MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at PORT HURON PROWLERS
PROWLERS SCORE 4 UNANSWERED TO DOWN ROCKERS
by Will Wiegelman
Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers got back in the win column with a big 4-2 win over the Motor City Rockers. The victory for Port Huron keeps Motor City from clinching a playoff spot.
“The message before the game is that we left last week in the past,” said Prowlers head coach Matt Graham. “This week was focusing on the details of our game and what’s important for us to be successful. First period, we strayed away from the details and made uncharacteristic mistakes that ended up in the back of our net and I think we responded well in the second and tightened things up in the third as well.”
The Rockers had the better of the play in the first period and they opened the scoring. TJ Delaney found Roman Gaudet who got a bouncing puck past Tucker Tynan for his first point since coming off IR at the end of February.
Jameson Milam doubled the advantage late in the frame as he clapped a slapshot over Tynan’s glove. His team took the 2-0 lead into the intermission.
Port Huron responded in the second, when Evan Foley, Vincent Dekumbis and Dalton Jay went to work on the forecheck. The puck was worked to Jay in the slot who got a backhander off that found the top shelf to cut the lead in half.
“It’s just relentless pursuit of the puck,” Foley said. “That was the key there, constantly putting pressure and reloading. It was a great shot by a great goal scorer.”
Later in the period, Dekumbis chased down a loose puck and held it in the corner to waste time on a penalty kill. It popped out to Liam Freeborn who cut to the slot and beat Ricky Gonzalez to tie the game. With the goal, Freeborn became the first Prowler to score 50 points this season.
It was tied past the midway point of the third when Conor Foley took the puck behind his own net and found his way into offensive territory where he dropped the puck off to Mitch Jones. Jones snapped the puck top corner to put Port Huron in front for the first time.
“To me, that play was so successful because of his play behind the net,” Graham said. “He had a little bit of patience with the puck and deception. He cut to the middle of the ice and created a lot of time and space for himself. He’s a really smart player.”
The Prowlers held things down the rest of the way and Evan Foley hit the empty net to seal the deal.
Foley led the way with the empty-net goal and two assists while Dekumbis had a pair of helpers. Tynan made 36 stops in his 10th win of the season.
Gonzalez made 32 saves on the other end for the Rockers.
Game two of the three-game set is at 6:50 P.M. on Saturday, March 16 at Big Boy Arena. The game can be found live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.
Rockers Drop Opening Weekend Game To Port Huron In Battle of I-94
by Ben Szilagy
Port Huron, MI - The Motor City Rockers thought they had the Prowlers right where they wanted them. But four unanswered goals by Port Huron proved to be too many as the Prowlers came away with a 4-2 win on Friday night.
The season series sits at 8-5-1 on the year with six games remaining between the two teams.
The Rockers have felt comfortable at McMorran Place all season long with a 5-2-1 road record in the series, and it didn't take too long for Motor City to make themselves feel right at home with two goals in the first period.
The first one was scored midway through the first when TJ Delany kept his point streak against Port Huron alive when he received a pass from Jonthan Juliano. Delaney moved down the far wall and feathered a centering pass to Roman Gaudet who settled the puck down and shoved it through the five-hole for a 1-0 lead with 9:58 to play in the opening period.
Juliano was playing in his 400th career game on Friday.
Meanwhile, it was Gaudet’s first goal since returning from his second IR stint, and snapped a four game drought. Delaney now has an 8-game point streak versus the Prowlers as well.
The Rockers extended the lead with just under six minutes remaining.
TJ Sneath won the face-off draw that was controlled by Lane King. King worked his way from the end line to the half wall and centered the puck to Jameson Milam who was able to hit the top shelf for a 2-0 lead with 5:35 to play in the first period.
It was Milam’s 13th of the season, and extends his point streak to four games. Lane King now has five assists in six games since joining the Rockers and is now on a five-game point streak as well.
Just as the first period belonged to the Rockers, the second belonged to the Prowlers.
Dalton Jay cut into the Motor City lead after a giveaway in the defensive zone. Vincent Dekumbis found a loose puck that was poked to his stick from Evan Foley. A quick chip from Dekumbis to Jay allowed the Hamilton, ON native to offer a back-hand for a 2-1 game 3:26 into the 2nd period.
The Prowlers tied the score, 2-2, with a short handed goal eight minutes later when Liam Freeborn got a loose puck from the Rocker endline and worked it into the slot for a quick wrister for his first short handed goal of the season.
The scoring streak continued with the help of Port Huron’s college signing Conor Foley.
Foley weaved his way from his own endline toward the Motor City end and dropped the puck off for Mitch Jones in the high slot. Jones then picked a corner and fired a wrister for a 3-2 lead with 11:14 to play in the third period.
Evan Foley completed his three point night with an empty net goal for a 4-2 lead with six seconds remaining in the contest.
The Rockers and Prowlers will now play two games in Fraser, MI as the Battle of I-94 continues on into the weekend at Big Boy Arena with a 6:05pm puck drop on Saturday and a 2:05pm face-off on Sunday.
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