FPHL Elmira Enforcers

Enforcers Drop Finale to River Dragons, 5-4 in Overtime

March 21, 2021 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Elmira Enforcers News Release


The Enforcers and River Dragons met for the final time in the regular season on Sunday. Columbus Civic Center played host to the final three meetings between the teams as the first two played at First Arena resulted in a split of shootout wins.

In the first period the River Dragons pushed the pressure early outshooting Elmira 6-2 when the first goal passed by Dillon Kelley as Ivan Bondarenko and Gehrett Sargis rushed into the zone in a two on one and as Bondarenko moved it across Sargis was able to bury it past Kelley for the 1-0 lead. The lead stood for five minutes before Brett Gravelle employed the old "throw everything at the net" and as he did from inside the right circle the puck bounced off a Columbus defender and into the back of the net to tie up the game. Less than two minutes later the Enforcers took the lead after a battle in the neutral zone saw Blake Peavey push the puck into the zone carrying it into the right circle and slapping it past Jared Rutledge to give Elmira the 2-1 lead.

The second period saw Elmira expand on their lead after a faceoff win was moved over to Brett Gravelle for his second of the night off a beautiful forehand backhand that he put past Rutledge at 3:11 of the second period to extend the lead to 3-1. The lead continued to build as the Enforcers power play, which has struggled in the first half of the season found the back of the net after controlling the zone for an entire minute of the power play Mitch Atkins found Glen Patterson in front of the net and a perfect tip in front of the net gave Elmira a 4-1 lead which they took to the locker room after 40 minutes.

The third period took a turn as the River Dragons scored two quick goals before the first media time out as Nate O'Brien and Matt O'Dea were both able to beat Dylan Kelley. The Enforcers held on a long as they could but too many shots resulted in a game tying goal being scored at 16:39 by CJ Stubbs on a perfect pass from Vojtech Zemlicka sending the game to overtime.

The extra period went 4:37 with a lot of back and forth, but Matt O'Dea scored his second of the game and ended both the game and the series with a Columbus win.

Dylan Kelley stopped 43 of 48 in the loss.

The Enforcers are back in action on Friday night in Port Huron at 7:30 pm and that game will be live on Youtube live and Mixlr.

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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from March 21, 2021


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