Prowlers Sweep Weekend Series

by Nate Williamson 
 
The Danville Dashers lost a tight game on Saturday night at the David S. Palmer Arena as the Port Huron Prowlers came out of the weekend road trip with a sweep of the Dashers on Kids' Night and Ugly Sweater Night in Danville, Illinois.   It was a tightly contested affair that started off a bit slowly but quickly ramped up in the end. The opening goal started off the night fairly early on into the game in what was a relatively lackluster first period, that still produced two goals. Alex Pommerville netted the first goal on assists from Mitch Atkins and Fred Hein, sliding the puck through the legs of Port Huron goaltender Chris Paulin.    It wasn't long though before Matt Graham fired back home for the Prowlers, tying the game at one goal apiece on assists from Matt Robertson and David Nippard. The first period ended at a deadlock with both sides exchanging relatively calm periods of offensive control. After that, it was Graham firing home early in the second period, after an Alexander Strack rebound found his stick, and he fired home past Danville's Jessie Gordichuk. That put the Prowlers up by a score of 2-1, all goals came on even strength.   The Dashers answered back to tie the game at 2-2 in the second, with just three and a half minutes gone from the clock, as Patrik Zilak found the back of the net on assists from his linemates Sam Turner and Levi Armstrong.    It was almost 13 minutes later that David Nippard scored for Port Huron with a nasty wrist shot that beat Gordichuk, and put the Dashers up 3-2. Dalton Jay added onto that scoreline when he fired home on assists from Zach Zulkanycz and Matt Robertson just one minute into the third period.    Artem Efimov-Barakov scored the Dasher's last goal, with 12 minutes gone in the third period, before a Matt Stoia goal all but sealed the game, and signaled the Port Huron weekend sweep. In a tight physical affair, it was Port Huron who came out on top.    Alex Pommerville from Danville got the third star, with Port Huron's Matt Robertson grabbing the second, and Matt Graham grabbing the first with four points on the night.   Both teams are back in action next weekend. You can find their live streams on each team's youtube channel, for free, all season long.