by Doug Cahn
Port Huron - Tonight kicked off a three-game weekend series between the Port Huron Prowlers and the Carolina Thunderbirds. With the league announcing the playoff format yesterday, each team knows how important this weekend is. Carolina is looking to climb into the crucial third-place position to choose who they play in the first round in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Prowlers are trying to make some ground up on the 3rd,4th, and 5th place teams. The starting netminders for tonight’s game were Richard Shipman for the Prowlers and Chris Paulin for the Thunderbirds.
The Prowlers had a tremendous first period, almost doubling the Thunderbirds in shots and finding the back of the net three times. Isaiah Crawford tucked in the first goal after a Carolina defender deflected a Dante Sufferdini point shot. A returning Brennan Young scored the following two goals after missing last weekend due to injury. On the first goal, Young made a beautiful move to tuck it past goalie Chris Paulin. On the 2nd goal for Young, he cleaned up net-front garbage and burry it home to put the Prowlers up 3-0 at the end of one.
The second period was very even between both teams as the ice seemed to open slightly. The Thunderbirds could get on the board halfway through the period as Jake Peavey deflected a point shot past Richard Shipman to get the Thunderbirds within one. It seemed like the game was going to go into the period at 3-1, but with five seconds left, Gino Mini displayed great patience and was able to make a great move to get the puck by Paulin and put the Prowlers up 4-1 heading into the final frame.
The Prowlers were able to add one more goal in the third period on a spectacular wrist shot from Mike Moroso. The Prowlers and Thunderbirds will be back tomorrow at 6:05 pm with the Prowlers wearing Pink jerseys for Breast Cancer Awareness night.