PORT HURON PROWLERS at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS 

Delaney's Hat-Trick Powers Rockers Past Prowlers 5-2, Clinching Back-To-Back I-94 Rivalry Season Series

by Ben Szilagy

Fraser, MI -  On Saturday Motor City clinched a playoff spot for the second consecutive season and on Sunday the Rockers clinched the I-94 Rivalry for the second straight year over Port Huron with a 5-2 win. 

All weekend long the Rockers were the first team to score goals, but on Sunday it was the Prowlers who jumped out to an early 2-0 lead through the first 20-minutes. 

Port Huron had a power play and cycled the puck from the point to the far side wall. Rocker defender Mike Winn lost his stick making a play which opened up a scoring chance when Liam Freeborn centered the puck to Evan Foley who pushed it through Trevor Babin for a 1-0 lead.

Five minutes later Mitch Jones once again scored on a one-timer from set up from Freeborn for his third goal of the weekend and a 2-0 lead. 

That’s all the goals the Prowlers would receive as Motor City scored the next five in the second and third periods. 

Roman Gaudet earned his second of the weekend for the Rockers when Avery Smith won the face off draw, and Gaudet collected the win. As he skated into a scoring position from far side to nearside, he fired a back-handed shot to a screened Tucker Tynan that went through the five-hole for a 1-0 lead. 

A minute and 49-seconds later, TJ Delaney sniped the top right corner for his first of three of the night that tied the score at 2-2 with 16:01 to play in the second period.

Smith, who is playing in his second game as a college signee from Indiana Tech, recorded his first goal, and first multipoint game of his young professional career when he followed up his own shot with 9:43 remaining in the period for a 3-2 lead. 

On the weekend, Smith has a goal and two assists in two games. 

Delaney capped the scoring in the second period a minute later when he again sniped the top right corner on Tynan for a 4-2 lead when he walked the puck into the offensive zone and fired another shot from the near circle. 

He earned his second career hat-trick when Lane King offered a stretch pass through the neutral zone that hit Delaney’s stick perfectly allowing him to slip past the defense. He then fired the puck to the top-shelf again for his third of the night and capped the scoring at 5-2. 

His three goal performance now puts him second on the team in goals with 23 just two behind Scott Coash who leads the team with 25.

The Rockers will now prepare for a three game series against the Columbus RiverDragons in Georgia next weekend where the Rockers look to earn its first win on the road in the Civic Arena as a franchise.

ROCKERS TAKE ST. PATRICK'S DAY MATINEE

by Will Wiegelman

Fraser, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers dropped the rubber match of their three-game set with the Motor City Rockers 5-2 on St. Patrick’s Day. Motor City officially won the season series which has two games to go.

Port Huron began with their best first period in a couple of weeks and went up 2-0. Mike Winn lost his stick and the Prowlers worked the puck to Evan Foley at the top of the crease to open the scoring with a power play strike. About five minutes later, Liam Freeborn set up another goal, this time setting up Mitch Jones for a one-timer.

The Rockers roared back in the second. Early in the frame, Roman Gaudet sent a backhander through traffic that found its way through to the back of the net. 1:49 later, a shot from the point hit TJ Delaney and dropped to the ice. Delaney turned and fired it to the top corner to tie the game. 

Just past the midway point of the game, a dump-in took a funny bounce off a stanchion and popped out to the middle of the ice. Avery Smith shoveled it home and notched his first career pro goal. 1:15 later, Delaney came down the right-wing side and fired a shot from the outside that beat Tucker Tynan to the short side to make it 4-2.

In the third, Delaney completed the hat trick with a breakaway snipe in the third. It’s his second hat trick of the season.

Liam Freeborn had a pair of assists for Port Huron while Tynan made 28 saves in his third game of the weekend.

Smith added an assist to his tally while Pavel Svintsov and Lane King dished out a pair of helpers apiece. Trevor Babin made 33 saves. 

The Prowlers return home on March 22 and 23 against the Elmira River Sharks. Tickets to both games are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS  

New Team Same Result

by Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears defeated the Elmira River Sharks 8-1on Sunday afternoon. The Black Bears outscored their opponents 27-2 on the weekend. 

Binghamton scored three times in the opening frame. Scott Ramaekers scored his first professional career to open up the scoring. Dan Wieber followed that up with a goal, knocking in his own rebound. Colan Fitzgerald capped off the period with a backhanded goal, his 2nd goal of the season and 2nd of the weekend. The Black Bears led 3-0 after one. 

Austin Thompson continued his streak as he opened the scoring in the middle frame. Thompson’s goal came with two minutes left in the period, but Binghamton wasn’t done yet. Jestin Somero with his hustle, was able to blast one past the goalie, and the Black Bears closed the period with a 5-0 advantage. 

The Black Bears scored every possible way in the third. Andrew Logar on the power play, Kyle Stephan at even strength, and Ramaekers tallied his 2nd of the night shorthanded. Binghamton cruises to a 8-1 victory of Elmira, as Connor McAnanama made 26 saves in his 15th victory of the season. 

Black Bears Take Down Sharks, 8-1

by Jon Kliment

Binghamton, NY - Elmira finished out the three in three weekend battling the best team in the Empire division, the Binghamton Black Bears. The season series between the two squads had Binghamton ahead 7-3 through 10, but as of late Elmira has kept the games competitive. 

Binghamton came out strong at home as Scott Ramakers tallied his first pro goal just 1:54 into the game past Sammy Bernard. The Black Bears kept attacking as Dan Wieber tallied his 4th of the season just 1:35 later to make it 2-0. Late in the period Colan Fitzgerald scored his second goal since returning to Binghamton on a delayed penalty to Davide Gaeta to give the Black Bears a 3-0 lead after the first period. 

After swapping netminders Sam LiVecchi entered the game and Elmira was able to ratchet up the pressure, but couldn't find the back of the net again McAnanama. Binghamton on the other hand beat their former teammate twice in 36 seconds as Austin Thompson and Jestin Somero both found the back of the net to give the Black Bears a commanding 5-0 lead. 

Binghamton continued pushing the pack in the final period as well scoring three more times as Andrew Logar had a power play goal, Kyle Stephan had an even strength goal and Ramakers scored shorthanded to make it 8-0. Dustin Jesseau cashed in on a power play opportunity right off the face off to break the shutout bid by McAnanama.

Bernard stopped 11 of 14 in the loss, while LiVecchi stopped 26 of 31 in relief.

The River Sharks are back in action in Port Huron next Friday and Saturday night. Follow along on Youtube and Mixlr. #FeartheFin

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS

 MacDonald Paves the Way for a Dragon Win

by Tom Callahan

Columbus, GA -  Justin MacDonald keeps on rolling, scoring twice and adding three assists as the Columbus River Dragons downed the Baton Rouge Zydeco 8-4 on Sunday afternoon at the Columbus Civic Center.

MacDonald, who extended his league-record scoring streak to 34 games, assisted on Carter Shinkaruk's game-opening goal at 5:02, then made it 2-0 on his first goal of the game at 14:59 from Ryan Hunter and Kyle Moore.

Baton Rouge rallied for a late goal at 19:03 from Tyler Larwood to make it 2-1, and then were awarded a penalty shot with 14.4 seconds remaining in the first. Noah Robinson was stopped by the blocker of William Lavalliere (18 saves) to preserve the lead after 20 minutes.

MacDonald would open the second period scoring on an assist from Hunter but the Zydeco, as they would all night, fought back. Scott Shorrock and Bradley Richardson tied the game for Baton Rouge by the 14:08 mark. Columbus responded with a late power play goal from Austin Daae made it 4-3 at the second intermission.

In the third, Columbus moved back in front 5-3 on Josh Pietrantonio's goal at 1:22 but again the Zydeco would close the gap at 12:27 of the period on a Robinson marker, pushing the game to 5-4.

After that, the River Dragons offense took over, posting three goals in a span of 4:05 to run the score up and win going away.

Notes:

• Columbus takes the inaugural season series 12-1 over the Zydeco.
• Justin MacDonald now has a point in 34 straight games, posting 31 goals and 49 assists for 80 points in that stretch.
• Ryan Hunter also extended his personal scoring streak to seven games with a point.
• The River Dragons inched closer to wrapping up the Continental Division title as well as the overall regular season championship with the win. Columbus now needs 25 points to secure the top spot overall throughout the FPHL playoffs, and 15 points to lock Carolina out of the top spot in the Continental Division.
• The River Dragons now have 12 games remaining, six on the road and six at home.

Columbus is back in action next Friday, Saturday and Sunday against the Motor City Rockers at the Columbus Civic Center. Tickets for all remaining River Dragons home games are on sale now through the box office or online at TicketMaster.com.

THREE UNANSWERED GOALS PROPEL RIVER DRAGONS OVER ZYDECO 8-4

by Joseph Furtado

Columbus, GA - The Baton Rouge Zydeco ran out of luck on St. Patrick’s Day, after their late comeback was halted by the Columbus River Dragons in the teams’ final meeting of the season.

Columbus came out of the gate swinging in the first period, answering with a goal just five minutes in after Carter Shinkaruk was able to beat Greg Harney to make it 1-0. Justin MacDonald would pick up an assist on the play to extend his scoring streak to 34 games and would pick up the second goal of the period at 14:59. Baton Rouge wouldn’t go away easily, Tyler Larwood used his speed to swing wide and stick one over the shoulder of William Lavalliere to get the Zydeco on the board. Trailing 2-1 in the final minutes of the period, Noah Robinson found himself a breakaway and was hooked on the play. He would be awarded a penalty shot, but would not score as Lavalliere made the stop. After the first period, Columbus found themselves with a 2-1 lead and up in shots 22-9. 

In the second period, Columbus would continue where they left off with MacDonald recording his second of the game just five minutes in. With the Zydeco trailing 3-1, they wouldn’t go away easily, Scott Shorrock sent one in from the blue line at 08:26 to cut the deficit back to one. In the back end of the period, Bradley Richardson tied the game for the Zydeco at 3-3, which came off of a set faceoff beating Lavalliere on the glove side. However, the tie wouldn’t last long as Columbus answered quickly with another response from Austin Daae on the power play, giving them a 4-3 lead. 

The third period is where the Zydeco began the collapse, giving up four goals in the final period. Josh Pietrantonio scored another quick one for Columbus just under 90 seconds into play, making it 5-3. As the teams continued to trade off chances, Robinson would bring the Zydeco within one to make it 5-4 at 12:27. Despite the Zydeco’s pesky play, Columbus would rally to score three unanswered goals en route to their 8-4 victory. 

This was the last meeting of the season between the two teams. Columbus closed out the series with a 12-1 lead over Baton Rouge, with their only victory against the River Dragons dating back to October 2023 - a 5-4 win at the Raising Cane’s River Center.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

 Hat Tricks Defeat Wolves Again

by Jeff Barett

Watertown, NY - The 12th meeting of the regular season between the Wolves and the Hat Tricks took place on Sunday evening in Watertown. The Hat tricks came in holding a 7-4 lead in the series. The Wolves came into the game trying to close the gap in the battle for the last playoff spot in the Empire division, trailing Elmira by 4 points, who lost earlier in the day in Binghamton.

The lone goal of the first period would belong to the Hat Tricks' Zach Pamaylaon at the 15:08 mark, beating Watertown starter Eloi Bouchard, on a power play goal. Assists on the goal went to Jacob Ratcliffe and Connor Wooley.

Danbury outshot Watertown 16-10 in the period.

Connor Wooley added a second Hat Trick goal at the 8:08 point of the second, assisted by Jonny Ruiz, to give Danbury the 2-0 lead. 

The Hat Tricks again out shot Watertown in the second. This time 22-8

Danbury would extend their lead at 5:18 of the third when Bohdan Zinchenko slapped home a rebound of a Nick DiNicola shot. Zach Pamaylaon was also credited with an assist

William Berry would be next to light the lamp at 9:36, assisted by DiNicola and Connor Wooley, making the score 4-0 Hat Tricks.

Zinchenko nabbed his second goal of the night at the 10:51 mark, extending Danbury's lead to 5-0. Michael Falanga was credited with the lone assist.

Watertown got two goals back separated by just a minute, twenty seven seconds. First Tate Leeson finally solved Hat Tricks keeper Connor McCollum at 11;30 of the frame, assisted by Mike Mercurio. The second goal belonged to Vladislav Pavlov at 12:57 for a power play marker, assisted by Leeson and Trevor Lord.

Chase Harwell added an empty net goal for the Hat Tricks at 18:50 to send the score to 6-2, and sending the Hat Tricks onto victory.

The Wolves will battle the Binghamton Black Bears for three games next weekend. First they will head to Binghamton for a Friday night matchup then they will host the Binghamton Black Bears on Saturday and Sunday nights. Danbury will head to Wytheville, VA for a two game matchup with the Blue Ridge Bobcats on Friday and Saturday.

 HAT TRICKS SWEEP THREE-GAME WEEKEND WITH 6-2 WIN OVER WATERTOWN

by Doug Lattuca

Watertown, NY - The Hat Tricks potted five unanswered goals to pull away from Watertown in a 6-2 victory on Sunday. Danbury scored once in the first and second periods and four times in the third. With the win, the Hat Tricks swept the three-game weekend and recorded all nine points.

With five minutes remaining in the first, defenseman Zach Pamaylaon, off of a ricochet, got the Hat Tricks on the board first on the power play. Following a blocked shot from the point, the puck squirted to Pamaylaon at the left circle and he snapped home the game’s opening goal.

At 8:08 of the second frame, Connor Woolley banged in a rebound in front to extend the lead to two. Through two periods, the Hat Tricks outshot the Wolves 38-18.

5:18 into the third period, Bohdan Zinchenko buried a breakaway to push the Danbury advantage to three. With 10:24 remaining, Billy Berry backhanded one past Watertown’s netminder Eloi Bouchard to balloon the Hat Tricks' advantage to four. A minute and a half later, Zinchenko caught a pass from Michael Falanga and slipped it into the back of the net. 

Watertown scored twice in under a minute and 30 seconds to cut the deficit to three, but with a minute to go in regulation, Chase Harwell netted an empty-netter to close out the game.

The Hat Tricks head on the road again for a two-game stint next weekend against Blue Ridge. Puck drop is set for Friday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, March 23 at 7 p.m.