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FHL Connected: Game Recaps March 4, 2016

March 4, 2016 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


Danbury Defeats Brewster for Fifth Straight Time, 4-2

By Zak McGinniss

DANBURY, CT -- Tyler Gjurich scored twice, including the game winner, as the Danbury Titans held off the pesky Brewster Bulldogs on Friday night. Nikita Ivandikov made his North American debut and secured the win on the strength of 38 saves. Nicolai Oklolbistyn scored twice in the losing effort, as the Titans kept pace in their pursuit of ending the season in first place.

Mike Henderson, Kyle Powell, Rock Einersen, and Ivandikov all made their debut for the Titans. Henderson was acquired in a trade with the Dayton Demolition for Dan Loughlin and Brennan Devers. Powell, signed to a contract earlier in the week, made his professional debut, while Einersen started the season with the Danville Dashers. Ivandikov, a native of Khabarovsk, Russia, last played for HC Sakhalin before coming over to North America.

Mike Driscoll would get the Titans on the board early, solving Brewster's Jeromy Semtner 3:29 into the game, assisted by Kory Helowka and Jarrett Rush. Henderson, a former Danbury Whaler, marked his return by getting on the board himself next, assisted by John Scorcia. Scorcia would then assist on Tyler Gjurich's goal seven minutes later, with Helowka picking up the second assist. Nicolai Oklolbistyn would put home a rebound past Ivandikov to end the first period with Danbury holding a 3-1 lead.

With no scoring in the second period, the Bulldogs came out strong offensively in the third, forcing Ivandikov to showcase his talents. Oklolbistyn would be credited with a goal 5:30 into the period after Danbury's Steve Brown knocked the puck into his own net after Ivandikov made the initial save on Oklolbistyn's breakaway. Tyler Gjurich, however, would put the game out of reach with his second goal of the game at the 13:11 mark, ending Brewster's chances of repeating last week's game and forcing overtime.

Danbury will now end the weekend with a home and home series against the Berlin RiverDrivers. Tomorrow night's game in Berlin will begin at 7:35pm, and will wrap with Danbury hosting Berlin with a Sunday matinee, scheduled to start at 5:00pm. Titans' fans are invited to skate with the team after Sunday's game. For tickets and more information, contact the Danbury Titans by calling 844-DT-HOCKEY.

Port Huron Survives See-Saw Battle over Dayton 7-6 in OT

By Lee W. Mowen

DAYTON, OHIO- What's a couple of lead changes, along with a large lead lost, followed up with several 3 point performances have in common? One fantastic battle between the Port Huron Prowlers and the Dayton Demolition at Hara Arena. Despite giving away a four-goal lead late in the 2nd period, Port Huron claws back to win in overtime 7-6.

In the first period, it was the Prowlers peppering the net quickly of Louie George. With this pressure, Port Huron got on the board at the 8:15 mark of the first with Jason Pietrasiak ringing home the first tally. Nathan Robson fed Pietrasiak from behind the goal line, along with Len Pelletier anchoring down the play. Dayton answered back nearly two minutes later, with Scott Kozlak hooking a rebound past Dan McWhinney. Kozlak's first of two on the night was from a combined effort of Jacques Lamoureux and Martin Uhnak's counter-attack up into the zone. With Kozlak's 14th tally of the season, Dayton tied the young game up at 1-1. Port Huron took back the lead with Dustin Skinner's first of three scores twenty-five seconds later. Austin Daae offered up his first of three assists on the goal, along with Justin Alonzo's first of three. The Prowlers left to the locker rooms with a close 2-1 lead.

Port Huron got off to another strong start in the 2nd period, with two goals in under four minutes and chasing away Dayton's starting goal. The Prowlers increased the lead to two with Julian Fraser's blast from the near point. Fraser was assisted by the duo of Alonzo and Daae for his fourth goal of the year. Shortly after, Robson scored at the 3:47 mark from Pietrasiak and Jared Hicks for his third of the season to finish the night on George. Enter Jo St. Pierre, who would shut the door on the Prowlers for the rest of the 2nd.

Dayton's comeback started at the 7:45 mark, with Martin Uhnak connecting on his team leading 21st goal of the season. Brian Marks and Adam McKenzie help out on Dayton's second goal of the night while on a 5-on-3 opportunity. The Demolition cut the lead down to one with another power play goal, resulting in a blistering shot from outside the face-off circle from Myles McCauley. McCauley's fifth Dayton goal was helped from Jesse Felten's first of three assists and Vanwynsberghe. Dayton tied the game shortly after McCauley's score from former Port Huron Prowler Robert Vanwynsberghe. The Sons of Hockey Player of the Week tallied his fourth Dayton goal and 10th of the year with some assistance from Michael Dolman and Felten's second assist. Then, at the 16:52 mark of the 2nd, Kozlak's second score nearly blasted the Hara Arena roof off into another zip code. The Air Force line of Ryan Timar, Lamoureux, and Kozlak help give Dayton a 5-4 lead after two and a streak of four unanswered goals against McWhinney and the Prowlers.

At the 1:41 mark of the 3rd Period, Dustin Skinner connected again on a Power Play dish from Daae and Matt Fuller to break the Wrecking Crew streak and tie things up again at 5-5. Things quieted down from an offensive side for nearly fifteen minutes, until Vanwynsberghe's speediness caught the Prowlers off guard from the faceoff circle. Vanwynsberghe's second score was assisted by Felten's third assist of the night to give Dayton a 6-5 lead heading into closing time. The Prowlers continued to battle, giving Dustin Skinner a chance to finish the Hat Trick. With Skinner's third, Alonzo's third assist, and Fuller's second on an Extra-Attacker Power Play chance, things ended up squared away at 6-6 after regulation.

In overtime, both teams continued to skate quickly, but the three-man crew of Roger Tagoona, Jared Hicks, and Len Pelletier scored the winning goal 1:48 into the extra frame to give the Prowlers their first win in March with a 7-6 OT decision.

Dayton fell to 13-24-4 on the year, but maintained a hold on fifth place as the Demolition continues to battle for a playoff spot. Port Huron improved to 26-13-1 overall and 12-1 in the series. Jo St. Pierre took the OT loss with his 15 save relief appearance of Louie George (who finished with twelve saves in nearly twenty-four minutes. Dan McWhinney picked up his fourth win to improve to 4-3-1 on the year.

Vanwynsberghe, in his first game playing against his former team to start off 2015-16, was the third star with a two goal/one assist performance. Dustin Skinner was award the 2nd star with his hat trick, and Roger Tagoona was the top star with the Game-Winning goal.

Both teams meet up again Saturday evening, March 5th at Hara. The puck drops at 7:30 PM. For tickets and broadcasting information, visit DemolitionHockey.com.

Dashers Down Riverdrivers, 4-1

Supplied by Riverdrivers staff

Danville jumped out to an early two goal lead coming just 24 seconds apart. Dashers' Brian Soskin started it off just 5:37 into the matchup giving the visitors a 1-0 advantage. A mere 24 seconds later at 6:03 of the first Brent Clarke gave the Dashers a 2-0 lead with Cole Hutchinson and Justin Levac getting credit with assists. Capping off the first period was Derrick Schwarts who gave Danville the 3-0 lead going into the locker room after one period of play.

The second and third period would prove much of the same with a lot of back and forth play. The Riverdrivers were able to break the shutout at 13:36 of the second period as Tom Tracy buried a feed from Tyler Prendergast and Rick O'Connor. That would be it for the Riverdrivers as they were unable to capitalize on any other opportunities. At 16:38 of the second period Justin Levac would tally another

goal up on the score board giving the visitors a 4-1 advantage. That would be how the game finished at the Notre Dame Arena.

The Riverdrivers look to bounce back tommorrow when the host the Danbury Titans at the Notre Dame Arena. Game time is 8:00pm.

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