GAME RECAPS 3/10/23

ELMIRA MAMMOTH at PORT HURON PROWLERS 


DEVENY'S HAT TRICK LEADS PROWLERS PAST MAMMOTH


by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI -  The Port Huron Prowlers’ offense rolled over the Elmira Mammoth 7-2 at McMorran Place on March 10. Joe Deveny led the way with the team’s first hat trick of the season and was the game’s first star.

Evan Foley fed a pass from below the goal line to Dan Chartrand all alone in the slot to open the scoring 1:33 into the game. Matt Stoia doubled the advantage at the five-minute mark when he picked the corner over Harley White’s shoulder from below the faceoff circle.

Deveny got his first of the night late in the period and Port Huron entered the locker room for the first intermission with a 3-0 lead.

Deveny scored his second 17 seconds into the middle period, putting home a rebound. Foley forced a turnover and found Dalton Jay for the Prowlers’ fifth goal of the game 3:32 into the second. That sent White to the bench and he was replaced by Danick Rodrigue.

Deveny completed the hat trick when he opened the third-period scoring and Gino Mini added the seventh Port Huron tally on a rebound chance. 

Luke Richards and Thomas McGuire got two back late for Elmira.

Zack Olen was named the second star of the game after a four-assist effort in his professional hockey debut. Foley and Matt Graham added three helpers apiece. Wyatt Hoflin made 26 stops in net.

White took the loss for Elmira with 14 saves on 19 shots in 23:32 of work. Rodrigue stopped 19 of 21 Prowlers shots in relief. The Mammoth’s losing streak extended to five games.

The Prowlers will look for the sweep on Saturday, March 11 when they host the Mammoth again at 7:05 P.M. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.


COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS 


  Babin Earns First Career Shutout Over Columbus, Rockers Win 5-0


by Ben Szilagy



Fraser, MI - Trevor Babin had waited 88 games for his one special moment and it came on Friday night against the top team in the Continental Division. 

Babin stopped every shot he faced, 39 in total, to earn his first career shutout as the Rockers beat Columbus 5-0 at Big Boy Arena. 

The Goaltender from Philadelphia stopped 12 shots in the first period, 19 in the second, and eight in the third period. 

While Babin was a brick wall in front of the net, Motor City’s offense built a lead, and its defense kept it. 4:02 left in the first period, Motor City struck first on a goal by Dante Suffredini. 

Connor Inger carried the puck into the offensive zone along the far side wall and pushed it to the point and on to the stick of Josh Colten. Colten fired a hard pass towards the net that Suffredini tipped in for his fifth of the season and a 1-0 lead. 

The Rockers (23-14-6) added to the lead with two goals in the second period that were scored 45-seconds apart. 

4:10 into the period, Tim Perks carried the puck down low into the offensive zone. He held onto it, and completed a wrap-around pass to Nick Magill-Diaz who popped the puck in the net for his third of the season and 2-0 lead. 

Moments later, Motor City utilized the wrap-around pass again to build the lead when Brad Reitter carried the puck down low and simulated the same play as before. This time Danny Vanderweil was the man in front to put away the puck for a 3-0 lead for his third of the season. 

With Babin staying hot, the Rockers added two goals in the third.

Suffredini won a puck battle in the defensive zone and pushed it ahead to Reitter who chipped the puck ahead to Tommy Cardinal. Cardinal slipped behind the defense for a partial breakaway and deked to his back-hand for a goal and a 4-0 lead with 13:21 to play. It was his 18th of the season and extended his point streak to five games. 

Late in the third with 6:42 remaining, Scott Coash added the cherry on top when he carried a Declan Conway pass into the zone and fired a quick wrist shot for a 5-0 lead. 

The River Dragons (32-7-4) had their moments as Columbus had six power plays, but failed to convert on them, including four in the third period. 

Motor City and Columbus will square off on Saturday at 6:00pm at Big Boy Arena and wrap up the series on Sunday at 2:00pm. 


BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS


SUPER MARIO, THUNDERBIRDS SHUT OUT BLACK BEARS 5-0


by Brett Wiseman



Winston-Salem, NC - On March 10th, otherwise known as Super Mario Day, Mario Cavaliere was just that: super. The Thunderbirds netminder stopped all 37 shots he faced from the Binghamton Black Bears to earn a spectacular shutout, and first star honors.

In Carolina's first home game in a month, a crowd of 3,053 were treated to a dominant performance from everyone in a Thunderbirds specialty sweater.

The Thunderbirds launched a full frontal 60-minute long assault on the Black Bears, peppering Binghamton goaltender Talor Joseph with a whopping 53 shots. 

Over midway through a tight-checking and hotly contested first period, Justin Pringle opened the scoring as he leaked a wrist shot through Joseph that just barely leaked over the goal line to give Carolina a 1-0 advantage.

The Thunderbirds continued their attack in the middle frame. League point leader Gus Ford scored his 35th of the season seven minutes into the second period when he sniped home a wicked wrist shot on an odd man break off a perfect pass from Joe Kennedy.

Seven minutes later, Jacob Schnapp added to the lead with an incredible display of hand-eye coordination. The Floridian tipped a slap pass from the opposite side of the ice from Viktor Grebennikov home into the back of the net.

Ford wasn't done in the third, sniping another wrist shot home for his 36th of the season, and his league-leading 90th point, to extend the Thunderbirds lead to 4-0.

Cavaliere kept stopping shots left and right, and a wildly physical third period came down the stretch with an exclamation point. Jiri Pestuka put home a power-play goal out of a net mouth scramble for one final tally on a dominant Friday night.

The Thunderbirds will wrap up their season series with the Black Bears tomorrow night at the Annex at 6:05 ET.



DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES


Hat Tricks Edge Wolves


by Jeff Barrett



Watertown, NY -  The seventh meeting between these two teams on Friday night in Watertown, with each team winning three of the previous matchups.

It would take until the 16.27 mark of the first before the first goal was scored when Lucas DeBenedet would strike first for the Hat Tricks, assisted by John MacDonald and Kyle Gonzalez making the score 1-0. Just a minute and 23 seconds later the Hat Tricks added a power play goal to extend the lead to 2-1.Michael Marcheson would be credited with the goal assisted by John MacDonald and Kyle Gonzalez.

Watertown got one back at 18:40 when Kolt Maguire lifted one over Brian Wilson's stick to cut the lead in half. Elijah Wilson and Trevor Lord were credited with assists on the play. The first ended 2-1 with the Hat Tricks in front. Danbury outshot Watertown 16-15 in the frame.

The intensity that started to pick up late in period number one carried over to period number two with a vengeance. The speed of the game seemed to pick up with both teams getting some quality shots, but the Hat Tricks Brian Wilson and Watertown's Owen Liskiewicz denied every chance either team had until the 13:53 mark when Xavier Abdella knocked home a loose puck on a scrum right in the front of the Watertown goal. Watertown outshot Danbury 13 to 7 in the frame, but the period ended with Danbury up 3-1.

 It only took 18 seconds into the third for Watertown to tighten the score when Brendan Hussey took the opening faceoff down the left side and sent a wrist shot to the top right corner making the score 3-2, but Johnny Ruiz didn't let Watertown stay close for long as, at the 1:41 mark he took a centering pass from Tobias Odjick and dragged the puck from right to left and lifted a backhand past Liskiewicz to extend the lead to 4-2. Also getting an assist was Daniel McKitrick.

At the 6:18 mark, Sam Hrabcak was once again able to get the Wolves within a goal , on a pass from Fabian Lehner and Chris Corgan, but that's as close as the Wolves could get, despite several good scoring opportunities in the late going, including a 6 on 4 power play for the final 1:40 of the game.

Danbury outshoot Watertown 11 to 8 in the third and 44 to 40 for the game. Watertown went 0 for 5 on power plays for the night, while the Hat Tricks were 1 for 5.

The two teams will square off again on Saturday evening at 7:30  



DELAWARE THUNDER at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES


Sea Wolves Raise Win Streak to Four Games


by Nick Roesch



Biloxi, MS - Even with seven goals scored, the Mississippi Sea Wolves had to fight for every second on Friday night as they outlasted the Delaware Thunder 7-6 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.

Considering the final score, the first period went by innocently with goals scored by Delaware’s Marquis Grant-Mentis and Yaroslav Yevdokimov of the Sea Wolves. 

Both sides ramped it up in the ensuing stanza with seven combined strikes. The Sea Wolves started on fire with goals from Philip Wong and Yianni Liarakos, who achieved his 100th career goal in the Federal Prospects Hockey League. 

Down 3-1, Delaware thrived on the special teams with two goals on the power play (TJ Delaney/Rocco DiConstanzo) and one on the penalty kill (Andrew Lytle) for a 4-3 lead. Mississippi took the advantage right back as Yevdokimov went back-to-back for his sixth hat trick of the season. 

The Sea Wolves’ lead grew to 7-4 in the third period between Lucas Helland’s second of the season and a centering blast from Jake Raleigh. The Thunder made a convincing run, cutting down their deficit with conversions from TJ Delaney and Denis Gafarov, but goaltender Anthony D’Aloisio slammed the door with 33 total saves for his fourth straight win in net. 

Mississippi’s four-game win streak is their highest of the season and they’ll have a chance to extend it at tomorrow night’s rematch against the Delaware Thunder. Puck drop is set for 7:05pm at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum.