FHL Game Recaps
Published on December 27, 2015 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release
MJ Graham's 3 Goal Night Leads Bulldogs over River Drivers 6 to 5 in Overtime
Jeffrey Schetroma
(Berlin, New Hampshire) With the leftovers from yesterday put away, the Berlin River Drivers hosted the Brewster Bulldogs for some holiday hockey at the Notre Dame Arena. Fans were treated to an extra helping of hockey as 60 minutes of regulation was not enough to settle tonight's battle.
The first period was owned by the visitors who quickly jumped out to a 2 to 0 lead on 2 goals by MJ Graham. Graham's first goal came unassisted at 7:47 into the game. Graham picked up his second on the night off assists from John Scully and Nicolai Oklolbistyn at 15:19 mark of the period.
Fans were treated to an action packed second period in which both teams found the back of the nets. Berlin would get on the board on a shorthanded goal by Matias Simontaival off assists from Curtis Warren and David Brancik 1:37 into the period. The home team would tie things up at 2 on Andre Niec's goal off assists from David Brancik and Troy Polino at 5:28. Brewster would not be silenced in the second period when Alex Johnson scored at 9:26 off assists from Nathan Judd-Warren and Ian DeLong. Jiri Pestuka would tie things up again at 3 goals scoring off assists from Troy Polino and Terry Bradford at 11:07 mark of the period. Brewster would score their second goal of the period when Nicolai Oklolbistyn scored from assists of MJ Graham and Marcus Mitchell at 12:32. The River Driver would tie the game back up at 4 goals apiece when Andre Niec scored his second of the period on the power play off assists from Jay Croop and David Brancik at 14:43.
Both teams added a goal in the third period, Berlin's Steven Gallo would score off assists from Brantley Sherwood and Troy Polino at 6:26 and Brewster's Ian DeLong would score off assists from John Scully and Nathan Judd-Warren at 11:19. Regulation time would expire with the score tied at 5 each.
In the overtime period MJ Graham would score his third goal of the night and the game winning goal off an assist from Ian DeLong at 3:49 mark of the extra period.
River Drivers' goaltender Valery Pronin faced 43 shots and registered 37 saves in the loss. Bulldogs' goaltender Jeromy Semtner faced 46 shots and registered 41 saves in the win.
The same two teams square off again tomorrow, game starts at 2:00pm. Tickets are now on sale by calling the River Drivers' Front Office at 603-752-4100 or 603-915-3063 or you can email mdorval@riverdrivershockey.com. For additional information and to stay current on your RiverDrivers visit them online at RiverDriversHockey.com, on Facebook, and on Twitter (@GoRiverDrivers).
Dashers Shut Down Prowlers, 3-0
Joseph Hayes, courtesy of Times Herald
Second place will have to do for now.
The Port Huron Prowlers dropped their second consecutive game to the Danville Dashers Saturday night at McMorran Arena in front of an announced crowd of 1,037.
The Prowlers were shut out, 3-0, three nights after suffering a 6-4 loss to the Dashers in Danville. Saturday night's loss firmly established Danville in first place in the Federal Hockey League standings.
The Dashers (14-2-0-4) have 46 points. The Prowlers are in second place with 37 points. Danville took control of the game midway through the first period when they scored two goals in a five minute span. The teams wouldn't produce another goal until the final minute of the game when Danville scored an empty netter.
"I think we came out slower in the first 10 minutes and turned it on the rest of the game," Port Huron defenseman Joe Pace Jr. said. "In the last 40 minutes of play we limited them to (nine shots) and in the first 10 minutes they had 15 or 16, so we really have to play 60 minutes and tonight proved it.
"You sleep for a couple of minutes and they get two good bounces. After that we couldn't do anything on offense and things didn't bounce our way. "We were our own worst enemy tonight, working off all of the Christmas cookies."
Lester Brown scored unassisted at 11:02 of the first period to open the scoring. Jonathan Juliano added a goal at 16:33 from Gehrett Sargis and Ray Treblay to take a 2-0 lead just midway through the first period.
But the Prowlers showed in spots they could compete. The dominated the shot totals the rest of the game but couldn't capitalize on their quality chances. The Prowlers finished the game with a 37-26 shot advantage, but Dashers goaltender Matt Anthony kept them off the board.
"We were too much on the perimeter," Prowlers coach Trevor Karasiewicz said. "There were pucks lying in front of the crease but no one was there. It was a good game all in all but we have to get to the house and get those pucks.
Justin Brausen capped the scoring with an empty net goal with just three seconds remaining on the clock. Andy DiCristofaro had 23 saves in the loss. The Prowlers will return to action Tuesday in Berlin to start a stretch of three games in three nights. On Wednesday, they will head to Brewster and on Thursday they will return to McMorran Arena for a 7:30 p.m. face-off against Dayton.
Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from December 27, 2015
- MJ Graham's 3 Goal Night Leads Bulldogs over River Drivers 6 to 5 in Overtime - Berlin River Drivers
- FHL Game Recaps - FPHL
- Gjurich Earns Call to Quad City - Danbury Titans
- FHL Game Recaps - FPHL
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