GAME RECAPS 3/10/24

WYTHEVILLE BOBCATS at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS  

Special Teams Power Rockers Past Bobcats In 4-1 Win

by Ben Szilagy

Fraser, MI - The Motor City Rockers bounced back from a loss on Saturday with a commanding 4-1 win on Sunday against the Blue Ridge Bobcats.

It was the last meeting in the regular season between the two teams. Motor City won the season series 7-2-1 in the inaugural season for Blue Ridge with Special Teams leading the way.

The Rockers jumped out to a 1-0 lead thanks to a goal by Nick Magill-Diaz on the power play, his first since returning from being inactive. Scott Coash cycled the puck to Jameson Milam at the point, and Milam fed it to Magill-Diaz in the far circle for a one-timer. 

The lone goal of the period was his sixth of the season.

Motor City extended the lead early in the second period, again with the man advantage, when Milam fired a hard blast from the near side circle after receiving a smooth feathering pass from Declan Conway from the opposite dot in the offensive zone. 

It was Milam’s 12th of the season, which is best among the defensive unit for only 9:56 of game time.

Blue Ridge got a goal back two minutes later after Nikita Ivashkin ripped a hard shot that rang off the end boards. The puck came back on the stick of Andrei Ivanov who flicked it on net for a 2-1 game with 14:10 remaining in the second period. 

The Rockers then put the game out of reach seven minutes later when Conway offered a centering pass to Josh Colten who netted his 12th of the year from point blank range for a 3-1 game with 7:01 to play in the middle frame. 

Motor City earned its final goal of the game when TJ Sneath scored on a short handed goal on a pure hustle play.

With 5:14 remaining in the second period, Sneath took the puck away at center ice. He then charged his way into the offensive zone along the near side wall and moved into the nearside circle. In one swift motion, he picked the top corner of the net for his 14th of the season and a 4-1 lead.

Motor City will look to capture the season series in the I-94 Rivalry against rival Port Huron this upcoming weekend with a game at McMorran Place on Friday, and two games at Big Boy Arena on Saturday and Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day.

ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS at DANBURY HAT TRICKS 

 HAT TRICKS FALL 4-2 IN SUNDAY MATINEE AGAINST ELMIRA

by Doug Lattuca

Danbury, CT - The River Sharks buried four unanswered goals, rallying from two down in the first period, in a 4-2 win over the Hat Tricks on Sunday. Danbury scored mid-way through the opening frame to extend its lead to two but did not beat Elmira netminder Sammy Bernard again in the final 50 minutes of regulation. Bernard made 60 saves while Hat Tricks goaltender Conor McCollum stopped 50 of 53 shots.

At 2:09 of the opening frame, assistant captain Daniel McKitrick, in his 100th FPHL game, flipped the puck over Bernard’s shoulder to put the Hat Tricks on the board early. Danbury took a 2-0 advantage, after a power play strike from Corey Cunningham on a tic-tac-toe play in front. Cunningham snapped the puck into the top right corner from the bottom of the left circle to notch his first goal since Feb. 17.

The River Sharks went 39 minutes without scoring until Steven Klinck fired a one-time shot from the left circle into the back of the net to cut the lead to one with 58 seconds remaining in the third period.

5:11 into the third, Elijah Wilson elevated the puck over the shoulder of McCollum to knot the game at two. At 14:26, Elmira jumped out to its first lead of the afternoon when McCollum lost sight of a point shot that hit a mound of bodies and Dominic Dumas tapped it in. With just over a minute left, Elmira added salt to the wound with an empty-netter sent in by Klinck for his second of the game.

Danbury outshot Elmira 62-53 but came up short in its third consecutive Sunday loss.



The Hat Tricks finish off their nine-game homestand on Friday against Elmira. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

Elmira Takes Down Tricks 4-2, Powell Tallies His 300th FPHL Assist

by Jon Kliment

Danbury, CT - After a day off on Saturday the River Sharks made their way to Danbury looking for a chance to keep pace with Watertown who found a victory in Michigan last night closing the gap to just 4 points. Danbury was looking to extend a 2 game winning streak over Elmira in the season series.

Danbury jumped out to the early lead as Daniel McKitrick scored after a stretch pass which led to a breakaway was able to best Sammy Bernard. Corey Cunningham added a second on a power play opportunity to give Danbury a 2-0 edge. 

Despite a number of back and forth chances only one goal was able to find the back of the net as Elmira finally broke a power play drought and Steven Klinck buried a rebound past Connor McCollum to cut the deficit to 2-1. 

Just 5:11 into the third Elijah Wilson joined in on the scoring with an odd man rush to even the game up at 2-2. Just before the five minute remaining mark of the third period Kyle Powell slapped a shot just wide of the net hitting Dominic Dumas and dropping down in front of him that he slapped home and gave Elmira their first lead of the afternoon and Kyle Powell his 300th career FPHL assist. Danbury pulled the netminder and with 1:08 left to go Klinck buried an empty netter for his second of the night to give Elmira the 4-2 advantage. 

Bernard stopped 60 of 62 for his 13th win of the season.

The River Sharks return to Danbury Friday night for a rematch with the Hat Tricks at 7:30pm. Follow along on Youtube and Mixlr! #FeartheFin

WATERTOWN WOLVES at PORT HURON PROWLERS 

 WOLVES DISMANTLE PROWLERS

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers ended their weekend by getting routed 11-6 by the Watertown Wolves on March 10. It was the first time they’ve given up 10 or more goals in a game since January 6, 2023.

This one was over early. The Wolves scored three times on their first five shots of the game and chased Ian Wallace after just 3:48. They scored twice more to make it 5-0 less than 12 minutes in. Dalton Jay and Tucker Scantlebury got two back and then the teams traded power-play goals in the final minute of the frame. The score was 6-3 after a wild opening 20 minutes.

Michael Mercurio scored shorthanded 33 seconds into the middle frame and then he struck again to make it 8-3. Scantlebury and Jay each got their second to bring the deficit to three early in the third.

William Godbout effectively put the game away a minute later with his first in the FPHL. Conor Foley scored with the extra attacker, but Watertown hit the empty net twice to wrap up the scoring.

Mitch Jones had a three-point night on a goal and two assists while Liam Freeborn and Alex Johnson added a pair of helpers apiece. Makar Sokolov took the loss after 40 saves in relief.

Carter Thornton led all scorers with a career-high five points. Marcurio and Vladislav Pavlov had two goals and an assist each, Tate Leeson scored once and dished out two and Aleksandr Gamzatov picked up three helpers. Jacob Kment made 32 stops.

The Prowlers return to the ice on March 15 to begin a three-in-three with the Motor City Rockers. That game is at McMorran Place and tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS 

 Thunderbirds Blank Baton Rouge, 7-0

Carolina picks up third shutout of season

by Brendan Reilly

Winston-Salem, NC - For the second night in a row, the Carolina Thunderbirds scored seven goals while goalie Cody Karpinski pitched a shutout as Carolina routed the Baton Rouge Zydeco, 7-0, Sunday at the Annex.

After a fast start last night, Carolina (31-11-2) struck early again. Josh Koepplinger delivered a centering pass to Joe Kennedy crashing the net, tipping in the game’s first goal at the 4:34 mark of the 1st period. Carolina doubled the advantage past the midway mark of the period with Roman Kraemer knocking home his 10th goal of the season giving the Thunderbirds a 2-0 lead through 20 minutes.

In the second, the Thunderbirds added three more goals. On the power play, Jiri Pestuka tapped home a rebound opportunity past Baton Rouge (10-29-4) netminder Bailey Stephens making it 3-0. Six minutes later, Dawson Baker snapped home his 26th goal of the campaign at the 10:29 mark making it 4-0. Just over two minutes later, Gus Ford picked up his third point of the evening with a goal at the 12:43 mark building the lead to five, 5-0. 

Carolina took that lead into the 3rd period with netminder Cody Karpinski saving all 19 shots he saw across 40 minutes. In the final 20 minutes, Karpinski saved six shots while Ford and Chris Ciolek found the back of the net as the Thunderbirds rolled to a 7-0 shutout victory over the Zydeco.

Ford picked up five points on the evening with two goals and three assists while Karpinski recorded his first shutout in the FPHL since December 14th, 2018, saving all 25 shots he saw. Baker has now scored at least a goal in his last nine contests and has 10 goals over the nine games. 

Carolina returns to action on Friday evening against the Blue Ridge Bobcats. Puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m. from Wytheville, Virginia.