Federal Hockey League Game Recaps

January 4, 2015 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release

MacDonald's Four Goals Lead Wolves Over Battalions, 8-6

Submitted by J. Harris

The Watertown Wolves hosted the Berkshire Battalion at the Watertown Municipal Arena this evening. Watertown looked to maintain their high ranking in the FHL standings.

Watertown took the lead when Justin MacDonald fired a goal past George Louie with assistance from Matt Wray. Lester Brown would respond with a goal of his own on new goalie James Robbins. Zach Hale's penalty provided the Battalion with a power play opportunity that Robert Morton took advantage of with another goal. With one second left in the period Matt Wray and Michael Dolman exchange blows and earn 10-minute misconducts. Berkshire's lead on goals was also reflective of the shot count as they had 12 to Watertown's 9.

The Battalion extended their lead 5 minutes into the period when Tyler Prendergast, with some help from Tristan Lysko, scored. The Battalion upped the ante 4 minutes later on a power play goal from Martin Uhnak with the assist from Vadim Guskov. The Wolves stepped up their game by putting veteran goalie Jo St. Pierre in the goal. Chad Bennett would assist Dylan O'Neil in closing the gap a minute later to bring the score to 4-2. Matt Wray's and Tristan Lysko's exchange of words escalated and each found themselves on the receiving end of penalties. Wray would just get a 2-minute unsportsmanlike. Lysko racked up the unsportsmanlike, as well as a 5-minute major for spearing and a game misconduct that would end the night early for him. The Wolves were back in the game when Wray came off his penalty to score (assisted by Chad Bennett and Lucas LaBelle) with 23 seconds left to put Watertown within 1. The Battalion added fuel to the fire with 5 seconds left as Michael Dolman got assistance from Tyler Prendergast and Martin Uhnak. Watertown more than doubled Berkshire's shots on goal 16-7, and the Battalion held onto their 2-point lead as the scoreboard read 5-3 Berkshire.

The goals kept coming in the 3rd period. Justin MacDonald's second of the night was unassisted at 6:51. His hat trick came with assistance from Dylan O'Neil and Chad Bennett at 9:51. Cody Dion comes back 10 seconds later to put the Wolves in the lead 5-6. Berkshire tried to stop the onslaught of goals with a goalie change putting in Messina. Berkshire would tie the game again on Michael Dolman's power play goal with assists from Tyler Prendergast and Martin Uhnak. Justin MacDonald's 4th goal put Watertown back in the lead. Lucas LaBelle and Justin Alonzo provided the assists at 17.16. Berkshire went empty net at 18.21. Aaron Atwell sealed the deal on an empty net unassisted goal to end the game 6-8 Watertown.

The 3 stars of the game went to Justin MacDonald, Tyler Prendergast, and Jo St. Pierre.

Watertown's next home game will be against the Berkshire Battalion at the Watertown Municipal Arena on Thursday, January 8th. The puck drops at 7:35. For media inquiries please contact the Wolves front office at 315-681-6572 or email at amcwolves@gmail.com. Fans can also keep up with the Wolves on www.WatertownWolves.net, on our Facebook page, Twitter (@hockeywatertown) and Instagram (watertown.wolves).

Strong Penalty Kill, Brown's 53 Saves Lead Whalers to Victory

Jon Chik - Danbury NewsTimes.com

DANBURY -- Five minutes and 23 seconds is a long time to play a man (or two) down, but Danbury took the opportunity to show why it's got the best penalty killing unit in the FHL, according to coach Phil Esposito.

The Whalers were at a 5-on-3 disadvantage twice in the span, but the penalty kill prevented Danville from getting on the board, thus keeping a two-goal lead intact early in the second period.

"We do an awful lot of work on our PK, and it's been working and it's been unbelievable," Esposito said. "Guys are going down blocking shots, sacrificing their body, we're getting to loose pucks, we're forcing the other team to make mistakes and it seems to be working."

Of course, stellar play between the pipes didn't hurt either, and Danbury goalie Mike Brown stole the show by stopping 53 of the 55 shots he faced in his team's 4-2 win Saturday night.

"I was seeing the puck really well," Brown said. "We kept the shots out of the prime scoring areas for the most part. Ever since I've been here we've always kind of stressed a good penalty kill. It's just time to go to work at that point."

After going 0-for-6 on the power play in Friday night's 4-3 shootout win over Berkshire, Danbury cashed in on its first man advantage against Danville for the first goal of the night.

Playing on the point, Kristaps Nimanis sent a pass across the blue line to where Tim Richter was waiting. Richter teed up his shot to go top shelf, giving the Whalers a game-long lead just 4:18 into the action.

Micky Knox made it 2-0 after gaining possession of the puck, skating behind the Danville net and burying a quick wraparound.

With 1:59 to go in the opening period, Danville earned two full minutes of five-on-three play. For Danbury, the combined efforts of Nimanis, Steve Brown, Brett Liscomb, Tim Richter and Julian Fraser combined to keep Danville off the board.

Danville finally broke through at even strength when Andrew Harrison lit the lamp to cut Danbury's lead to 2-1, but the Whalers had quite the answer late in the second period.

Danbury increased its lead to 4-1 when David Lun jammed home a rebound with 3:16 to go in the middle stanza, and Patsch notched his third point of the night by scoring just 18 seconds later.

"We get those opportunities where we get a little bit of a burst of energy," Esposito said. "We start going and it permeates through the rest of the team."

The Whalers have a chance to win three games in as many days when they again play host to Danville Sunday at 5 p.m.

Demonz Score Six Straight Goals, Defeat Warriors 6-5

Submitted by Steel City Warriors

After coming off a 1 day suspension Semenov lit the lamp twice in 1 period putting the Steel City Warriors up 2-0 against the Dayton Demonz. Levesque got the 3rd goal for Steel City making a huge lead of 3-0 in the beginning of the second period. Dayton came back to tie the game 3-3 and then added another 3 goals to put Steel City down. 6-3. Steel City did not give up as Alves had a beauty in the 3rd making the score 6-4. In the last few minutes of the 3rd period, Scully sniped a goal giving the Warriors a chance to tie the game. With Dunne pulled and Steel City with 6 skaters they got a couple of chances to tie the game up but can not capitalize. Final Dayton Demonz 6-5 Steel City Warriors.

Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2015

• Federal Hockey League Game Recaps - FPHL
• Whalers Home Today - Danbury Whalers
• Federal Hockey League Game Recaps - FPHL

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