DANBURY HAT TRICKS at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS 

Carolina Takes Season Series Over Danbury in Win, 4-3

Schnapp’s two unassisted goals leads Thunderbirds over Hat Tricks

by Brendan Reilly

Winston-Salem, NC -  Following a 3-2 overtime victory on Friday night, the Carolina Thunderbirds held on for a 4-3 victory to take the season series over the Danbury Hat Tricks Saturday night at the Annex. 

In the 1st period, Danbury (17-13-3) came out quickly but could not find the back of the net allowing Carolina (23-8-1) to settle into the game. After Jiri Pestuka was called for an interference, Jacob Schnapp pressured Conor McCollum and forced a turnover resulting in an unassisted shorthanded goal giving the Thunderbirds a 1-0 lead going into the 1st intermission. 

In the second, the Thunderbirds struck quickly. Roman Kraemer beat McCollum just 13 seconds into the frame doubling the Carolina lead, 2-0. Five minutes later, Tucker Firth beat McCollum from the point giving Carolina a 3-0 advantage. Just a minute later, Schnapp again found an unassisted goal moving the lead to four, 4-0. 

After the four goals, McCollum was pulled, and Liam Murray replaced him and pitched a shutout the rest of the way keeping Danbury in the game. With five seconds left in the 2nd, Corey Cunningham jammed home a goal making it a three-goal game going to the 3rd, 4-1. 

In the final frame, Danbury cut the lead in half on a Dustin Henning goal and cut the lead to one at the 10:47 mark. The two sides battled over the final nine minutes in a 4-3 game but the Thunderbirds held on to take down the Hat Tricks, 4-3, in regulation.

In the win, Cunningham was named the 3rd star with Kraemer earning 2nd star honors. With two goals and the game winner, Schnapp received the 1st star on the evening. 

Carolina takes the season series over Danbury, 3-1-0, and now turns its attention to Blue Ridge next weekend in Wytheville. Puck drop from the Apex Center is set for 7 p.m. next Saturday. 

ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

FREEBORN'S LATE GOAL PUSHES PROWLERS PAST SHARKS

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers earned a weekend split with the Elmira River Sharks by taking a 5-4 win on Feb. 3 at McMorran Place. Liam Freeborn scored the game winner with 90 seconds to go.

Davide Gaeta opened the scoring in the first when he deflected home a wrist shot from Kyle Powell. Later in the period, the Prowlers ended a strong offensive shift with the puck sliding across the crease to Austin Fetterly who tapped it home.

Fetterly struck again in the second, taking a pass from Liam Freeborn and dangling Eli Bowers before tucking the puck home. Mark Pozsar sent a shot from the point that Ian Wallace got most of but it dribbled just across the goal line to tie the game at two.

With under two minutes to go in the period, Matt Graham dropped the puck for Dalton Jay who clapped it past Bowers to give Port Huron a one-goal lead heading into the third.

Early in the final frame, Sotirios Kargeorgos scored his first as a River Shark to tie things up again. Later, the Prowlers got a power play and Alex Johnson fired a pass across the ice to Freeborn who caught it and sent it to the top of the net. Steven Klinck sent a shot past Wallace to knot the score again.

Port Huron finally found a goal Elmira couldn’t respond to as Fetterly slid a pass down to Freeborn past an aggressive Bowers and Freeborn slid it into the empty cage.

The top line of Freeborn, Fetterly and Graham were named as the three stars and combined for 10 points. Frank Schumacher added a pair of assists while Wallace made 22 saves in the win.

Gaeta had a goal and an assist while Bowers made 16 saves after replacing Sammy Bernard at the start of the second period.

The Prowlers are back in action hosting Watertown on Feb. 9 and 10. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

River Sharks Lose Nail Biter to Prowlers, 5-4

by Jon Kliment 

Port Huron, MI - After a resounding 5-1 win Friday night Elmira looked to win the weekend series on Saturday night in McMorran Arena and tie the season series up at two apiece. Sammy Bernard was stellar on Friday night and Tyler Gjurich looked to him to be again on Saturday as Kyle Powell played in his 300th FPHL game.

The River Sharks broke out early as Powell sent a puck towards the net and former Prowler Davide Gaeta knocked it out of mid air past Ian Wallace to give Elmira the 1-0 lead. Port Huron was not deterred however and Austin Fetterly scored his second goal of the weekend to tie the game up in the opening frame.

Fetterly netted his second of the game 1:48 into the second period past Eli Bowers as Sammy Bernard didn't return for the middle frame. The River Sharks battled back though as off a set faceoff play Mark Pozsar sent a slapshot flying towards the net and past Wallace to tie the game at ttwo. Late in the second Port Huron had opportunities galore after killing a penalty and Dalton Jay cashed in to give Port Huron the lead heading into the third period. 

 Sotirios Karageorgos found the back of the net to tie the game just 2:44 into the third period fresh off the four on four, but a power play opportunity gave Port Huron their lead back six minutes later as Liam Freeborn scored off a perfect cross ice pass to put Port Huron up 4-3. Steven Klinck managed to tie the game up one final time taking advantage of a downed Alex Johnson and burying the puck behind Wallace to tie everything back up at 4 apiece. In heartbreaking fashion it was another Freeborn goal with 90 seconds remaining that finished off the game 5-4 for Port Huron.

Sammy Bernard stopped 8 of 9 before leaving the game and Eli Bowers stopped 16 of 20 in the losing effort. 

The River Sharks return to the Shark Tank Friday night February 9th at 7:05pm to face off with the Danbury Hat Tricks. Get your tickets online at Ticketmaster or by calling the Box Office at 607-734-PUCK! #FeartheFin 

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at WYTHEVILLE BOBCATS 

BOBCATS OUTLAST ZYDECO 3-2 IN THRILLING OVERTIME WIN

by Brett Wisman

Wytheville, VA - Before a crowd of 1, 680 at the APEX Center on Saturday night, the Blue Ridge Bobcats outlasted the Baton Rouge Zydeco by a final score of 3-2 in overtime.

Dmytro Babenko and Ricard Jelenskis had both goals for the Bobcats. Babenko earned third star and Owen Liskiewickz stopped 24 of 26 Baton Rouge shots in net for Blue Ridge.

Jakub Volf stuffed home the game winner at 3:31 of extra time.

The two teams wrap up the weekend tomorrow afternoon at 4:00.



MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Wolves Lose in a Shootout

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - Game number 4 of the regular season between the Wolves and the Motor City Rockers moved back into the Watertown Municipal Arena on this Saturday evening. All 3 previous games were also played here in Watertown, with the Wolves holding a 3-2 edge in those meetings.

The Wolves would be the first to strike when Lincoln Gingerich was able to sneak in from his right defensive position and lift a rebound past Rockers starter Ricardo Gonzalez at the 2:53 mark. Assist on the goal would go to Trevor Lord.

At the 6:59 point, the Rockers knotted the game up at one each when Josh Colton got one on one with Wolves starting keeper Eloi Bouchard, and knifed a shot over the shoulder. Mike Winn and Roman Gaudet were credited with the helpers on the goal.

The Rocker extended their lead at the 10:56 mark when Nick Gullo took a pass from Pavel Svintsov on the left side and blasted a shot past Bouchard to make the score 2-1.

Next it was the Wolves turn to tie the game when Carter Thornton found a loose puck in front of the crease and lifted a shot over a sprawling Gonzalez at 14:56 of the frame.

The period would end with the 2-2 score, with the Wolves outshooting the Rockers 16-13 in the first.

Just 1:22 into the second, the Rockers jumped back into the lead when TJ Delaney took advantage of a big rebound and slapped the puck past Bouchard making the score 3-2. The assists on the goal belonged to Jonathan Juliano and Mike Winn.

At the 9:34 mark Marc Bottero powered the puck out of the Watertown zone and carried it up ice beating the Rockers defenders and getting a blason on Gonzalez, who made the save, puck bounced right back ini front and Bottero was able to poke it past the keeper to tie the game at 3 each.

Chiwetin Blacksmith would then put the Wolves in front at the 15:35 point of the period, lifting a shot to the top corner over Gonzalez, exciting the Watertown crowd once again.

The Wolves took the 4-3 lead to the room after 40 minutes of play, while outshooting the Rockers 24 to 12 in the second period.

3:19 into the third, the Rockers tied the game again when Jameson Milam blasted a shot from the mid slot area over Bouchard's shoulder for a power play goal. Nick Gullo and Scott Coash were the assists on the goal.

At the 6:45 mark, the Rockers added another power play goal, this time from Jonathan Juliano, to take the lead 5-4, assisted by Mike Winn and Josh Colton.

The scoring wasn't done just yet, as just 1:12 later, Tate Leeson tied the game again on a beautiful pass from Chase DiBari, and slipped the puck to the back of the goal. Also on the assist was Trevor Lord.

With the game knotted at 5-5, both teams would increase the intensity of the pace of the game. Both teams had to kill off penalties, and both keepers were tested several times, before Tristen Wells would once again put the Rocker out in front 6-5 with an even strength goal at the 15:34 mark. Assists on the goal belonged to Mike Winn and Roman Gaudet.

The Wolves were able to power play goal scoring drought when Noah Dolye lit the lamp at 17:34, again knotting the game in a tie, 6-6.

Regulation time was not enough for these two teams, so we headed to an overtime period tied at 6 each. The overtime frame saw both teams having some quality scoring chances, but the Rockers Ricardo Gonzalez and the Wolves Eloi Bouchard were both outstanding in the extra frame, stopping every shot they faced.

The game moved to the shootout where again, the first three shooters were not enough to decide the winner, so we went to an extra shooter round where Motor City's Pavel Svintsov was able to beat Bouchard to the top corner of the net giving the Rockers the lead.

Mike Mercurio would be the Wolves last hope, but failed to capitalize when he moved Gonzalez but couldn't slide the puck past him. The Rockers scored the 7-6 win in front of a packed Watertown Municipal Arena, despite being outshot 56-36 by Watertown.

Next weekend the Wolves will Travel to Port Huron, MI to take on the Prowlers in a 2 game set Friday and Saturday, while the Rockers head back home to host the division leading Binghamton Black Bears both nights.  

Motor City Rockers Earn Franchise's 50th Win In Shootout With Watertown

by Ben Szilagy

Watertown, NY - Shootouts haven’t been kind to the Rockers this season. Motor City entered Saturday’s game against the Watertown Wolves winless in games that were decided by the skills competition. 

However, that changed after a back and forth affair when Rockers Forward Pavel Svintsov buried the puck in the fourth round of a shootout for a 7-6 win at Watertown Arena.

The win is also the franchise’s 50th win in Rockers' history. 

Motor City entered the third period down a goal, 4-3, but a three goal period allowed Motor City to take the lead before Watertown tied the score with 2:17 left in the final frame.

Jonathan Juliano recorded two goals for his 12th and 13th of the season to help propel the Rockers and Tristen Wells deflected a Jameson Milam shot for his third goal of the year that earned the Rockers a 6-5 lead. Wells and Juliano both had power play goals.

Motor City went 2-for-3 with the man advantage.  

A power play goal from Watertown’s Noah Doyle tied the score, 6-6 on his fifth of the season when he offered a rocket from the point that went over the left shoulder of Ricky Gonzalez. 

Gonzalez stopped 50-of-56 shots on the night, while the Wolves’ Eloi Bouchard stopped 29-of-35.

The first period was also a tightly contested affair as both teams skated to a 2-2 tie. Lincoln Gingerich and Carter Thornton notched two goals for Watertown, while Josh Colten and Nick Gullo scored for Motor City.

It was Gullo’s first goal as a Rocker when he was acquired earlier this week. 

The second period belonged to Watertown as the Wolves earned two more goals off the sticks of Marc Bottero who went end-to-end for his eighth of the season and Chiwetin Blacksmith that helped the Wolves regain the lead after a TJ Delaney goal that started the middle frame. 

The Rockers and Wolves will square off again on Sunday night at 7:00pm at Watertown Arena before Motor City returns to Michigan to host the Binghampton Black Bears on Feb 9th and 10th. 

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS 

River Dragons Sweep Weekend Series Over Sea Wolves

by Tom Callahan

Columbus, GA - For the second straight game the Columbus River Dragons scored three power play goals en route to an 8-5 win over the Mississippi Sea Wolves on Saturday at a sold-out Columbus Civic Center on Military Appreciation Night.

Eight River Dragons players posted multi-point efforts, led by Austin Daae’s two goal, one assist performance. Justin MacDonald (3a), Josh Pietrantonio (1-2-3, GWG) and Kyle Moore (1-2-3) also registered three point nights in the winning effort.

Yanni Liarakos led the way for Mississippi, registering a point on every Sea Wolves goal (3g, 2a). He also recorded 11 of Mississippi’s 28 total shots on goal.

Notes:

• MacDonald extended his scoring streak to 21 consecutive games. He now has 16 goals and 29 assists for 45 points in that span.
• Kyle Moore ran his personal scoring streak to ten games. He now has seven goals and 15 assists for 22 points over that stretch.
• The River Dragons win streak is now 11 games going back to January 5 against Blue Ridge. Columbus has not lost in 2024.
• Columbus is the only team that remains unbeaten in regulation at home, running their record to 14-0-1 on the season.
• Tonight marked the third time the River Dragons notched three power play goals in a game, the team’s season high.
• Columbus has scored eight goals in a game one other time this season, back on December 9 against the Sea Wolves.
• The game marked the second consecutive year Military Appreciation Night sold out at the Columbus Civic Center.
• Columbus went 6-for-12 in the two game weekend set.

Columbus is back in action next Friday night against the Baton Rouge Zydeco at 7:35 pm. Tickets are on sale now for all remaining River Dragons home games through the Civic Center Box Office and online at TicketMaster.com.