PORT HURON PROWLERS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Binghamton Blanks Port Huron On Military Appreciation Night

by Cole Parenti

Binghamton, NY - The Black Bears and Prowlers matched up for the second time this season on a Saturday night in Binghamton. This would be the second trip for the Prowlers to the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. The night was filled with festivities as the Black Bears celebrated all those who have served the United States Military. The Black Bears would skate away with the 2-0 shutout victory.

The first period was scoreless for the first half until rookie Zac Sirota cracked through for his 2nd of the year. He cleaned up a rebound in front of the Port Huron goaltender which would ultimately be the game winning goal. The teams would head off with Binghamton clinging to their lead.

The second period saw more of the ice open up as the two teams went back and forth trading opportunities. Neither squad could find twine as this period ended the same as the first with the Black Bears up 1-0

The third period was similar to the second as each team looked for that elusive next goal. It would come from Tyson Kirkby as he crashed the net following the play and slamming home the important insurance marker. Binghamton takes this game by a final score of 2-0.

The shutout marked the fifth of McAnanama’s career and second this season. He commanded his crease, turning away all 21 of Port Huron’s shots. His counterpart Valtteri Nousiainen also had a spectacular performance stopping 38 of the 40 shots asked of him. The Black Bears get their seventh win of the season and sweep the weekend. The Black Bears are back in action Friday as they meet the Danbury Hat Tricks for the first of two on the road.

Prowlers Shut Out in Binghamton

by Will Wiegelman

Binghamton, NY - The Port Huron Prowlers were shut out for the second time in 2024-25 as they fell 2-0 to the Binghamton Black Bears at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena on November 9. Port Huron has picked up one point in four games outside of Michigan this season.

Zac Sirota scored the eventual game-winning goal with under eight to play in the first. A shot from the point pinballed to the side of the net. Valtteri Nousiainen stretched across to make a save on Scott Ramaekers but the rebound ended up at the top of the crease and Sirota muscled it home. Binghamton dominated the first period and out shot the Prowlers 23-5 in the opening 20 minutes.

“We had tired legs in the first,” said Prowlers’ assistant coach Alex Johnson. “We had a long weekend with travel and I don’t think we ever fully recovered. That’s no excuse, though. You have to find ways to win on the road. The first was slow but we were right with them in the second and third, just couldn’t get one by [Connor] McAnanama.”

A back and forth second period with high pace and chances for both sides yielded no goals so the 1-0 score held into the third. There, a battle away from the puck between Alex Johnson and Camron Cervone drew a whistle just as Port Huron was heading up ice on a two-on-one. Both picked up roughing penalties and on the ensuing four-on-four, Dakota Bohn stole the puck from Lukas Lacny and came in alone on Nousiainen. The Prowlers netminder stopped most of the puck but Tyson Kirkby crashed the net and poked it over the line for some insurance.

Port Huron’s power play finished 0-6 while Nousiainen made 38 saves in his first regulation loss of the season.

“We did get set up and we had the looks,” Johnson said. “I would have liked to see more movement but we had the set up and didn’t execute when the chances were there.”

McAnanama stopped all 21 Prowler shots in his second shutout of the season.

Port Huron returns home after a 1-1-1 road stretch. The Blue Ridge Bobcats invade McMorran Place on Friday, November 15 and Saturday November 16. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

DASHERS of DANVILLE at HUDSON VALLEY VENOM

Record-Setting Performances by Noreika and Jesseau Power Venom in 10-2 Victory

by Ben Leeds

Newburgh, NY - Eimantas Noreika and Dustin Jesseau combined for 13 points, as the Hudson Valley Venom used a dominant second period to dismantle the Danville Dashers, 10-2 on Saturday at IceTime Sports Complex.

Noreika ended the night with seven points–a hat trick and four assists–breaking Jesseau’s previous franchise record for points in a game of five. Jesseau also bested his own mark by recording a hat trick and three assists, with Noreika tallying an assist on all of his goals.

Hudson Valley kept the puck in Danville’s end for the majority of the first period, but goaltender Oscar Wahlgren saved the first 14 shots he saw, including a timely stop on a good look in front from Danila Belov.

Hudson Valley finally put one past Wahlgren with under two minutes to play in the period when Noreika slid a pass to Jesseau, who was waiting at the post. Jesseau put it past Wahlgren’s outstretched glove, lighting up the scoreboard for a Venom goal at 18:12.

Jesseau, who scored five points in Friday night's 6-5 victory over Port Huron, stayed hot; he deflected a wrist shot from Rasmus Asp into the back of the net only 38 seconds later to give Hudson Valley a sudden 2-0 advantage. 

The Dashers responded after Mark Pozsar tripped Nick Gullo, presenting the New York native with a penalty shot. Gullo converted, cutting the deficit to one heading into the break.

Hudson Valley came out of intermission firing, scoring three goals in less than six minutes. Noreika got it started, weaving through two Dashers en route to the net. Jesseau then deposited a rebound, recording his second hat trick of the season, this one coming through only 25 minutes of play. Davide Gaeta scored on a power play to extend the lead to four.

That was it for Wahlgren in net, but the change in goaltenders did not slow the Venom down. Noreika sent his second goal of the period past newly-entered Parker Rutherford at 9:15. Less than a minute later, newly-named captain Bret Parker scored on a deflection.

Parker added a shorthanded goal before the period came to a close, thanks to a beautiful feed from Blake Siewertsen on a two-on-one rush.

Hudson Valley reached double digits in third period; Noreika completed the hat trick at 12:47, and then minutes later Siewertsen trickled one past Rutherford to make it 10-2.

The Venom held possession of the puck for the majority of the game, but goaltender Eli Bowers shined on the chances he faced, saving 24 shots, only conceding goals on the penalty shot from Gullo and a breakaway by Trey Fischer in the second period.

The Venom are back in action next Friday when they welcome the Motor City Rockers to IceTime Sports Complex. There, Hudson Valley will look to extend their winning streak to three games, and puck drop is set for 7 p.m.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES 

Wolves Win in OT

Sweep Weekend Series against Hat Tricks

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY -  The second half of the home and home series between the Hat Tricks and Wolves moved north into northern New York state and the Watertown Municipal Arena. The Wolves opened the two game set with a 6-0 win on Friday night in Danbury.

The first twenty minutes of this night found both teams taking unnecessary penalties, resulting in 4 power play goals, 1 for each team.

The first goal coming just 1:45 into the period on a Alaeksandr Gamzatov shot off a rebound in front, beating Wolves starter Garrett Johnson. Assists on the goal belonged to Connor Woolley and Kyle Gonzalez.

Watertown's Chiwetin Blacksmith tied the game 1-1 with a power play goal assisted by Andrew Whalen and Mike Mercurio, beating the Hat Tricks starting keeper Connor McCollum.

The Wolves picked up their first lead of the night at the 14:39 mark when Kyle Heitzner lit the lamp, assisted by Chiwetin Blacksmith and Mike Mercurio, also on a power play.

At the 6:37 point of the frame, Cory Anderson would knot the game once again, giving the Hat Tricks another power play goal assisted by Bohdan Zinchenko and Aleksandr Gamzatov.

The period ended with the 2-2 score with the shots on goal being 15 for Danbury to Watertown 14.

Anton Borodkin would take over the goal tending chores for the Wolves in period number 2,but just as they did in in period one, the Hat Tricks struck at the 1:48 mark, putting them back in the lead 3-2 with a Gaetano Delonge goal assisted by Connor Woolley.

The Hat Tricks extended their lead to 4-2 at 4:19 of the period when Vadim Frolov found the back of the net, assisted by Chase Harwell and Johnny Ruiz. The short night for Borodkin ended there, and Johnson went back between the pipes for the Wolves.

The Wolves were able to tighten the score to 4-3 at the 12:55 point with a Chiwetin Blacksmith goal on a feed from Mike Mercurio.

Danbury again outshot the Wolves 14-9 in the period and held the 4-3 score at the break.

In the third period Kyle Heitzner would tie the score once again at 4-4 assisted by Junior Harris and Trevor Grasby, with the goal coming at the 5:20 mark.

The period would remain tied at the end of regulation, sending the game to overtime for the second week in a row here at home.

In the overtime frame, Trevor Lord would snipe a shot over the outstretched glove of McCollum, sending the Wolves to victory 5-4. Assists on the score belonged to Kyle Heitzner and Trevot Neumann.

Next weekend the Wolves will host the Danville Dashers on Friday and Saturday while the Hat Tricks will head home to host the Binghamton Black Bears both nights.

Hat Tricks Topped by Watertown in OT, 5-4

by Doug Lattuca

Watertown, NY -  For the second consecutive trip to Watertown, the Hat Tricks gave up a lead and fell in overtime to the Wolves. Trevor Lord scored the game-winning goal at 3:11 of OT to secure a 5-4 come-from-behind victory for Watertown, a week after Carter Thornton notched the game-ender at 3:13 of the extra frame versus Danbury (Nov. 1).

The teams combined for four power play goals, two apiece, and Watertown goaltender Garrett Johnson picked up his first professional win in a 26-save effort. The Wolves lead the season series 1-0-2-0 after taking just four of the 13 meetings last year and have won seven of their first nine games overall. On the other hand, the Hat Tricks have now dropped back-to-back games and three of their four overtime contests this season.

After being held scoreless through 60 minutes in Friday night's 6-0 defeat to the Wolves, Danbury's Aleksandr Gamzatov wasted little time getting the Hat Tricks on the board Saturday. The second-year forward received a cross-slot feed from Connor Woolley and wristed it over the glove of Watertown netminder Garrett Johnson on the power play to give the Hat Tricks a 1-0 lead. But 2:21 later, the Wolves, on the man advantage, responded when winger Chiwetin Blacksmith capitalized on a broken play in front of the net to tie the game. Later in the frame, Watertown was set up on a 4-on-3 power play and cashed in again. Former Hat Trick Kyle Heitzner whacked home a rebound on the doorstep to give the Wolves their first lead of the night. Less than two minutes later, at 16:37, Danbury notched one on the power play when forward Cory Anderson ripped a wrist shot to the top right corner to even the score, 2-2. Ironically, the two teams were a combined 0-for-14 on the power play on Friday and at the end of the first on Saturday, all goals came with the man up.

At the start of the second period, Garrett Johnson, who made eight saves in the opening period of his first professional start, was replaced by Anton Borodkin. The Hat Tricks got off to a hot start similar to the first. At 1:48, Gaetano DeLonge, in his first action since Oct. 19, found the puck at the ring of the right circle and sniped one into the top left corner for the game’s first even strength tally and a 3-2 Danbury lead. 2:31 later, Vadim Frolov cleaned up a rebound in the crease to give the Hat Tricks their largest lead of the game, 4-2. The goal was the rookie’s first since the second game of the year on Oct. 19. Johnson re-entered the contests at 11:08 for Borodkin who replaced him to start the frame. At 12:55, Watertown got within one on Blacksmith’s second goal of the night following a Danbury turnover in its zone.

5:20 into the third period, Heitzner tied the game at 4-4 on a wrist shot from the slot. No other goals were scored in the final 15 minutes of regulation and the sides headed to overtime for the second time in three meetings this season.

In OT, Heitzner fired a wrister past an outstretched McCollum to end the game. Blacksmith (2-1-3), Heitzner (2-1-3), and Mercurio (3a) all finished with three points while Woolley (2a) and Gamzatov (1-1-2) each contributed two points for the Hat Tricks.

The Hat Tricks return to action next Friday and Saturday (Nov. 15-16) in a home set against the Binghamton Black Bears. Friday’s game starts at 7:30 p.m. and the puck drops at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

MONROE MOCCASINS at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS

Rockers Give Valiant Effort, Come Up Short in Comeback Bid

by Brady Beedon

Fraser, MI - A short handed Motor City Rockers team dug themselves just too big of a hole to climb out of Saturday night, as they fell to the Monroe Moccasins 5-4. 

After Friday nights game, the Rockers had both forward Avery Smith and Nick Magill-Diaz missing tonight's contest with suspensions.

Monroe would score the only two goals of the opening period, when Kyle Stevens and former Rocker Declan conway found the back of the net. Conway leads the Moccasins in both goals and total points. That goal registered his sixth of the season, and eighth overall point. 

In the middle frame the Rockers would get on the board, when Adam Kuhn tipped one past Moccasin netminder Markus Ekholm Rosen, for Kuhn’s second of the season. 

The one goal difference would be short lived, as just over five minutes later, Blake Anderson found the back of the net to extend the lead to 3-1 Monroe. 

Off an offensive zone draw, Rocker’s center Sam Gagnon smacked a rebound past Ekhom Rosen to bring the Rockers within a goal once more.

However, Monroe would control the play off the ensuing faceoff, with Rex Moe answering the Gagnon goal for the Moccasins just 94 seconds later. Moes goal would be the final of the middle period, and we’d head into the third with Monroe up 4-2.

The third period would see over 11 scoreless minutes of play before Monroe’s Corgan Chris Corgan would score from behind the end line, when his shot took an odd bounce off of Motor City’s goalie Ricky Gonzalez’s right pad to make the score 5-2 Monroe.

The Rockers wouldn’t say die, as Carson Baptiste scored his first and second goal of the season to bring the Rockers within a goal in the final two minutes. Despite pulling Gonzalez, Motor City would never get a clean look at the net as Monroe held off the Rockers to earn the series sweep.

With the loss, Motor City has dropped their last four, with an overall record of 1-6-0-0-1. Monroe improved their record to 2-3-3-0-1.

Motor City will head on the road next weekend for a two game series against the Hudson Valley Vipers out in Nerburgh, New York. Monroe stays on the road when they head to Winston-Salem to take on the Carolina Thunderbirds.

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Comeback 'Cats Ride Five-Goal 3rd to Sweep Sea Wolves

by Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - The Blue Ridge Bobcats lived up to the monikers of Cardiac Cats and Comeback Cats, riding an incredible five-goal third period to turn a 3-1 deficit into a 6-3 triumph over and season series sweep of the Mississippi Sea Wolves.

Dimitri Selyutin opened the scoring for Blue Ridge just 46 seconds in, sniping a sharp angle shot past Sam Best and igniting the crowd of better than 1,400 at Hitachi Energy Arena on Military Night. Three unanswered goals from Mississippi followed through the rest of the first and the middle frame.

The comeback began at the 6:11 mark of the final frame, when Savva Smirnov banked a shot off the pad of Best and into the back of the net to cut the lead to 3-2. Tristan Simm and Justin Vernace followed, just a minute and 12 seconds apart and in the blink of an eye Blue Ridge pulled in front 4-3 with a trio of goals in a span of just 3 minutes and 18 seconds. Smirnov's second goal of the night came on the power play, as did the exclamation point one-timer off the stick of Aaron Ryback.

Selyutin and Smirnov each had 3 points on the night, earning third and first star honors respectively. Ryback took home second star for his pair of points.



The Bobcats hit the road next weekend to take on the Port Huron Prowlers at McMorran Arena. Both games can be seen on BobcatsTV and heard on 96.5 WCGX The Cat.

Sea Wolves Can't Hold Lead, Fall 6-3

by Jon Kliment

Wytheville, VA - The Sea Wolves looked to claim a split in the season series one day after falling 9-2 to the Blue Ridge Bobcats. 

After a night where it seemed like every shot went in for Blue Ridge their first attempt from Dmitri Selyutin found a way through Samuel Best just 46 seconds in to give the Bobcats the 1-0 lead. The Sea Wolves had a call go their way as Timur Gavrilovich took a penalty for a hook and as Brendan Hussey broke in on a two on one, he saucered a pass to the waiting Blake Keller who picked his corner and tied the game up at 1-1. 

Mississippi found a way to keep pushing pace in the period of the long change as Matt Stoia picked up a pass from Curtis Hansen in the slot and wasted no time as he buried it past Virostek for the 2-1 lead. After kneeing minor penalty to Denis Radchenko the Sea Wolves tallied for a second time on the power play as Dalton Anderson was able to find the back of net and make it a 3-1 game for the Sea Wolves. 

The third period saw Blue Ridge regain their form from last night as Savva Smirnov scored twice, Aaron Ryback, Justin Vernace and Selyutin tallied again to take a 6-3 lead for the Bobcats to find their way to victory.

Best stopped 44 of 50 in the loss.

The Sea Wolves head to Baton Rouge next Friday to finish off the five game road trip as they look to snap the losing streak. Follow along on Youtube! 

ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS

Carolina Falls in Overtime to Athens, 1-0

Shinkaruk beats Thunderbirds 1:13 into extra frame

by Brendan Reilly

Winston-Salem, NC - For the first ever meeting between the Carolina Thunderbirds and Athens Rock Lobsters, neither side could find the back of the net in regulation, but just over a minute into overtime, Carter Shinkaruk found the overtime winner for Athens, downing Carolina, 1-0, Saturday night at the Fairgrounds Arena in front of 3,110 fans.

Carolina (3-1-3) and Athens (8-0-1) both came out the dressing rooms slow, with both sides feeling each other out. The Thunderbirds had the better of the opportunities across the first 20 minutes, with Jacob Schnapp getting a breakaway chance and Roman Kraemer with an opportunity at the end of the 1st period, but Athens goalie, Jack Bostedt, denied both, keeping the game scoreless after a period. 

In the second, both Bostedt and Carolina goalie, Mario Cavaliere, continued to be impressive. The two netminders saw a combined 25 shots in the middle 20 minutes and continued to be walls in net, with the game remaining scoreless going to the 3rd period. 

After only one penalty across the first 40 minutes, the physicality picked up between the two sides. Joe Kennedy and Cole McKechney dropped the gloves, and the Thunderbirds had a 5-on-3 opportunity towards the middle of the frame but were not able to figure out Bostedt and after 60 minutes, overtime was needed with the game still scoreless.

In the overtime, after early rushes for the Thunderbirds, Athens took an odd-man opportunity with Garrett Milan who dropped a pass back for Shinkaruk who slotted home the game-winning goal from the top of the slot at the 1:13 mark, giving Athens the two points on the evening, 1-0. 

Carolina returns to action this coming Friday back at home as the Thunderbirds host the Monroe Moccasins for the first time ever. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:35 p.m. from Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 

Goaltender Duel Ends with Shinkaruk’s Overtime Snipe

by Matteen Zibanejadrad

Winston-Salem, NC - The Athens Rock Lobsters were taken to overtime for the third-straight game and won yet again, with Carter Shinkaruk burying a wrister to secure two points against the Carolina Thunderbirds on Saturday night.

Fans in the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena were treated to stellar goalie play from both sides, as Jack Bostedt and Mario Cavaliere combined for a total of 62 saves on the night. 

Bostedt made 34 saves and secured his spot as the first star with his clutch play on the night.

He was helped out with a great defensive display from the Rock Lobster team as a whole, especially when the Thunderbirds were kept out on a five-on-three power play. 

With nothing separating the two teams after 60 minutes, the game found its decider just 1:13 into the extra frame. Carter Shinkaruk lasered a wrist shot past Cavaliere after Garrett Milan dropped a pass back to the Rock Lobster captain.

The Rock Lobsters (8-1-0, 20 pts) travel to Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Ga. on Saturday, Nov. 16 to take on the undefeated Columbus River Dragons at 7:05 p.m. EST.