DANBURY HAT TRICKS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Stanko Show Plays On

Brenden Stanko recorded the 1st hat trick of the season 

Sam LiVecchi made 32 saves 

by Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears defended home ice against the Danbury Hat Tricks on Wednesday night, winning 6-2 before the Thanksgiving holiday. Brenden Stanko recorded the first hat trick of the season, earning another 1st star performance. 

Danbury was able to get on the board first in the opening period. Sam Dabrowski scored in his first game back from loan 3:04 into the period. The Hat Tricks had the opportunity to extend their lead on a power play, but was nullified by an offensive zone penalty. Brenden Stanko scored his first of the night, and first 4-on-4 goal of the season for the Black Bears to tie the game at 1-1. In the tail end of the period, Tyson Kirkby cashed in the only power play goal of the night sending Binghamton to the room up 2-1. 

Josh Fletcher was able to score an insurance goal in the second off a beautiful sequence from Gavin Yates. But then the Hat Tricks cut into the lead as Daniel McKitrick scored a rebound from Parker Moskal. 

Then, the Stanko show continued, as he scored twice in four minutes giving Binghamton a 5-2 lead. Jestin Somero scored the empty-net goal securing the win for the Black Bears as Sam LiVecchi saved 32 shots in his fourth win of the season. 

Binghamton improves to 8-1-3 after 12 games on the season, still in 1st place in the Empire Division.

MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at WATERTOWN WOLVES 

Wolves Come from Behind for OT Win

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - Thanksgiving eve found the Motor City Rockers in Watertown, NY to battle the Wolves in a Wednesday night matchup.

Although this was the first time this season these two teams met, it didn't take long for tensions to mount. Two scraps in the first nine minutes would set the early tone.

Motor City netted the first goal of the night at 13:54 when the Rockers leading scorer Scott Coash added to his total for the year, giving the Rockers the early edge 1-0, lifting a shot over Watertown netminder Eloi Bouchard. Newly signed Erik Oganezov was credited with an assist.

A power play goal from Danny Vanderweil at 18:26 extended the Motor City lead to 2-1. Motor City outshot Watertown 23 to 7 in the first.

The Wolves would battle back in the second period to cut the Rockers lead in half 2-1 at the 8:39 mark, when Trevor Lord scored his seventh goal of the season, taking advantage of a rebound off Rockers keeper Trevor Babin, and stuff the puck to the back of the goal. 

Motor City again outshot Watertown 17 to 9 with totals after 40 minutes 40 to 26 in favor of Motor City.

The third period would turn out to be a frenetic pace as the Wolves tried to do everything to pull even, and Motor City doing everything in their power not to let it happen, but at the 15:52 mark, Chase Dibari grabbed a rebound of a Babin save and was able to get a wrap around goal to knot the game at 2 each.

The score would remain that way until the end of regulation and force an overtime period.

In the extra both goaltender were forced to make some outstanding saves, but at 4:12 Marc Bottero followed up his own shot and slid a pass to Trevor Lord who knifed a shot from fifteen feet out, to send the Wolves onto victory.

Motor City outshot Watertown 56 to 47 in the game.

Watertown will be back in action on Saturday December 2nd when they head to Elmira to take on the River Sharks. Motor City will be back in action this weekend for a 2 game set in Elmira.  

Motor City Loses Two Goal Lead, Falls In OT To Watertown

by Ben Szilagy

Watertown, NY - After a bye week, the Motor City Rockers were back in action in Watertown on Thanksgiving Eve where the Wolves erased a two goal lead to win 3-2 in overtime. 

The Rockers jumped out to a two goal lead in the first period thanks to goals from Scott Coash and Danny Vanderwiell. 

With 6:15 left in the first period, the puck caromed off Trevor Babin who made a save from a deflected shot in the slot. The loose puck was picked up by Erik Oganezov who then lofted a pass from the end line to center ice to Coash. The forward from Plainfield, IL walked the puck into the offensive zone and earned his fifth goal of the season with a quick wrister for a 1-0 lead.

Vanderwiel scored his fourth of the season on the power play. 

Defensemen Jaime Milam fired a hard blast from the point that was turned away by Eloi Bouchard. Brad Reitter picked up the rebound and tried a wrap around attempt, but lost the puck to the slot. Vanderwiel quickly fired the loose puck in the net for his power play goal of the 2023-24 campaign and a 2-0 lead with 1:34 to play in the period. 

Watertown got back into the game and cut the lead to one, 2-1, off the stick of Trevor Lord midway through the second period. 

Tate Leeson received a pass and tried to deke to the five hole, but Babin stopped the initial try. Lord followed up the play and fired the puck on the sprawled goaltender with 11:21 to play in the middle frame. 

The Wolves added another goal in the third off the stick of Chase DiBari with 4:08 to play in the third period.

Lord offered a hard shot from the high slot that was turned away towards the nearside corner where DiBari picked up the rebound. In two steps around the net, he completed the wrap-around for the 2-2 tie that forced overtime. 

In the extra frame, the Wolves earned the game winner with 49 seconds left in the overtime period. 

Watertown forward Marc Bottero snuck behind the Rockers defense and fired a hard wrister at Babin that was turned away. The force of the shot forced the rebound back on the stick of Lord who fired the puck on net to the short side for the game winning goal and his second of the game. 

Motor City will immediately travel back to Michigan to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday and then travel back to New York to face Elmira on Nov 24th and Nov 25th. 

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES 

Mississippi Rallies with Three Unanswered Goals to Beat Zydeco 3-1

by Joseph Furtado

Biloxi, MS -The Baton Rouge Zydeco came up empty on the road for the first time this season with a 3-1 loss to the Mississippi Sea Wolves at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Tonight was the first road trip of the season for the Zydeco, who believed a change of scenery might do them some good after starting 1-8-0 at home. The team entered tonight's contest looking to snap a four-game losing streak to get out of last place in the continental division.

1st Period:

Opening up the 1st period, Baton Rouge got into penalty trouble early, taking back-to-back penalties in the first minutes of the game. Despite early chances from the Sea Wolves, the Zydeco would strike first, with a short-handed goal from Austin Webber to make it 1-0. 

However, the lead wouldn’t last long, as the Sea Wolves cashed in on a 5 on 3 power play, tying the game at 1-1 with a  goal from Hugo Kock at 09:44 into the period. 

2nd Period:

With a 1-1 game heading into the second, both teams traded off scoring chances. However, it was the goaltending that made the difference, with both goalies blanking each team in the middle frame. Both teams finished the period by putting up 16 shots on goal, but finished in a 1-1 deadlock.

3rd Period: 

For the third straight game, the last 20 minutes of hockey would be the difference for the Zydeco. They entered the period giving up 20 goals this season in the 3rd period alone and would add to that total.

Despite the strong pressure from the Baton Rouge offense in the opening minutes, Dalton Anderson would answer for Mississippi, giving them their first lead of the night, making it 2-1 at 03:02 into the 3rd.

As the period progressed, the Zydeco would see multiple power play opportunities for a chance to tie the game, even a 5 on 3. However, their power play would continue to struggle and would make the difference tonight. The Sea Wolves would go on to add a late empty net goal to make it 3-1, snapping their three-game losing streak.

With the loss, Baton Rouge fell to 1-9-0 on the year. They will have to turn the page quickly, as they will host the Wytheville Blue Ridge Bobcats on Friday.