Dashers Edge Ice Breakers, 3-2
December 7, 2019 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Danville Dashers News Release
The Danville Dashers took down the Mentor Ice Breakers on home ice in a tight, physical contest on Saturday night that would, by the end of the three periods, see crowd-pleasing fights, some well-taken skill goals, and more.
The Mentor Ice Breakers opened the scoring on the night behind a Declan Conway goal off an assist from Jon Buttitta. The goal came just over a minute into the game when Conway found himself in the right place on a rebound off of the pad of Dashers' goalie Jesse Gordichuk. Mentor applied tough pressure throughout the majority of the game, sending down all three forwards into the offensive zone to pressure what had, at the start, been sloppy with their passing.
The only two penalties in the first period came very late in the period, with Danville's Seth Ensor going to the box for cross-checking, and Mark Essery going to the box for Kneeing with just under a minute left to go in the first frame.
The first Danville tally of the game came on even strength though, as both teams ended the first period coming up empty on power play opportunities. A.J. Tesoriero found the tying goal with just over seven minutes left to go in the first period when Artem Efimov-Barakov and Seth Ensor linked up to find Tesoriero, who buried a shot past Mentor's goaltender Austyn Roudebush.
Tesoriero wasted no time giving Danville the lead as just three minutes later he buried another goal. After finding himself skating into the offensive end on a one-on-three disadvantage against the Ice Breakers, Tesoriero defied the odds and fired a slapshot to go bar-down and once again beat Roudebush to put the Dashers ahead.
The second period was a far cry from the first as both sides had a plethora of big hits, fights and altercations that resulted in a combined eight minutes of penalty time, with plenty more not called in the end. A large fight broke out between Mentor goaltender Austyn Roudebush, who would later leave the game with minor injuries, and Dashers forward Nigel Slade.
Also in the second period, Alexander Morrow would score on a breakaway goal to even the score at 2-2 with just three minutes gone in the second. After that though the Dashers poured on the offensive opportunities, with Seth Ensor passing across the defensive zone to Alex Pommerville, who delivered an accurate stretch pass to Fred Hein who deked out Roudebush to for what would be the game-winning goal.
The third period would get even more crazier, with a combined fifty-two minutes of penalty time assessed between the two sides, a multitude of events that more than served to entertain the Danville crowd despite the lack of scoring in the final frame.
Perhaps the night's in-game antics are best summarized by this fact: Mentor's Mark Essery was on the receiving end of 19 penalty minutes in the game, with Danville's Seth Ensor falling just short of the lead with 17.
The Dashers narrowly came out of the fray with a win that embodied the best parts of the Federal Professional Hockey League-fast paced hockey, with big hits, and skilled scoring.
The game's third star went to the scorer of the game-winning goal Fred Hein, with the second star going to Seth Ensor for his two assists, and A.J. Tesoriero's two goal night being enough to grab the first star. The Dashers and the Ice Breakers will go at it once more tomorrow night in the Teddy Bear Toss Night at the David S. Palmer Arena, with the puck drop set for 7:05pm C/T.
• Discuss this story on the Federal Prospects Hockey League message board...
Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from December 7, 2019
- Make It Seven: Tricks Down Thunder 5-4 - Danbury Hat Tricks
- Thunderbirds Bop Bees, 6-1 - Battle Creek Rumble Bees
- Prowlers Slay River Dragons 4-2 in Friday Night Battle - Port Huron Prowlers
- Thunderbirds Blank Rumble Bees, 7-0 - Carolina Thunderbirds
- Dashers Edge Ice Breakers, 3-2 - Danville Dashers
- Enforcers Cage Wolves, 3-2 - Elmira Enforcers
- Port Huron Doubles up River Dragons 4-2 on Friday Night - Columbus River Dragons
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
