DEKUMBIS LEADS PROWLERS PAST BLACK BEARS

BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS at PORT HURON PROWLERS


DEKUMBIS LEADS PROWLERS PAST BLACK BEARS


by Will Wiegelman



Port Huron, MI The Port Huron Prowlers snapped a three-game losing streak and defeated the Binghamton Black Bears 5-3 at McMorran Place on Nov. 26. Vincent Dekumbus scored his first FPHL goal and added an assist to earn first-star honors.

The first period saw a lot of shots but only one goal. Bret Parker found a puck that tipped off Austin Fetterly’s glove and beat Wyatt Hoflin on a breakaway to open the scoring. Binghamton held a 1-0 lead and a 16-10 shots advantage heading into the break.

Larri Vartiainen tied things up after Evan Foley stripped Nikita Ivashkin of the puck right in front of the Black Bears' net. The one-timer was his fourth tally of the year.

Then, things got wild. Tyler Gjurich and Tyson Kirkby scored 20 seconds apart to open up a 3-1 Binghamton lead. Two minutes later, Tucker Scantlebury and Dekumbis hit the back of the net 18 seconds apart to tie things right back up.

The Prowlers broke the deadlock in the third when Austin Fetterly corralled a rebound and found Dalton Jay for a back-door tap-in. That goal gave Port Huron its first lead of the night.

Adam Heinzl added an insurance marker on a wrist shot from the point 59 seconds later. The Prowlers outshot the Black Bears 17-3 in the third period and 44-28 in the game.

Scantlebury, Dekumbis and Sam Marit finished with two points each playing on a line together. Hoflin made 25 saves for his third victory of the season.

Kirkby had a goal and an assist to make it five points on the weekend. Owen Liskiewicz made 39 stops in his third loss of the year.

Port Huron heads south for the third time in four weeks for a two-game set with the Carolina Thunderbirds with puck drop scheduled for 7:35 P.M. on Dec. 4 and 6:05 P.M. on Dec. 5.


MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS


RIVER DRAGONS ROLL TO TEN IN A ROW

Pietrantonio Scores 100th FPHL Goal


by Tom Callahan

COLUMBUS, GA - The Columbus River Dragons completed a three-game weekend sweep of the Mississippi Sea Wolves thanks to a 7-2 win at the Columbus Civic Center on Saturday night.

The win marked the tenth consecutive victory for Columbus, which hasn’t lost since October 28. 

Six different River Dragons posted multi-point games, led by Jacob Underwood’s three assist effort. Columbus captain Josh Pietrantonio scored his 100th goal in the FPHL at 16:16 of the first period, putting the River Dragons up 4-1 at the time. 

Bailey MacBurnie was once again tremendous for the River Dragons in net, making several key saves to keep the Sea Wolves from closing the gap in the first and second periods. He finished with 33 saves for his seventh win of the season.

This weekend the River Dragons will host the Danbury Hat Tricks Friday and Saturday night at 7:30 pm. The top two teams in the FPHL, they will meet for the only time in Columbus this weekend. Tickets are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office and online

Game Notes:

Jacob Kelly now has goals in four straight games for Columbus.

Jay Croop’s scoring streak has reached nine games after he recorded a goal and an assist in the contest. He now has six goals and 14 points over that stretch.

Columbus was out-shot for only the second time this season, but has won both games in which it has occurred.

Ricards Jelenskis has goals in three straight games.

Columbus scored a shorthanded goal for the fourth time this season and is now 4-0 when they do.

Sea Wolves Stranded 7-2 by River Dragons 


by Nick Roesch

Columbus, GA – The (12-1-0) Columbus River Dragons extended their win streak to ten in front of their home crowd on Saturday night after clinching a 7-2 victory and three-game sweep over the (2-9-2) Mississippi Sea Wolves.

For the first time of the series, the Sea Wolves struck first on a centering drive from Matt Caranci (4:45) in the opening period. Columbus turned the tide with four consecutive goals before the first intermission. Jacob Kelly (5:16), Alex Storjohann (8:27), Edgars Ozolinsh (10:55) and Josh Pietrantonio (16:16) all contributed towards a 4-1 River Dragons lead at the intermission.

Philip Wong cut into Mississippi’s deficit 18 seconds into the second period before Columbus’ Austin Daee got one right back with two minutes left in the frame. The River Dragons held the advantage at 5-2 leading into the final twenty minutes of play.

The River Dragons shut down the Sea Wolves forwards the rest of the way and potted two more goals between Ricards Jelenskis (12:07) and Jay Croop (15:57).

The Columbus goaltender corps remained red hot with Bailey MacBurnie finalizing a 33-save win. Blake Weyrick started his third consecutive game for the Sea Wolves and blocked 24 River Dragon chances.

The Sea Wolves continue their string of road games this Friday, December 2 when they head north to play the Elmira Mammoth for the first time. The action begins at 6:35 Central Time and can be viewed live on the Sea Wolves YouTube channel.



CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS at DANBURY HAT TRICKS


MARCHESAN & LOPEZ STAY HOT, HAT TRICKS TOP THUNDERBIRDS


by Chris Lynch



Danbury, CT- Momentum carried from Friday night’s comeback effort into a Saturday night tilt at the Danbury Arena for the Hat Tricks. After an inspired 5-4 win in Elmira, the Hat Tricks rewarded a packed home crowd with a spirited effort and five goals, powered by two heroes of Friday night’s win, Michael Marchesan and Mike Lopez.

The two combined for two of the team’s five goals and had plenty of chances at other points of the evening to score, denied by only Boris Babik in the Carolina net (24 saves on 29 shots). The two goals the two combined on came to open the scoring at the 9:42 mark of the first period and to put an exclamation point on the game at 11:27 of the second.”

"Depth is key for any team,“ said Hat Tricks Head Coach Billy McCreary of his team’s contributions. “It can’t always be the same guys driving our offense. Lopes and Marchy are working their tails off looking for an opportunity and have taken advantage of their opportunity these last two nights.”

Marchesan has four goals and five points in his last two games while Lopez has two goals and two assists for four points in the last two games.

Danbury increased their lead in the back half of the first period thanks to a brilliant tip job by Dmitry Kuznetzov at the 13:33 mark for his eighth goal in eight games since returning to the Hat Tricks from a loan to the SPHL. Carolina answered with a nifty top shelf shot by Jiri Pestuka 2:48 later. Almost immediately after, Carolina took two penalties and gave the Hat Tricks a five-on-three power play, on which Gordie Bonnel capitalized and punched in his third goal of the season.

After the previously mentioned Marchesan second period goal, Brendan Sheehan potted a nifty goal to make the score 5-1 before the second intermission.

Carolina pushed back in the final stanza and scored two third period goals. Josh Koepplinger scored 8:23 into the frame and Daniel Martin scored with just 50 seconds remaining in regulation. John Buttitta recorded assists on both Thunderbirds goal for two points on the evening.

28 of Carolina’s shots were steered away by Danbury goalie Brian Wilson.

“Willy gives us a lot of confidence,” said McCreary of his starting goaltender. “...and he allows us to work through mistakes. We’re a team that likes to make plays, but we also make mistakes and Willy’s always there to bail us out and he was tremendous again tonight.

Carolina drops to 8-3-1. The Thunderbirds return home for two games next weekend against the Port Huron Prowlers. 

Danbury improves to 11-0-1. The Hat Tricks remain the only team in the FPHL who lacks a regulation loss. Billy McCreary’s squad travels to Columbus, GA, to face to River Dragons next weekend.

“It’s our biggest test yet,” said McCreary of the impending River Dragon trip. “We want to enjoy the success we’ve had this week but then we’ve gotta turn the page pretty quickly here.”

Puck drop is scheduled for 7:30 at the Columbus Civic Center for Friday night’s matchup between the two FPHL Division leaders.

HAT TRICKS HAND THUNDERBIRDS SECOND STRAIGHT DEFEAT


by Brett Wiseman

Danbury, CT - Another night, another hot goaltender in the way of a bunch of hungry Thunderbirds. Again, Carolina outshot their opponent, and again a few bounces that didn't go the Thunderbirds way ended up being the difference in a 5-3 defeat in Danbury.

The Hat Tricks opened the scoring with a fluky short side goal from Michael Marchesan midway through the first. Four minutes later, Dimitry Kuznetsov deflected a wrist shot from the point with his back turned to the goal and in on an amazing display of hand-eye coordination to double the lead.

Carolina's Czech Republican trio got to work moments later, when Petr Panacek found Jiri Pestuka who beat Brian Wilson up high with a wrist shot aided by a perfectly executed screen in front from Jan Salak.

Despite the Thunderbirds continued attacks, Wilson and his teammates had answers. Two more Hat Trick goals in the second period made the deficit for Carolina simply too much to overcome at 5-1.

Third period goals from Josh Koepplinger and Daniel Martin proved there was no quit from the Thunderbirds, who simply ran out of time after building pressure most of the third. 

Carolina will return home and look to bounce back when they host the Port Huron Prowlers next weekend. Tickets are available for both Friday and Saturday night's games at Carolinathunderbirds.com and the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex Box Office.


ELMIRA MAMMOTH at WATERTOWN WOLVES


Elmira Upsets Watertown


by Jeff Barrett



Watertown, NY – In the third meeting between these two teams this season, it wouldn't take long for the scoring to begin as Parker Moskal lit the lamp at 2:15 into the game as he was able to blast a one timer from inside the left hand face off circle, assisted by Tyler Piekarski and Don Carter Jr.

Moskal would net his second goal of the game at the 16:29 mark as Dzimitry Daniliuk floated a pass about a foot off the ice from the slot to the left side of the goal, and Moskal put the shaft of the stick on for the redirect to the back of the net. 

The period would end with the Mammoth leading 2-0. Watertown outshot Elmira in the frame 9-7, While Elmira was 0 for 1 on power play opportunties.

Period number two would start with Parker Moskal netting his third goal of the night as he sniped one form just inside the left face off circle for a hat trick at the 3:11 mark off a beautiful crossing pass from Don Carter Jr. 

At 11:21 Tate Leeson would take a double minor for high sticking and Watertown would make him pay. Sam Hrabcak with gather a rebound of a Chase Carter shot and beat Richard Shipman on the low left side to cut into the Mammoth lead. Ben Maidment would also get credited with an assist on the play. 

Watertown continued to out shoot Elmira in the second 13 - 5, and 22 - 12 for the first two periods. The period ended with Elmira holding onto the 3 - 1 lead. 

Period number 3 would find tempers starting to flare on both side of the ice. Both teams would take several penalties through the mid portion of the period slowing play, and leaving the officials with their hands full trying to sort everything out. 

Elmira would add to their lead at 13:03 of the frame as Tate Leeson was able to get behind the defense and recieve a pass from Dalton Anderson and lift one over the shoulder of Greg Hussey. Shortly after that at 13:56 Tyler Piekarski added to Elmira's lead as he would slide one underneath Hussey to make it 5 - 1. 

That's the way the game would end with Elmira getting their first franchise win in Watertown. Elmira out shot Watertown 11-9 in the third, with totals for the game being Watertown 31 shots to Elmira's 23.  

Next weekend the Wolves will travel to Binghamton for a weekend set with the Black Bears. Puck drop is set for 7:00 bothe nights.
Elmira will be home next weekend to host the Mississippi Seawolves in a two game set. 


MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at DELAWARE THUNDER


Rockers Sweep Thunder


by Gradon Motter



Harrington, DE - The first period opened up with 2 early goals for Motor City. Derek Makimma and Tommy Cardinal score within the first two minutes forcing Head coach Lou Santini to make a goalie change for Michael McHale. Trevor Martin would stay in for the remainder of the game.

Delaware would tie the game up in the 2nd period thanks to a pair of Alex Soucy goals. Declan Conway would respond later in the period to make the game 3-2 going into the 3rd.

Tommy Cardinal and Scott Coash would make the lead larger within the first 4 minutes making it 5-2. However, Chris Corgan would keep Delaware in it for a possible comeback with his redirect pass Blake Scott. Scott Coash would seal the deal with an empty netter making the final score 6-3.

Delaware’s next game is in Motor City Friday 12/2 in Michigan. Puck drop is 7:30.