Ice Chips
January 23, 2015 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release
Battalion Drop Demonz 3-2
Robert Morton featured large in this contest for the hometown Berkshire Battalion notching 2 goals in his team's 3-2 victory over the defending cup champion Dayton Demonz. The 2nd win of the weekend for the Battalion inches them closer to 4th place in the Federal Hockey League, a guaranteed playoff spot.
Back and forth action in the first period would see a lot of stoppages of play and shots on net. Scoring chances abounded for both sides as about midway through the period a Berkshire goal was waved off as Martin Uhnak fired home the puck after Matt Kinsella had already made 2 good saves, but the net had been dislodged. Newly returned Ahmed Mahfouz would fire home the first goal of the game as he rushed into the zone and beat Louie George with a tricky shot, Jared Hicks and Dan Morin assisted on the tally, 15:49 into the 1st. Mahfouz would shortly after take a holding penalty as he took Tom Tracy to the ice on a scoring rush putting the Battalion on the power play. Despite a league worst effectiveness, Robert Morton was able to fire home a back hander with just 35 seconds to play to tie the game at one, Mike Dolman and Jeff Sanders were credited with the assists on the power play goal. Dayton outshot the Battalion 20-15 in the opening frame.
The 2nd period saw the same end to end action with plenty of scoring chances. It would be Peter Cintala in his return to action firing home the goal which broke the ice assisted by Mahfouz which made the game 2-1. A late powerplay chance for Berkshire would come up flat and the teams would skate off after 40 minutes of play with the shots 34-30 in favor of the Battalion.
The third period would continue the trend but start to heat up as the teams battled up and down the ice. With only 2 penalties in the first two periods the 3rd would see 7 infractions, 4 on Berkshire and 3 on Dayton. No team would score in the period with the man advantage, but Robert Morton tallied his 2nd of the game as he was sprung from the box after a high sticking call. The Demonz defensive breakdown would cost them as Morton fooled Kinsella to tie the game up 8 minutes into the period. Just over a minute later it would be Jeff Sanders rifling home a rebound chance past Kinsella to put the Battalion in the lead for good. Some late penalties, Jared Hicks called for too many men after leaving the penalty box early, would be followed up by a Morton interference call. The game would end with the Demonz net empty and a 6-4 advantage that was killed by Berkshire's defense. Dayton ended the contest 0-4 on the man advantage while Berkshire was 1-5.
In the loss Matt Kinsella stopped 40 of 43 shots while George bested 42 of the 44 sent his way. The Demonz next game is Saturday night at Danbury while the Battalion will travel to Watertown.
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Wolves Late Tying Goal Leads to Shoot-out Win
The Watertown Wolves looked to remain on the top of the Federal Hockey League standings as they took on league rival the Danbury Whalers at the Watertown Municipal Arena.
The lone goal of the first period came from Danbury's Ryan Devine when he fired the puck past Jo St. Pierre. The animosity started to reach a boiling point by the end of the period as several players from each team would end up in scuffles after the buzzer sounded to end the period.
It looked like Danbury was going to take the win until Dustin Henning scores with just 32 seconds left in the 3rd period to send the game into overtime. Both teams would put everything they had into the 5 minute 3-on-3 overtime but to no avail. It was time for a shoot out.
Watertown opted to shoot second. Danbury's Ian DeLong scored on the first shot. Phil Bronner would do the same for Watertown. Both Ryan Patsch and Justin MacDonald would miss on their attempts. Jo St. Pierre would deny Ilya Solarev on the third shot while Lucas LaBelle would fake out Mike Brown to make the shot. Tim Richter tied it up with his successful shot while Dane Erickson's and Ian DeLong's shots were both misses. On the final shot, Lucas LaBelle shoots and secures the win for Watertown.
Dustin Henning earned the first star of the game. LaBelle's two shootout shots earned him the second. Mike Brown's near shutout in regulation warranted his earning of the third star. Watertown's victory continues to keep them on top of the FHL standings.
Watertown's next home game will be against the Berkshire Battalion at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Saturday, January 24th. The puck drops at 7:35. For media inquiries please contact the Wolves front office at 315-681-6572 or email at chipburdick@outlook.com. Fans can also keep up with the Wolves on www.WatertownWolves.net, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@hockeywatertown) and Instagram (watertown.wolves).
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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 23, 2015
- Ice Chips - FPHL
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