Wolves Wallop Prowlers

By Jay Harris 

Watertown, NY - 8 unanswered goals, a hat trick from Yianni Liarakos, and 5-point nights for Tyler Gjurich and Lane King were all part of the equation in the Watertown Wolves' 9-4 victory over the Port Huron Prowlers at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Sunday night.

Zachary Zulkanycz got the scoring going early in the first period for the Prowlers when he tickled twine 46 seconds into the game. Josh Newberg's slashing penalty provided Dalton Jay's scoring opportunity when he zipped one past goalie Jared Rutledge on the power play. Despite being down, 2-0, the Wolves turned the tide in the second half of the period. New Wolf Deric Boudreau scored on a play from Tyler Gjurich and Lane King. A short scrum ensued between Port Huron's Patrik Tondl and Prowler-turned-Wolf Yianni Liarakos less than a minute after the goal. The last penalty of the period was handed to Artem Stupnikov when he tripped up Tim Santopaolo on a scoring attempt. The Wolves made good on the power play when Kyle Powell drove up the ice solo and went top shelf on netminder Cody Karpinksi to tie the game at 2. 

The Wolves dominated the second period with five additional unanswered goals. Gjurich started the onslaught 12 seconds into the period with assists from Powell and Justin Coachman. The Prowlers held the Wolves off for eight minutes before the scoring continued. Watertown's fourth goal came from Liarakos via Santopaolo and Corey Sherman. Gjurich went top-shelf on Karpinksi for his second goal of the night with the aid of Aleh Shypitsyn and King. King got a goal of his own at 18:36 on a play from Gjurich and Powell. Liarakos capped off the second period scoring goal number seven on the night just 22 seconds later via Santopaolo and Egor Kostyukov. 

Newberg's shot from the blue line early in the third was Watertown's eighth goal of the game. Port Huron finally picked up an additional two goals from Matt Robertson before Liarakos scored his hat trick goal with just 31 seconds left in the game for a final score of 9-4. 

Tyler Gjurich got his 300th FHL point on the first Watertown goal in the game. This milestone, in addition to his two goals and three assists, earned him the 1st Star of the Game. The hat trick by Yianni Liarakos earned him the 2nd Star of the Game. Lane King was awarded the 3rd Star with one goal and four assists. 

The Wolves host the Mentor Ice Breakers in their next game at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Friday, March 1st at 7:30 PM.

Photo credit: CMC Advertising Design & Photography