Port Huron takes 1st game in Series vs. Columbus in Goalie OT Battle

by Douglas Cahn

Port Huron, MI - After a tough opening weekend in Danbury, with the Prowlers coming away with one point out of the possible three, they were pumped to get their home campaign started against the defending Commissioner’s Cup Champions, the Columbus River Dragons. This was the first time the River Dragons hit the ice this season.

 

In a back and forth first period where each team had tons of pressure on one another, the Prowlers were able to strike first in this game. Less than 4 minutes into the game, forward Mo Levac scored his first goal on the Power Play assisted by Dalton Jay and Alex Johnson. Both goalies had a solid 1st periods as Jared Rutledge had 11 saves for Columbus and Cory Simons stopped all 16 shots he faced in the 1st.

 

The game would get very physical in the 2nd period as each was laying the hits on each other, and things were getting chippy after the whistle. Columbus was able to get two past Simons this period as Vanwynsberghe scored with a strong move on the net. Austin Daae scored the 2nd goal for Columbus as he fired one past Simons to make it 2-1. At the end of the 2nd period, Columbus has 25 shots to the Prowlers 21.

 

Things continued to be very physical throughout the 3rd period as the refs were giving out lots of penalties as there were a lot of extracurriculars. Both goalies played fantastic tonight, with Cory Simons making 37 saves and Jared Rutledge making 36 saves, keeping their teams in it the entire game. With just under ten minutes to go in the 3rd period after a beautiful play by Dustin Henning to keep the puck in the offensive zone and him firing it on net, Justin Portillo fired the rebound home to tie the game at 2. The game would remain tied and would head to OT.

 

In OT, after a penalty expired, it was a back and forth three on three until Alex Johnson took the puck coast to coast and fired a shot on net, and the Stavros Solis was able to fire the rebound home for the OT winner and the Prowlers first win of the season. The Prowlers and River Dragons will play tomorrow night again with puck drop at 6:05.