Game Recaps 12/21/24

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at PORT HURON PROWLERS 

Port Huron Takes Teddy Bear Toss Night Victory

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - 11 different Prowlers found the scoresheet as they defeated the Mississippi Sea Wolves 5-2 at McMorran Place on Dec. 21. Port Huron is now on its first three-game winning streak of the season.

The Prowlers pushed the offense in the first and finally broke through with 64 seconds left in it. A rebound came to Reggie Millette and he put home the teddy bear toss goal as the fans littered the ice with stuffed animals.

That goal held up as the only one throughout most of the second until they began coming fast and furious. With under 6:30 to go in the frame, Bryan Parsons let a shot go from the point. Stefan Diezi deposited the loose change to make it 2-0. Mississippi got a power play less than a minute later and quickly capitalized as Curtis Hansen put home a rebound. 

The two-goal lead was restored 41 seconds later by Tucker Scantlebury with his second goal of the weekend. 1:27 after that, Austin Fetterly found Alex Johnson sneaking down the back side and he got his second of the weekend to open up a 4-1 Port Huron lead. 

With less than two to go in the period, Brendan Hussey whipped a pass to the back side that Samuel Lechel tapped home to take some of the energy out of the building going into the third. 

The Prowlers got the only goal of the final frame as a long-range shot from Millette hit Matt Graham at the side of the crease and went in.

The forward line of Graham, Millette and Fetterly combined for seven points, three for Graham, and two for each Millette and Fetterly. Reid Cooper made 27 saves and has now won three-straight starts.

Matt Stoia had two assists while Samuel Best’s 47 saves weren’t enough to earn him his first victory.

The Prowlers hit the road after Christmas to visit the Athens Rock Lobsters for the first time. Both games on Dec. 27 and 28 start at 7:05 P.M. and will be available live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Sea Wolves Plowed into Holiday Break in 5-2 Defeat

by Jon Kliment

Port Huron, MI - After an overtime game in their first meeting of the season the Sea Wolves and Prowlers met up for the second time in two nights as each looked to find some control of the series. With all five games occurring in McMorran Arena Mississippi came in looking to answer back. 

Port Huron celebrated their teddy bear toss night with a goal but it took them until the last 1:04 of the first period as Sam Best made save after save, but it was a rebound that bounced off him straight to Reginald Millette that finally beat Best to give the Prowlers the 1-0 lead.

The Prowlers found the net again as Stefan Diezi found the back of the net at 13:41 to give Port Huron the 2-0 lead. The Sea Wolves finally found some offense as on the power play 59 seconds later Curtis Hansen took a Bradley Richardson rebound and tucked it behind Reid Cooper to close the gap back to just one goal, 2-1. This seemed to spark the Prowlers however as Tucker Scantlebury and Alex Johnson both found shots inside the circles to beat Best to give the Prowlers a 4-1 lead in just 2:08 from when Mississippi scored. The Sea Wolves continued to battle back however, as Samuel Lechel had his stick on the ice in front of the net and Brendan Hussey found it to bring Mississippi back to within two goals, 4-2 with 1:45 to go in the second period.

 Matt Graham extended the Prowlers lead 9:46 into the third period and gave Port Huron the weekend sweep with a 5-2 victory over the shortened Sea Wolves bench. 

Best stopped 47 of 52 in the loss.

The Sea Wolves return home for a three game home stand December 27-29th! Get your tickets online at ticketmaster.com, the ticketmaster app, or by stopping by the box office. 

MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Binghamton Wins 4-2

by Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY -  The Binghamton Black Bears won their fifth game in-a-row, defeating the Motor City Rockers 4-1. The Black Bears had four different goal scorers, three of which came at even strength. 

On a Peanuts holiday night, the Black Bears and Rockers battled it out for the first time since the playoffs. Binghamton was able to score first for the second time this weekend. Scott Ramaekers deflected a shot from Nic Poirier at the 8:38 mark. The Black Bears were able to put 22 shots on goal in the opening period, however, Motor City was able to tie the game off a fluky bounce, of a defender. The Rockers only managed three shots on target, but were equal at 1-1. 

Teams traded chances in the second period, but only the Black Bears were able to find the scoresheet. Dan Wieber was able to score his first of the season, banking it off the end wall, and bouncing it off the goaltender’s skate. Motor City had a power play late in the period, but was unable to find the equalizer in the frame. Shots still favored Binghamton 39-9, but a much closer score of 2-1. 

Binghamton had another terrific third period for the second time this weekend. Gavin yates was able to provide a quick strike, giving the Black Bears an insurance goal. Tyson Kirkby was able to score shorthanded on a heroic effort, capping off the Black Bears at a 4-1 lead. 

Motor City was able to inch closer with a late Avery Smith goal but could not complete the comeback. Binghamton wins 4-2. 

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES 

Wolves Win in a Shootout

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - The fourth meeting of the season between these two programs took to the ice in the Watertown Municipal Arena on this Saturday evening. The Wolves having won the three previous games, found themselves trying to snap a 3 game losing streak, with a lineup that was completely revamped in the last couple days.

Meanwhile, the Hat Tricks come in also trying to get back to the win column, after dropping a heartbreaker 7-6 to Motor City on Friday Night.

Trevor Neumann would stuff off his own rebound at the 15:00 mark, slipping the puck past the Hat Tricks starter Connor McCollum to put the Wolves up 1-0. The lone assist on the goal belonged to Trevor Lord.

Danbury outshot Watertown 13-11 in the first frame, but it would be the Wolves taking the 1-0 to the locker room at the break.

4:07 into the second period the Hat Tricks Jeremy Rottke was able to beat the Wolves Anton Borodkin and bring Danbury even with Watertown 1-1. Chase Harwell and Josh Labelle would get the helper on the goal.

The Wolves jumped back into the lead 2-1 at the 7:04 mark on a Trevor Neumann goal, with assists going to Lincoln Gingerich and Andrew Whalen.

The Hat Tricks took advantage of a missed puck by Borodkin, and snapped home a rebound to tie the game once again 2-2. Assists went to Aleksandr Vasilev and Jeremy Rottke.

The Hat Tricks continued to outshoot Watertown, this time 25-16 in the period, with the game headed to the third tied at two.

The newest Wolves player, Mathieu Halle got his second goal of the game at 9:58 of the third putting the Wolves back in front 3-2 , assisted by Andrew Whalen and Justin Schmit.

Once again in a matchup between the Wolves and Hat Tricks, this game would head to overtime when Gleb Bandurkin scored the third goal for the Hat Tricks at the 19:23 mark, assisted by Alaksandr Vasilev, making it 3-3 at the end of regulation.

The overtime period would be a battle of the goaltender as McCollum and Borodkin each stood tall in the extra frame.

Onto the shootout, Watertown's first shooter beat McCollum through the five hole, and that turned out to be the game winner 4-3.

The scene will switch to the Danbury Ice Arena next Friday evening when the Hat Tricks and Wolves will square off once again at 7:30.

Hat Tricks Tie it Late, Lose in Shootout, 4-3, to Watertown

by Doug Lattuca

Watertown, NY - For the third time in four meetings, the Hat Tricks and Wolves went past regulation and, for the third time, Watertown came away with the extra point in a 4-3 shootout victory on Saturday night at the Watertown Municipal Arena. Trevor Lord scored the lone goal in the shootout to snap a three-game skid for the Wolves and push them to a perfect 4-0 in the season series with the Hat Tricks.

Danbury’s Gleb Bandurkin tied the game with 37 seconds remaining in regulation to force overtime. The rookie Russian has netted goals in three consecutive games and five of the last six.

With the loss, the Hat Tricks fall to 1-5 after regulation this season and have lost two straight and three of their last four.

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS 

Rock Lobsters Drop Heartbreaker in Shootout Loss

by Matteen Zibanejadrad

Athens, GA -  The Athens Rock Lobsters fell 4-3 in a shootout to in-state foes in the Columbus River Dragons Saturday night in Akins Ford Arena.

The Rock Lobsters took a lead three different times on the night, starting with a Garrett Milan goal at the 11:16 mark of the first period. 

Ryan Hunter squeezed one in on the short side of Jack Bostedt to even the score at 1-1 late in the first period.

Malik Johnson netted his third of the year, stuffing in a loose puck at the halfway point of the second.

The pressure began to build into a tumultuous third period, starting with a Kirk Underwood goal for Columbus to tie the game once again.

Milan registered his fourth multi-goal game of the year, finding the top shelf to take a lead with 10 minutes left in regulation. Daniil Glukharyov registered his third assist of the night and the season on this goal.

Columbus’ Cody Wickline would be the writer of the rest of the narrative of the matchup, scoring a late equalizer and netting the lone shootout goal to take the spoils for the River Dragons.

The Rock Lobsters (10-2-2, 27 pts) return to Akins Ford Arena to take on the Port Huron Prowlers on Dec. 27 at 7:05 p.m. for the first of a two-game set.



CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Sanders Shines, 'Cats Complete First Ever Sweep of Carolina

by Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - Before a franchise-record crowd of 2,970 for Holiday Havoc at Hitachi Energy Arena, the Blue Ridge Bobcats put a hug feather in their caps by completing their first-ever weekend series sweep of the archrival Carolina Thunderbirds. 

Carolina got off to a better start than they did at home the previous night, with Gordon Whalen scoring less than four minutes into the 1st period. Much like last night in Winston-Salem, Saturday's contest in Wytheville was a back-and-forth affair. Jakub Volf answered for Blue Ridge, wristing home a shot past Boris Babik on a breakaway to tie the game at the 11:06 mark of the first and send the stuffed animals flying on Teddy Bear Toss night from the nearly 3,000 in attendance.

Both squads played scoreless until the 4:28 mark of the second, kickstarting a wildly eventful middle frame. Petr Panacek one-timed home a power play goal for the Thunderbirds, but Blue Ridge again answered in the form of Devin Sanders. Sanders created a solo break, sped past multiple Carolina defenders, and backhanded a shot home far side on Babik to tie the game again at 2 on one of the most gorgeous goals of the young season.

Nick Stuckless, on a play started behind the net by Austin Bellefeuille and a saucer centering pass from Hunter Hall stuffed a shot under Babik's pads to give the Bobcats their first lead of the night. Sanders wasn't done, though. 32 seconds after Stuckless, Sanders drove the net again and sent a backhand shot off Babik that trickled behind Carolina's netminder. Sanders followed his own shot and snuk it over the goal line for his second of the night. Carolina would answer with one goal in the third, but it was not enough as Blue Ridge held on for a 4-3 win.

Sanders, shining two-goal performance earned him first star honors. Jakub Volf's teddy bear tossing goal earned him second star, and Hunter Virostek stopped 40 of 43 Carolina shots in goal for the Bobcats to earn third star on the night.



Blue Ridge returns to action next weekend, hitting the road for a two-game set against the Columbus River Dragons. Friday's game is scheduled for a 7:35 PM puck drop, while next Saturday's contest is scheduled to begin at 7:05. Both games can be seen on BobcatsTV and heard on 96.5 WCGX "The Cat."

MONROE MOCCASINS at BATON ROUGE ZYDECO

Zydeco Rebound for Overtime Win

by Bryan Flores

Baton Rouge, LA - Coming into this game, the Baton Rouge Zydeco try to bounce back after a disappointing shootout loss last night against the cross-state rivalry Monroe Moccasin. Tonight there was no shortage of chances from both the Zydeco and the Moccasin. Both goaltenders Breandan Colgan and Sean Kuhn stood on their heads for two straight periods. And while the Zydeco would get power play chances, the Moccasin met them head on. Both team’s penalty kills were light outs all night. In the third, with a second left to go, the Zydeco would get a final shot but was turned aside by Kuhn. 

The game would go into overtime but not before the Moccasin would get a bench minor for too many men. On the power play the Zydeco were looking to end their goalless streak on the man advantage. Finally with a shot from Dimity Kuznetsov, MJ Graham would tip it home winning it for Baton Rouge, sending the Zydeco faithful home with an early Holiday Gift! 

Winning goaltender Breandan Colgan would get his second shutout of the year, improving his record to 11-4-1-2, while the losing goaltender Sean Kuhn falls to 5-5-0-2. Zydeco and Moccasin will hook up one final time this calendar year on New Years Eve, this time the Zydeco would be on the road.