Game Recaps 3/8/25

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS

Carolina Dominates Columbus, 4-1

Gus Ford’s hat trick blasts Thunderbirds past River Dragons

by Brendan Reilly



Winston-Salem, NC - Following an overtime loss on Friday night to the Columbus River Dragons, Gus Ford recorded his second hat trick of the year while Mario Cavaliere stopped 45 shots in a 4-1 victory for the Carolina Thunderbirds on Saturday evening at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 3,070 fans. 

Carolina (33-8-4) struck first for the second straight night in the 1st. Roman Kraemer delivered a cross-ice pass to Zach White who found Gus Ford crashing the near post tapping home his first of the evening 16:36 into the game. 

In the middle 20 minutes, Columbus (26-12-4) tied the game just 43 seconds in, but Ford found his second goal of the evening putting the Thunderbirds ahead less than a minute later, 2-1. Clay Keeley punched home his seventh goal of the season coming off a power play 4:36 into the frame before Ford notched his second hat trick of the season with 8:38 left in the 2nd, putting Carolina ahead, 4-1. 

Other than the power play goal for the River Dragons, Thunderbirds netminder Mario Cavaliere was dominant. He stopped 12 shots in the 1st, 14 shots in the 2nd, and all 19 he saw in the final 20 minutes to finish off the 4-1 victory for Carolina. 

With the win, the Thunderbirds have clinched a playoff berth into the 2025 Commissioners Cup Playoffs. 

Carolina now hits the road again back to New York for a split weekend with the Watertown Wolves and Binghamton Black Bears. Carolina meets Watertown first on Friday evening in Watertown, New York. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. from the Watertown Arena. 

River Dragons Come Up Short of Weekend Sweep

by Tom Callahan



Winston-Salem, NC - The Columbus River Dragons could not complete the weekend sweep as they were downed 4-1 by the Carolina Thunderbirds on Saturday night at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex.

Columbus’ only goal came off the stick of Austin Daae, a power play goal just 43 seconds into the second period that tied the game at 1-1 from Cody Wickline.

Gus Ford had a hand in all four Carolina goals, scoring three and assisting on the other by Clay Keeley.

The River Dragons will now head home for Legends Weekend this Friday and Saturday night. Friday night is Josh Pietrantonio Night with the River Dragons celebrating the career of their longest-serving captain. Saturday is Legends Night, with a pre-game contest featuring the Legends of Columbus Hockey History. Tickets are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office and online at TicketMaster.com

HC VENOM at DANBURY HAT TRICKS

 Hat Tricks Grab Point for 12th Straight Home Game, Lose 5-4 to Venom in OT

by Wyatt Kopelman



Danbury, CT -  Dzianis Zaichyk scored the game-winning goal at 1:01 of overtime in a 5-4 win for HC Venom at the Danbury Ice Arena on Saturday. The Venom clawed back from four one-goal deficits, two in the third, and goalie Rahul Sharma made 46 saves for his second straight win.

Cory Anderson’s 20th-career power play goal in front put the Hat Tricks ahead, 4-3, with 4:38 to go in regulation. The Bakersfield, Calif., forward netted his third on the man advantage of the season.

HC Venom scored two goals in the third period, one from Dixon Bowen off an offensive zone draw at 5:26. Nathan Butler then tied the game at four with 2:58 left in regulation.

Connor Woolley scored for the second straight night on a wrist shot near the goal line, lifting the Hat Tricks ahead, 2-1, at 2:58 of the middle frame. HC Venom’s Dustin Jesseau then countered alone in the slot for the equalizer at 9:41.

With 7:16 left in the second, Chase Harwell settled a banked pass in the neutral zone, flew into the zone, and buried a wrist shot to make it 3-2 Hat Tricks.

Defenseman Zach Ross scored on a rebound in the low slot giving Danbury a 1-0 lead at 4:22 of the first. The 25-year-old rookie tucked home his first goal in his second Hat Tricks game.

HC Venom answered with a power play goal from Kaleb Kinskey at 10:22 to tie the game at one. Kinskey scored on a deflection near the crease.

Conor McCollum stopped 27 shots and fell to 18-10-6. McCollum’s win streak ended at two.

The Hat Tricks tallied one point and have secured points in each of their last 12 home games and in 17 of their previous 18 contests overall. Danbury now leads the season series 8-2 with two games remaining.

Up next, the Hat Tricks host the final contest of their three-game weekend against the Venom on Sunday. Puck drop is scheduled for 3 p.m.

ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

Prowlers Nab Extra Point in Shootout vs Athens

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers came back to defeat the Athens Rock Lobsters 3-2 in a shootout. Austin Fetterly scored the only goal in the shootout and Reid Cooper stopped all three Lobsters shooters to seal it.

“It wasn’t a perfect game, I thought it was just okay,” said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. “More importantly, that’s how we win. We battled, guys competed and gave up their bodies”

Port Huron grabbed the first goal early as Lukas Lacny stepped over the Athens blue line and sent a wrist shot to the net from the board less than two minutes in. William Lavalliere waved at it with his glove before it caught the twine.

Midway through the period, Ludwig Thellström hit the crossbar and on the ensuing counter attack, Garrett Milan got to the slot and slipped the tying goal five hole.

Power plays became a factor in the second. The Lobsters got a five-on-three and just before it expired, the puck pinballed around in front of Cooper’s crease. It was tapped to Orca Wiesblatt who stuffed it in at the side of the post to give Athens a 2-1 lead.

In the third, it was the Prowlers turn on the power play. A pinballing puck found Lacny on the back side and he lifted it home to tie things up.

In overtime, the Lobsters got a chance on the power play in overtime but Port Huron blocked multiple shots to get it to a shootout. 

“I think we had a good plan for four-on-three,” Paulin said. “But the plan goes out the window if you don’t have great goaltending and guys that are willing to eat the puck. We put guys out there that were going to put their bodies on the line, they’ve proved that and they did it again.”

Fetterly scored in the first round of the skills competition and Cooper stopped Shinkaruk, Gallant and Milan to seal it.

The game was the sixth-straight for the Prowlers decided by one goal. Matt Graham dished out a pair of assists and Cooper made 35 saves in the win.

Lavalliere stopped 28 shots and went 1-2 in the shootout.

The teams wrap up their weekends on Sunday, March 9 at 3:05 P.M. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

Rock Lobsters Defeated in the Shootout by the Prowlers

by Matteen Zibanejadrad



Port Huron, MI - The Athens Rock Lobsters fell 3-2 in the shootout against the Port Huron Prowlers Saturday night in McMorran Arena.

Athens found itself behind early, after Lukas Lacny went five-hole on a left-circle shot 1:36 into the game.

Garrett Milan would answer back for the Rock Lobsters 10 minutes later, whistling a wrister through a window created by two Prowlers.

A five-on-three power play opened up the ice for the visitors and Orca Wiesblatt poked a rebound past Reid Cooper.

Port Huron’s response came on a man advantage of their own, as Lacny logged his second of the night with 10 minutes remaining in regulation.

The decider could not be found in regulation or in overtime, so the game would go to the shootout.

Austin Fetterly would score on the Port Huron’s first shot and that’s all they needed; Cooper would prevent all three Athens shooters from tickling the twine.

The Rock Lobsters (33-7-3, 92 pts) return to McMorran Arena Sunday at 3:05 p.m. for the series finale against the Port Huron Prowlers.

WATERTOWN WOLVES at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS

Rico Shines in Return, Corgan the Hero as Rockers Snap Skid

by Brady Beedon



Fraser, MI - A weight of a thousand tons was lifted off the shoulder of the Rockers Saturday night.

The Motor City Rockers snapped a nine game losing skid with a 3-2 overtime win vs Watertown.

Motor City got the scoring started just over three minutes into the game, when Tristan Wells tipped in a Josh Colten shot, putting the Rockers up 1-0.

The scoring would stall until the second second period, when Watertown leading scorer Davide Gaeta picked the top left corner, evening the score at 1-1.

The Wolves would take the lead when at the end of a double minor power play, a shot from Trevor Lord careened off a body in front, past Motor City goalie Rico Gonzalez, putting Watertown on top 2-1.

Despite outshooting Watertown 37-20, Motor City found themselves down a goal going into the final period.

“The vibes were fine, everyone was pretty even keel,” Gonzalez said in his first game back with Motor City. “Everyone was still pretty loose, nobody was tense. Everyone was still focused on their job and what we needed to do.”

Just under eight minutes into the third period, after Gonzalez stonewalled a Carter Thorton breakaway to keep the score at 2-1, Brad Reitter beat Wolves netminder Anton Brorodkin to square the score at 2-2.

Neither side would break the tie, and the game headed to overtime, the second in three games for Motor City.

Watertown controlled the early portions of the extra frame, including a two-on-one blocker save from Gonzalez that brought the Rocker faithful to their feet.

After surviving a near two minute shift in their own zone, Motor City would gain control of the puck and Chris Corgan raced into the zone.

“Gullo, Rivers, and Magill-Diaz were out there for two minutes at least,” Corgan said. “They got out of that first shift. Josh [Colton] made a real nice play, he brought everyone in and slowed them down, gave me time and space.”

It was enough time and space for Corgan, as he snapped the only shot for the Rockers in overtime, finding the back of the net, giving Motor City the 3-2 win and snapping the nine game losing streak in the process.

“It feels great to feel a win,” head coach Jameson Milam said. “Especially with a lot of new guys that haven’t experienced a win with this club yet.”

The relief was palpable in Big Boy Arena, as the Rockers were rewarded for their best effort in a long while with the win.

“Without those successes and highs, it’s hard to think that what we are doing is working,” said Milam. “Finally we get to see the result we’ve been trying to get to. It’s because of how much work we’ve put in, how we are making better choices, how we are making teams play against all of us, together. How we are protecting our house. It’s an accumulation of a lot of things happening, and a lot of guys buying into what we are trying to accomplish.”

Motor City will look to start a winning streak as they rematch with the Wolves. Puck drop is scheduled for Sunday at 6:05 at Big Boy Arena.

BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Bobcats Bust Black Bears Streak With 5-2 Triumph

by Brett Wiseman



Wytheville, VA - The Blue Ridge Bobcats sent an emphatic statement across the FPHL landscape, with a dominant and resounding 5-2 victory to end the Binghamton Black Bears 18-game win streak before a crowd of nearly 2,000 on Autism Awareness Night at Hitachi Energy Arena.

Gavin Yates opened the scoring for Bingo unassisted just 80 seconds in, followed shortly by a Patrick Colgan penalty. It seemed like Saturday's game was going down the same path as the previous night. But off the momentum of a strong penalty kill, the Bobcats took the reigns of the contest.

Just 3:54 after Yates, Hunter Godmere sniped home a wicked wrister past Nolan Egbert, just over half a minute into a power play of the Bobcats own to tie the game at 1.

Brandon Reller intercepted a clearance attempt from Egbert less than 90 seconds into then middle frame and sniped a wrist shot past him far glove side for his first goal as a Bobcat to put Blue Ridge ahead 2-1. Tyson Kirkby responded to tie the game at 2 just 37 seconds later, but that would be the last that Binghamton would get past Greg Hussey.

Justin Daly's first of two on the night, muscling the puck past Egbert out of a net mouth scramble, served as the eventual game-winning goal and gave the 'Cats a 3-2 lead exactly 12:30 into the second period. Blue Ridge never looked back from there.

Just over five and a half minutes into the third, former Black Bear Nick Stuckless burned his former club, tapping in a backdoor pass from Austin Bellefeuille to stake a dagger through Binghamton. Daly put an exclamation point on the evening with his second, an empty netter at 19:14 of the third to push the score to the eventual final of 5-2.

Daly's double goal night earned him first star, while Godmere's multi-point night netted him third star. Second star honors went to Hussey, who stood on his head making 55 saves in net.

Both teams wrap the weekend and season series tomorrow afternoon at 4:05pm.

MONROE MOCCASINS at DASHERS of DANVILLE

Moccasins Sweep Dashers in Dazzling Fashion

by Devin Dobek



Danville, IL - Game 2 in the Paul Maclean era was another gauntlet for the hometown Dashers. The team looked great in their First Responder uniforms, but unfortunately the “look good, play good” mantra did not translate tonight, as Sean Kuhn shutout the Dashers in a 9-0 defeat.

The Dashers donned specialty First Responder jerseys for their 6th and final battle with the Monroe Moccasins. Pregame was awesome, with several men and women on the front lines being honored. In a cool series of events, Dashers’ trainer Anna Mitchell, an EMT and firefighter herself, was proposed to by her boyfriend Jeremy on the ice. She said Yes! But then it was time to play some hockey. The first 10 minutes were entertaining, end to end action, with the teams trading shot after shot. Both Sean Kuhn and Parker Rutherford were stellar through the opening 10 minutes, waiting to see who would break first. That’s when the floodgates opened. Monroe scored 3 goals in the final 6 minutes of the frame, which felt like the blink of an eye. First it was Monroe’s owner and President, Parker Moskal, suiting up and opening the games scoring with a tap in goal on the back door. About 3 minutes later, power forward Rex Moe jammed a puck on net and doubled the margin. But Moe wouldn’t be done there. Dasher rookie Sean Doyle was booked for a trip, opening the door for the first power play of the evening. It took just 10 seconds for Rex Moe to fire a bullet one timer over Rutherford’s glove to push the margin to 3. The assists went to Schumacher and Moskal on this one, which is significant due to the ensuing events. Dasher legend enforcer Chris Affinati suited up tonight with a celebrity contract, and after a brief chat with Moskal on the dot, the two dropped the gloves. The 45-year-old Affinati landed a plethora of machine-gun right hands on Moskal before taking him to the ice. Moskal happily accepted the punches to complete a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” in the first period, which consists of a goal, assist, and fighting major. The shots were 15-9 snakes at the end of 1, and the score 3-0.

Period 2 things did not get any easier for the deer. It took just 3:34 for the Mocs to pick right up where they left off with Corey Cunningham adding his name to the scoresheet and making it 4-0. The Dashers just couldn’t make any strides for offense throughout the frame, being limited to 4 shots on net. Monroe just continued to pepper Parker Rutherford until Hugo Koch lit the lamp for a 5th time. After the goal, Parker Rutherford got caught in a massive collision within the crease and was down for a couple minutes. Luckily he got back up on his own, and would remain in the game. About 5 minutes after the chaos ensued, Nicholas Favaro potted one all alone on the doorstep for his first FPHL goal, and the cushion had grown to 6. The shots through 2 periods were 29-13 Monroe. 

Monroe had zero intentions of taking their foot off the gas pedal in period 3. It was a very lethargic, and low energy period for both sides. The snakes added another 3 unanswered in the middle 10 minutes of the frame, beginning with Kevin Szabad’s second of the weekend at the 6:47 mark. Then at 14:16 on the power play Corey Cunningham snatched his second of the night to make it 8-0. The exclamation point was a Houston WIlson howitzer one-timer across the crease to cement the score at 9-0. The final shot totals were 42-19 Monroe in full time, as they begin their playoff push in the Continental division with a weekend sweep on the road.

Sean Kuhn earns his 4th shutout of the season, the fifth time the Dashers have been blanked this year. The Dashers fall to 1-38-3, and will travel down south for 4 games in 4 days first with the Zydeco followed by 3 with the Sea Wolves. Monroe improves to 19-18-6, and will have a 2 game set next weekend with Columbus. 

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES

Sea Wolves Shootout the Zydeco Behind Bartlett's Big Night, 4-3

by Jon Kliment

Biloxi, MS - One night after having to delay the Zydeco and Sea Wolves renewed their rivalry inside of the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Zydeco look to cash in on a playoff spot in their second year of existence.

The Sea Wolves looked refreshed in their first game back to the Mississippi Coast Coliseum and got off to a hot start as Noah Hippolyte-Smith drew a call on a breakaway to give Mississippi opportunities. Though they couldn't cash in on the power play Lucas Piekarczyk ripped a shot from the point with traffic seconds after the man advantage to cash in for a 1-0 lead. The Zydeco received a power play themselves later in the period and also were unsuccessful in cashing in, but just like the Sea Wolves found the puck loose in the slot seconds after the advantage ended and Shane Haggerty tied the game up at 1-1 14:03 into the first.

Baton Rouge rode that momentum in the second period firing shot after shot at Ed Coffey but the Sea Wolves goalie was up to the challenge until Kim Miettinen took advantage of a tired Sea Wolves defensive unit and gave the Zydeco the lead at 13:51, 2-1. Just 43 seconds later Elijah Wilson tallied his 22nd of the season on a forehand backhand drop past Coffey for a 3-1 lead.

The third period was all about Ross Bartlett as just 4:15 into the period found a bouncing puck and was able to beat Bailey Stephens to bring the Sea Wolves back to within one, 3-2. 95 seconds later Bartlett found the back of the net again to give Mississippi a tie game that would sit through regulation and 3 on 3 overtime. 

In the shootout Bartlett shot first for the Sea Wolves and scored while Piekarczyk shot 3rd and scored to win it, while only Dmitry Kuznetsov found the back of the net for the Zydeco.

Coffey stopped 30 of 33 in the win his 4th of the season.

The Sea Wolves return to the Coliseum tomorrow at 1:05pm for the last game between these squads here in Mississippi.