COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES 

Sea Wolves Drop Game One

by Wesley Barnett

Biloxi, MS - South Mississippi hockey fans packed the Mississippi Coast Coliseum as the #4 seed Mississippi Sea Wolves host the #1 seed Columbus River Dragons. 

Game 1 of the FPHL playoffs started off hot for the Columbus River Dragons, with Alex Storjohann finding the back of the net one minute and thirty-one seconds into the 1st period. The River Dragons would not stop there with an Austin Daae rebound goal and a Nolan Slachetka one timer that came late in the period.

The 2nd period started slow, the Sea Wolves looked to capitalize on the first power play opportunity of the night. However, Carter Shinkaruk would net a short handed goal for the River Dragons. Facing a 4 goal deficit, Sea Wolves Captain, Justin Barr would put the Seawolves on the board making it 4-1. Lucas Helland, after taking a nasty collision earlier in the game, keeps the crowd into it with a long wrist shot into the back of the net. 4-2 River Dragons to end the 2nd. 

The River Dragons would come out looking to put the Sea Wolves away. 6 minutes into the 3rd period, Justin MacDonald scores the 5th goal of the night for the River Dragons. Only 15 seconds later, Alex Storjohan nets his second goal of the night. That would not be it for the River Dragons, as Hunter Bersani scores the 7th goal for the River Dragons. 

Goaltenders tonight were Breandan Colgan 29 saves on 31 shots and Austyn Melin 33 saves on 40 shots.

River Dragons Dominate Game One

by Tom Callahan

Biloxi, MS - Alex Storjohann and Austin Daae led the way with four-point nights as the Columbus River Dragons took game one of the Continental Division Semifinal against the Sea Wolves in Mississippi 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Columbus opened the scoring early, with Storjohann potting his first of the night just 1:31 into the game by tipping a Hugh Anderson shot past Sea Wolves goaltender Austyn Melin to make it 1-0.

Before the end of the first, Daae and Nolan Slachetka would extend the lead to 3-0.

After going up 4-0 on a Carter Shinkaruk shorthanded marker, Mississippi fought its way back into the game with a pair of goals to close the second period and make it a 4-2 game after 40 minutes.

Columbus opened the third period by bottling the Sea Wolves up in their own end, and eventually scored a pair of goals just 15 seconds apart to put the game away just over six minutes into the period. The River Dragons added a late power play goal from Hunter Bersani to wrap up the win.

Breandan Colgan made 29 saves to pick up the victory.

Notes:

- Storjohann (2-2-4) and Daae (1-3-4) led the team with four points, while Josh Pietrantonio and rookie Hugh Anderson recorded a pair of assists in the win.

- Columbus topped the six-or-more-goal plateau 20 times in the regular season.

The River Dragons now have a chance to close out the best-of three series on Friday night in Columbus at 7:35 pm. Tickets for all River Dragons home playoff games are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office or online at TicketMaster.com.