Game Recaps for 12/3/2022

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at ELMIRA MAMMOTH


Mammoth Complete Weekend Sweep Over Sea Wolves


by Jacob Johnson



Elmira N.Y.- The Elmira Mammoth continued their winning ways defeating the Mississippi Sea Wolves by a final score of 5-1 on Saturday Night at First Arena. 

The first 12 minutes looked very similar to the first 12 minutes of yesterday's game. Back and forth possession kept the game scoreless with each team having a few good chances. 

The Mammoth would finally break through first with a goal coming from league leading goal scorer Parker Moskal. Tate Leeson and Don Carter received assists on the goal. 

The first period would end with the Mammoth holding a 1-0 lead over the Mississippi Sea Wolves. 

Then early in the 2nd period it was Isaiah Crawford on the power play who deflected a shot from the point of the stick of Tyler Piekarski into the back of the net. Liarakos would get an assist as well as Piekarski. 

Just over 2 minutes later Crawford struck again for his second of the night, Leeson fed a cross ice pass that found the streaking Crawford who put it into the twine. Moskal also received an assist on the goal. 

Almost exactly 10 minutes later Yianni Liarakos got in on the scoring, he was set up on the feed from Stavros Soilis and was able to net his 9th of the season. The Mammoth would head into the locker room up 4-0 over the Sea Wolves after 2 periods of play. 

The Sea Wolves would finally get on the board with a silky move by Jake Raleigh to move by Thomas Proudlock to make it a 4-1 game with 15 minutes to play in regulation. Yaroslav Yevdokimov and Justin Barr recorded assists. 

For the time in his professional career Jakub Volf would light the lamp on the power play to give the Elmira Mammoth a 5-1 lead over the Sea Wolves. Soilis and Daniluk would record an assist on the goal. 

That would be the final score of this one as the Mammoth extended their win streak to 3 games. Mississippi drops their 9th straight game after the 5-1 loss to Elmira. Next up for Elmira will be a date with the Watertown Wolves next Friday at First Arena. Tickets are still on sale at FirstArena.net. 

Sea Wolves Trounced by Mammoth 5-1 


by Nick Rosesch

Elmira, NY –Mississippi Sea Wolves offense was hindered again on Saturday night, losing 5-1 to the (4-9-2) Elmira Mammoth at First Arena. Elmira goaltender Thomas Proudlock was the star of the show after stopping 42 Sea Wolves shots.

Much like Friday’s series opener, the Mammoth logged the first period’s only goal. This time, it was Parker Moskal (12:43) scoring on the loose change.

The middle period included back-to-back strikes from Elmira’s Isaiah Crawford at 1:21 and 3:44 for a 3-0 Mammoth advantage. Yianni Liarakos (13:57) added one more for good measure and a 4-0 score at the second intermission.

Jake Raleigh broke Proudlock’s shutout bid four minutes into period three after getting alone in front of the net. Jakub Volf (10:05) got one back for the Mammoth and recorded his first goal in a Mammoth uniform.

With the 5-1 final score, the Mammoth increased their win streak to three games while the Sea Wolves losing skid moves to 12. Mississippi goaltender Greg Harney blocked 36 of 41 Elmira chances.

The Sea Wolves will now prepare for a three-in-three series against the Carolina Thunderbirds, beginning on December 8 with a neutral-site meeting in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Puck drop will take place at 6pm inside the Raising Cane’s River Center. 


WATERTOWN WOLVES at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS


McVEIGH SHUTOUTS WOLVES ON SATURDAY


by Brooks Hill



BINGHAMTON, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears shutout the Watertown Wolves on Saturday night by a final score of 4- 0. McVeigh stopped all 25 shots he faced, and the Black Bears power play was able to score three times.

The night began with players dawning new uniforms, as Owen Liskiewicz and Justin Coachman wore new colors, facing off against their former clubs. After a high-scoring first period last night, the teams settled down on Saturday night with only a combined 14 shots on goal in the first. Binghamton was able to kill off Watertown’s first penalty and they would be headed to the power play a few minutes later.

With seconds left in the period, the Black Bears would win an offensive zone faceoff with a little bit of time left. Kyle Powell fired a low wrist shot in front of the net and with three seconds remaining, Jamie Bucell defected the shot and put the Black Bears on the board before heading to the locker room. Binghamton was up 1-0 after one.

Watertown continued to struggle on the power play in the second frame, as Binghamton took five penalties. The penalty kill continued to improve as the night went on, at some points Binghamton was generating more chances shorthanded that Watertown on the man-advantage. Liskiewicz and McVeigh stood tall for their respective clubs, as neither side was able to bury a goal in the middle period.

The final period was trending to be much like the middle, but after Powell drew a high-sticking double-minor, the floodgates opened for the Black Bears. Tyson Kirkby gave Binghamton the insurance goal they need to go up 2-0 off another redirect. Then, Jake Schultz hammered a one-timer past the goalie to extend the lead to 3-0 within 90 seconds of the first. Tyler Gjurich caught the Wolves sleeping in the final 10 seconds of the game and was able to score his 13th goal of the season, a team high. He had already extended his point-streak to 42 games with an assist in the first period. McVeigh withstood the final shot of the game and earn the team’s first shutout of the season, stopping all 25 shoots he faced. Black Bears win 4-0.

The Black Bears are back in action next weekend for a home-and-home series against the Delaware Thunder. Join us on Saturday December 10th at 7:00P.M. for the annual TEDDY BEAR TOSS NIGHT. Tickets can be purchased by calling the office at 607-733-7367 or online at binghamtonblackbears.com 


DELAWARE THUNDER at MOTOR CITY ROCKERS


Motor City Outlasts Delaware 5-3, Sweeps Season Series


by Ben Szilagy



Fraser, MI — Motor City made sure that it swept the season series against the Delaware Thunder, but it wasn’t easy in the final game of the series.

The Rockers carried the pace of play all game long, but edged out a 5-3 win over the Thunder in a tightly contested game. 

Motor City (11-3-3) got on the board first with 13:14 into the opening stanza.

Cade Lambdin moved the puck out of the defensive zone and into center ice. Dylan Johnson chipped the puck ahead to a charging Declan Conway into the offensive zone. While on the breakaway, Conway fired the puck from the far side circle past Trevor Martin for a 1-0 lead.

The goal from Conway was his ninth of the season, and it extends his point streak to six games. 

Late in the first period the Thunder (1-13-1) got on the board despite not getting many scoring chances the entire period.

After a face-off, Austin Weber created a two-on-one with Houston Wilson in the offensive zone. As Weber crashed the far side, he slid the puck to Wilson who completed the one-timer that tied the score at 1-1 with 1:08 left in the first period.

The goal was Wilson’s fifth of the season, and second against Motor City this season. 

There wasn’t any scoring in the second period, despite peppering the net with 16 shots. Martin played strong in between the pipes and got help from his defensemen JC Mortiz and Justin Movalli who helped keep the shots from the outside and traffic cleared in front of the net for Martin to make key stops. 

Motor City out shot Delaware 57 to 15. 

Despite being out shot and down, the Thunder found a way to score off its limited chances in the third. The Thunder received two goals from Denis Gafarov; one that gave Delaware a 2-1 lead, and the other that tied the score at 3-3. 

Motor City was able to quickly answer Gafarov’s first goal to make it 2-2 a minute after it happened on a rebound goal from Derek Makimaa as he followed up a shot from Roman Gaudet. The goal was his sixth of the season and his second against Delaware.

An unlikely scorer helped Motor City take a lead, 3-2, when Elias Thompson deflected a shot from Makimaa in front of the net for his first of the season. 

The Rockers were able to get the game winning goal on the power play with 7:32 remaining in the third period when Danny Vanderwiel fed the puck to the slot and on the waiting stick of Brad Reitter who lifted it for a 4-3 lead.

Dylan Thompson got his third goal of the weekend, and his first of the game on an empty net goal with 52 seconds remaining in the third. He now has five points in his two games with Motor City.

The Rockers will carry its five game winning streak on the road to Watertown on Thursday night before heading out to Danbury for two games on Friday and Saturday. 



PORT HURON PROWLERS at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS


FIRTH'S OT WINNER SEALS CAROLINA COMEBACK WIN


by Brett Wiseman



WINSTON-SALEM, NC - In another high-scoring, penalty-filled affair, this time the Carolina Thunderbirds prevailed over the Port Huron Prowlers. 2:45 into the overtime period, on a delayed Prowlers penalty, a diving desperation play by Gus Ford to poke the puck to Tucker Firth gave him the time and space to wire a wrist shot past Wyatt Hoflin and net the Thunderbirds a 6-5 victory. It was Firth's first goal of the season and first as a Thunderbird.

Not only that, but three huge standings points the way of Carolina after the two teams came in tied in the Continental division. In the season series finale between the two evenly matched rivals, those standings points will matter even more come springtime when playoff seeding is determined.

Boris Babik made multiple huge saves down the stretch to keep the Thunderbirds in it, stopping 22 of the 27 shots he faced. Wyatt Hoflin's stellar play in net kept Port Huron kicking too, stopping a whopping 38 of 44 shots faced.

Port Huron lead 1-0 after the first before Carolina launched a full frontal assault on the opposing goal, scoring four goals in the second period. Two came from Petr Panacek, who netted his first hat trick back with the Thunderbirds when he scored in the third. Port Huron was not to be outdone, storming back and scoring four unanswered goals of their own to take a 5-4 lead into the third. Panacek's third of the night tied the game at five, and Carolina killed off a 5 minute major penalty assessed to him that carried over into the overtime.

The Thunderbirds now head to Baton Rouge, LA and Biloxi, MI for a two-city, three-game road set against the Mississippi Sea Wolves. The first game will be a neutral site affair at Raisin Cane's River Center on Thursday night. Puck drop is set for 7ET.


DANBURY HAT TRICKS at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS


COLUMBUS HANDS DANBURY FIRST REGULATION LOSS

River Dragons, MacBurnie Blank Hat

Tricks 5-0


by Tom Callahan



COLUMBUS, GA - The Columbus River Dragons got 30 saves from Bailey MacBurnie and a pair of goals from Jacob Kelly as they handed the Danbury Hat Tricks their first regulation loss of the season by a 5-0 count on Saturday night.

MacBurnie made several key saves including a tremendous glove save on a point-blank power play chance in the second period to keep Danbury off the scoreboard when they pressured Columbus the most. The effort earned him his eighth win of the season and first star honors
in the game.

Columbus opened the scoring just 2:22 into the first period with a power play goal from Thomas Aldridge, followed by a Josh Pietrantonio snipe from the left wing half wall, a wrist shot that beat Danbury goaltender Brian Wilson (35 saves) over the shoulder and rang
in off the underside of the crossbar for a 2-0 first period lead.

Edgars Ozolinsh started the second period with a power play goal, followed by the first of Kelly’s two goals to wrap the second period scoring. Kelly scored off his own rebound to ice the game in the third period for Columbus.

The River Dragons will now travel to Port Huron to take on the Prowlers next Friday and Saturday night. The next home game will be Friday, December 16th at 7:30 pm against the Elmira Mammoth. Tickets are on sale now through the Civic Center box office and online at TicketMaster.com.