DASHERS of DANVILLE at HC VENOM
Dashers End 43-game Losing Streak with 7-3 Win against Venom
by Jim Cerny
Poughkeepsie, NY - The Dashers Hockey Club ended a 43-game losing streak, longest in FPHL history, with a 7-3 win against HC Venom on Thursday night at McCann Ice Arena.
It was only the second win this season for the Dashers, who won at home on Oct. 25 against the Athens Rock Lobsters, 3-1. The Dashers were 0-21-1 on the road entering play Thursday,
Dashers goalie Parker Rutherford was the hero with a career-high 64 saves. It’s the third time this season he had 60 or more saves in a game. He stopped all 19 Venom shots in the first period, 28 of 29 in a remarkable second-period performance and 17 of 19 in the third. Zac Horn recorded four goals and an assist for the Dashers, and TJ Prexler finished with four points (one goal, three assists). Ten Dashers recorded at least one point.
Kaleb Kinskey scored twice for the Venom, who’ve lost three in a row. Dainis Zaichyk and Jonas Leas each added a pair of assists.
Prexler scored the only goal of the first period, a power-play marker at 13:15. The Venom tied the game at 1:04 of the second period with a power-play goal of their own by Kinskey.
Despite pouring the shots on Rutherford and owning the puck in the offensive zone, the Venom had numerous breakdowns the rest of the way and the Dashers capitalized time and again. The Dashers scored six unanswered goals – four in the second period and two in the third to take a stunning 7-1 lead.
The Dashers scored twice on the power play and several times on odd-man rushes. They broke the game open with three goals in a five-minute span beginning at 9:25 of the second when Horn scored his second of the night.
Horn notched the hat trick 13 seconds into the third period off a Venom turnover and then added his fourth goal at 4:40.
The Venom scored two late goals – by defenseman Frank Steinway at 18:11 and Kinskey’s second of the night at 19:58 – to make it 7-3.
DASHERS. WIN!
by Devin Dobek
Poughkeepsie, NY - The Dashers had waited 146 days to end their historic 43 game losing streak and finally that day had come. In a game filled with personal accolades from top to bottom, team work prevailed as the Dashers topped the Venom 7-3 Thursday night.
It was certainly a quick turnaround for the Dashers, who ended their 4 games in 4 days on the road only to quickly gear up and head out to New York for the first of 3 in 3 days beginning with the HC Venom. The contest was a makeup from earlier in the season, and the finale of 2 games in the season series. Familiar faces suited up for the Venom tonight, including former Dasher forwards Nikolai Salov and Trey Fischer. It was certainly going to be a fun one between the two bottom teams in the Empire. The game started with some sloppy hockey for both sides, and the first goal felt like it was going to be some sort of wild bounce. Instead, it was TJ Prexler on the power play opening things up with a bullet high and tight to beat Moriarty. Parker Rutherford was laser-focused in the affair, and that might be an understatement. He stopped all 19 first period shots in his direction, and hung in strong through 3 Venom first period man advantage opportunities. Prexler’s first goal in over 2 months would be the difference as the teams went to talk things over in the locker room.
The middle frame allowed Dasher fans to find joy in watching hockey again. The Venom came out of the gate continuing a powerplay opportunity, and were rewarded with a Kaleb Kinskey goal to tie the game at 1 just a minute into period 2. I’m not sure what clicked for the Dashers after this, but they began to go on a tear. And by tear, I mean 6 unanswered goals, a new season high. At 5:55 Zac Horn scored his 4th of the season to restore the lead at 2-1. Dashers went to the power play again about 4 minutes later, when Justin Brausen lit the lamp in his 400th FPHL game to extend the lead to 2. This was the teams’ first two goal lead in over 2 months, but the offense was far from finished. Another Zac Horn tally followed by Andrew Uturo’s 2nd in the orange and white gave the Dashers a 5-1 lead heading into the second break.
You could feel the vibes from the Danville faithful thousands of miles away. 20 more minutes to snap a historic skid. It took just 13 seconds into the final chapter for Zac Horn to pot the first hat trick for the Dashers this season, and snuff out any sort of hope the Venom had built. He added a 4th about 4 minutes later and the Dashers officially had made the game a boat race. A pair of goals in the final 2 minutes made the score look a little more respectable at 7-3, but the Dashers had done it.
The win marked the Dashers first victory since their home-opener 146 days ago. They snap a 43 game losing skid, the longest ever documented in the history of American pro-hockey. Parker Rutherford made a career high 64 saves on 67 shots in the winning effort. Justin Brausen officially joined the 400 games played club while Zac Horn notched his first career hat-trick en route to a 5 point night.
The Dashers will gear up to battle a 2 game set with Danbury Friday and Saturday. The Venom travel to Michigan for 3 more tilts first with Port Huron and then 2 with the Rockers to complete a span of 5 games in 5 days.
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