded a point. Kody Gibbs doubles his scoring output on the season with three assists. 

Gordie Bonnel and Jonny Ruiz both recorded two assists. Jared Yau, Brendan Dowler, and Dmitry Kuznetsov all added single assists to the scoring effort. 

Brian Wilson stopped 23 of 25 shots faced in net. 

Trevor Babin stopped 27 of 34 shots in the Motor City net. 

Danbury improves to 14-1-1 and stays one point ahead of the Binghamton Black Bears for first place in the Empire Division. 

Motor City falls to 12-4-3 and drops to five points back of Columbus for second place in the Continental Division. 

The Hat Tricks and Rockers meet tomorrow to conclude their season series. Puck drops at the Danbury Arena at 7PM ET. 



BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS at DELAWARE THUNDER 


Binghamton Outlasts Delaware


by Gradon Motter



Harrington, DE — In the First period both teams lit up the lamp as Tyson Kirkby found the back of the net for Bingo and Chris Corgan was the goal scorer for Delaware. Very even contested period with 13 shots on Binghamtons goalie Chris Paulin and 11 shots on Trevor Martin of Delaware.

In the 2nd period we started to see more aggressive play from both teams. Jake Schultz and Nikita Ivashikin beat Martin to make the game 3-1 in the middle of the period. Brendan O’Rielly scores late in the period to make it 3-2 going into the 3rd.

In the 3rd period it was all Binghamton as Austin Thompson, Josh Newberg and Nikita Ivashkin twice score to secure the 7-2 win over the Thunder.

The Thunder travel to Binghamton to finish up the two game set against the Black Bears on Saturday.




CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES


Thunderbirds Stun Sea Wolves in Final Seconds

by Nick Roesch



Biloxi, MS - The Mississippi Sea Wolves dropped a tight matchup 6-5 on Friday night after the Carolina Thunderbirds took the lead with 18 seconds left in regulation at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. 

The Sea Wolves’ Yaroslav Yevdokimov started the fireworks just 39 seconds into the game after stealing the puck from Carolina goaltender Mario Cavaliere and striking on his open net. The Thunderbirds bounced back in a big way with four unanswered goals between Petr Panacek, Justin Pringle and Gus Ford who scored twice to round out the first period with a 4-1 Carolina advantage. 

From there, momentum completely swung the way of the Sea Wolves. In the second period, Justin Barr and Jeff Eppright both converted on breakaways as the scoreboard showed 4-3 at the intermission. 

The third period saw Chuck Costello tie the game on a backhand shot at the 9:29 marker. Eppright’s second of the night gave the Sea Wolves a 5-4 edge in the final six minutes of regulation. Fresh off a Mississippi timeout, Josh Koepplinger found the equalizing goal before Panacek’s point-blank chance turned into the Thunderbirds game-winner with 18 seconds to spare. 

Blake Weyrick served as the Sea Wolves starting goaltender for the first period before Ian Wallace entered in relief for the final 40 minutes of play. Wallace impressed again in his second appearance with the team, turning away 14 of 16 shots faced. Mario Cavaliere secured the win in net for Carolina with a total of 21 saves. 

The third game in as many days between the Sea Wolves and Thunderbirds will be played tomorrow night at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Opening puck drop will take place at 7:05pm in Biloxi.