Wolves Come Up Short Against Prowlers

By Jay Harris 

Watertown, NY - The Watertown Wolves came close to snapping their losing streak in a 5-4 loss to the Port Huron Prowlers on Saturday night. 

Watertown held off Port Huron in the first period, including being short-handed on penalties from Josh Newberg (delay of game), Justin Coachman (interference), and Christian Whitcomb (interference). 

Bryan Parson would leave the game early in the second period after severely hurting his shoulder. Dalton Jay got the Prowlers on the board first with assists from Matt Robertson and Zachary Zulkanycz. The physicality of the game saw a spike when Justin Portillo wrestled Joe Pace, Jr. to the ice. Portillo bounced back from his penalty to tie the game for the Wolves with a play from Justin Coachman and Lane King. The Prowlers took the lead back and extended it, scoring two goals in 23 seconds from Jay and Robertson. 

Artur Drindrozhik made it a 4-1 game at 4:26 into the third period. It looked like the Wolves were out of steam when Matt Graham scored the Prowlers' fifth goal. However, Watertown dug deep and mounted a near comeback. George Holt provided the Wolves new momentum, scoring a short-handed goal on Kyle Powell's cross-checking penalty. A would-be third goal for the Wolves was waived off because it was scored with a high stick. They persevered, scoring a third goal from Anton Kalinin with just over two minutes left in the game. Going for broke, Head Coach Trevor Karasiewicz pulled netminder Cody Karpinski to amp up the Watertown offense. The plan looked like it was going to work, as Kyle Powell made it a one-point game with just eleven seconds left on assists from Tyler Gjurich and Kalinin. Unfortunately for the hometown fans, the Wolves ran out of time with a 5-4 final score in favor of the Prowlers.

Matt Graham's game-winning goal earned him the 1st Star of the Game. Dalton Jay got the 2nd Star for his 4 points on the night. Kyle Powell's 2 points earned him the 3rd Star of the Game. 

The Wolves head to North Carolina for a three-game series with the Thunderbirds, and then to Elmira on February 15th, before returning to the Watertown Municipal Arena on Saturday, February 16th. The match between the Wolves and Enforcers will start at 7:30 PM.