WATERTOWN WOLVES at ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS

River Sharks Take Down Wolves, 4-2

by Jon Kliment

Elmira, NY - Elmira came into the weekend at the bottom of the Empire division looking for a chance to get themselves not only out of the basement but to jump an instate rival back into playoff position. Watertown had the home ice advantage in the three games, but Friday night began in First Arena at the Shark Tank!

The River Sharks had a number of chances early, but it was Watertown who hit the board first on a play that appeared off sides, but was ruled a goal by Tate Leeson from Mike Mercurio. It took 8 minutes, but Elmira kept the pressure on as after dumping a puck in deep Spencer Kozlowski left his net to play the puck, but after a turnover and tik-tok-toe passing from Larri Vartiainen and Elijah Wilson, Frank Trazzera, in his return to a River Sharks uniform, slapped the puck into the empty net to tie the game at 1-1!

The second period had Elmira coming out with a vengeance. Though they started the period on the power play it was Chris Magi in his first game as a River Shark burying a puck just after the advantage ended after stealing a puck away from Watertown's defense and picking his spot on the former Elmira netminder. 1:13 later Frank Trazzera buried his second of the night to give the Sharks a 3-1 advantage. Watertown changed netminders and seemed to gain a boost of energy as on a power play Tate Leeson was able to take advantage of sharp passing to beat Sammy Bernard. However Elmira had the last word in the period as after a fight in front of the Wolves net saw Josh Rosenzweig sent to the bench and Kozlowski returned Steven Ford buried his fourth of the season on a seeing eye shot from the point to put Elmira back up 4-2 which would hold up through the remainder of the game.

Bernard stopped 26 of 28 for the win, his 5th of the season. 

Elmira is back in action tomorrow night from Watertown as they look to secure three more points. Follow along on Youtube and Mixlr tomorrow night from the Watertown Municipal Arena! 

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at WYTHEVILLE BOBCATS 

BOBCATS EARN POINT IN 4-3 SHOOTOUT DEFEAT

by Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - The Blue Ridge Bobcats took the first place Columbus River Dragons past even 65 minutes, scraping to earn a point in a 4-3 shootout defeat. 

Vladislav Vlasov netted his 7th goal of the season, beating Tyler Roy through the five-hole towards the end of the second period.

Savva Smirnov gave the Bobcats a brief 3-2 lead midway through the third, before the Dragons answered.

Connor Green was stalwart in net for Blue Ridge, stopping 43 of 46 Columbus shots.

Hunter Hall assisted on both Bobcats goals, earning third star. Smirnov also assisted on the Vlasov goal, earning second star for his multi-point outing.



Both teams face off again tomorrow night at 7.

PORT HURON PROWLERS at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS

Rockers Home Streak Snapped Behind 5-3 Loss To Port Huron

by Ben Szilagy

Fraser, MI -  The Motor City Rockers home winning streak was snapped at the hands of the Port Huron Prowlers on Friday night in a 5-3 loss.

It’s the first time the Rockers lost to Port Huron on home ice since Dec. 9th. 

After a scoreless first period, Port Huron delivered the first punch early in the second period at the 34-second mark. 

Tristan Sims moved the puck out of the defensive zone for Port Huron and on the stick of Sam Merit. Merit walked the puck on attack creating a 2-on-1 for the Prowlers with Mitch Jones. After centering a pass to Jones, Jones held it and sent it back to Merit for a 1-0 lead. 

The Prowlers were able to add onto its lead with 2:30 left in the second period when Alex Johnson received a quick outlet pass in stride from Dalton Jay and fired the puck from a shallow angle in the near circle that cut through the fabric of Trevor Babin’s sweater for a 2-0 lead and his seventh of the year. 

Austin Fetterly intercepted the puck in the far circle and fired in a goal for a 3-0 lead to start the third period before Motor City got on the board.

Rockers Forward Adam Kuhn received a no-look back-handed pass from Tim Delaney for Kuhn’s fourth in seven games since joining Motor City on Dec 30th that cut into the lead 3-1.

Delaney’s assist broke a 20-game point drought and was his first professional point of his career. Cam Burt who is playing in his second game with Motor City earned his first assist of the season as well. 

Dalton Jay added the Prowlers’ fourth goal of the night stopping any gained momentum on a short handed goal during a Rockers’ power play with 13:08 left in the third period. The Rockers added a power play goal back, however, 28-second later off the stick of TJ Sneath who scored his ninth of the season to pull the Rockers within two, 4-2.

Jonathan Juliano added another tally on the rebound two minutes later that pulled Motor City within one, 4-3, with 10:14 to play before Liam Freeborn capped the scoring with his 13th of the year with 2:21 to play.

Motor City and Port Huron will play on Saturday at McMorran Place at 8pm on Silverstick Night where the Prowlers honor PeeWee and Bantam aged teams who come to the region to play in SilverStick Tournaments.

PROWLERS SURVIVE ROCKERS IN MOTOR CITY

by Will Wiegelman

Fraser, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers edged out a 5-3 win over the Motor City Rockers at Big Boy Arena on Jan. 19. The Prowlers scored three times on five shots in the third period.

The scoring didn’t begin until the second as Tucker Tynan and Trevor Babin were perfect in the opening 20. Less than a minute into the middle period, a series of bounces off the boards sent Sam Marit on a rush with Mitch Jones. Marit sent a pass across, Jones returned it and Marit tapped it home to make it 1-0.

With under three to play in the period, Alex Johnson flew up the left-wing wall and sent a wrist shot from below the hash marks and outside the faceoff circle that fooled Babin to make it 2-0.

Less than two minutes into the third, Austin Fetterly tried a return feed to Liam Freeborn on a two-on-one but it was blocked by a sliding Jameson Milam. Fetterly stole the puck back and fired it home to open up a three-goal Port Huron lead. A few minutes later, Cam Burt found Tim Delaney who, in turn, fed Adam Kuhn on a three-on-two to put Motor City on the board.

The Rockers got a power play but Josh Colten’s pass along the blue line was stolen by Dalton Jay. He scored on the breakaway to restore the three-goal advantage. The goal was Prowlers’ all-time leading scorer’s 200th with the team. 

Motor City did get a power play goal seconds later as the puck slid through for TJ Sneath on the back door. Then, Jonathan Juliano banged home a rebound at the side of the crease to pull the Rockers within one.

Johnson jumped up on a rush with under three minutes to play and sent a pass to the middle of the ice that Liam Freeborn touched home to make it 5-3 and end Motor City’s hopes at a comeback.

Johnson and Jay finished with a goal and an assist apiece while Jones had two helpers. Tynan made 30 saves in net.

Milam and Burt led the way for Motor City with two assists each while Babin took the loss after stopping 18 shots.

The rivals are back at it at McMorran Place on Jan. 20 at 8 P.M. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

HAT TRICKS SCORE TWICE LATE IN THE THIRD, OUTDUEL BINGHAMTON 4-3

by Doug Lattuca

Binghamton, NY -  Once again, the Hat Tricks staged a late third-period comeback in Binghamton to best the Black Bears 4-3 on Friday night.

The Hat Tricks have won six of the last seven, eight of ten, and four of the last five against Binghamton. Friday’s victory marked the Hat Tricks’ first regulation win over the Black Bears in 12 tries this season.

With the Hat Tricks down one with under two and a half minutes left in the game, Chase Harwell, on the left-wing, backhanded the puck short side and under the arm of Connor McAnanama to tie the game at three. With 45 seconds left, the Hat Tricks completed the comeback when Corey Cunningham sniped the top right corner to give Danbury its first lead of the night. It’s Cunnigham’s third game-winning goal of the season and eleventh overall.

Despite an offensively quiet first and second period, the Hat Tricks got life from their reliable first line in the third. At 17:12, Jonny Ruiz cranked one over the blocker and into the top left corner for a power play goal. Ruiz now has a team-high four power play goals this season. Shortly thereafter, at 17:54, Nikita Ivashkin answered back for the Black Bears to reinstate Binghamton’s two-goal advantage. But halfway into the third period Connor Wooley deflected a long-range shot from Sam Tetreault inside the near post to give the Hat Tricks hope within one.

Similar to the Hat Tricks’ come-from-behind 4-3 shootout win on Dec. 31 in Binghamton, the offense clicked late to come out on top.

The Hat Tricks go for the weekend sweep against Binghamton Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. on the Hat Tricks Digital Network.

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS

THUNDERBIRDS FALL IN SHOOTOUT TO MISSISSIPPI, 6-5

by Brendan Reilly

Winston-Salem, NC -  The Carolina Thunderbirds dropped game one of a two-game series to the Mississippi Sea Wolves, 6-5, in a shootout Friday night at the Annex. 

Carolina (20-6-1) started quickly taking a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the 1st period on goals from Josh Koepplinger and Jiri Pestuka, but Mississippi (15-14-1) responded. Jackson Bond and Danny Liscio both scored before the 14:00 minute mark of the first, tying the game at two. The Thunderbirds answered with Koepplinger recording a hat trick before the first period came to an end, but Hugo Koch cut the Carolina lead to one with 55 seconds remaining in the 1st and the Thunderbirds led, 4-3, after 20 minutes. 

In the second, Dalton Anderson beat Frankie McClendon at the 8:52 mark of the 2nd period to tie the game at four before Jon Buttitta snapped one past Anthony D’Aloisio at the 10:19 mark giving Carolina the 5-4 lead going to the 3rd. 

After the second intermission, both sides had opportunities before Philip Wong on the power play tied the game at five at the 9:39 mark. Carolina had opportunites late, but D’Aloisio made save after save sending the game to overtime. Carolina outshot Mississippi 5-2 in overtime but couldn’t find a winner as the two sides went to a shootout. 

In the shootout, neither side scored in the first round before Yianni Liarakos beat McClendon in the second round and after a save from D’Aloisio, Koch won it in the third round taking down Carolina, 6-5 (2-0). 

The loss marks Carolina’s first loss in overtime or a shootout this season but salvage a point. The Thunderbirds and Sea Wolves meet for game two on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:35 p.m. from the Annex in Winston-Salem.