FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

Published on January 20, 2024 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release

ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Wolves Defeated by River Sharks

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - For the ninth time this season, the puck would drop between the Watertown Wolves and the Elmira River Sharks. With the River Sharks winning five of the eight previous games, the Wolves were looking to use home ice to narrow the gap.

It was a very special night inside the Watertown Municipal Arena, as the Wolves honored the brave men and women who defend our freedom, past and present. With Fort Drum, the home of the United States Army's 10th Mountain Division, sitting just 11 miles to the east of the city, the military has been a big part of Watertown's history.

The game would feature a mass re-enlistment ceremony, as well as an awards ceremony for a few soldiers, three US Army generals, and a big contingent of active military personnel in attendance, including Captain Colton Francemone, a company commander who signed a celebrity contract, and would play for the Wolves in this game.

The first goal of the night would belong to the River Sharks recent addition, and former Commissioner's Cup champion with the Wolves, Kyle Powell. Powell would take a nice feed from Elijah Wilson and lift the puck over the Wolves Josh Rosenzweig at the 10:20 mark. Giving Elmira the 1-0 lead. The second assist belonged to Davide Gaeta.

The River Sharks took the 1-0 lead to the room after twenty minutes of play despite being outshot by the Wolves 20 to 14.

Just 3:01 into the second period, the River Sharks would extend their lead to 2-1 when Brett Parker was able to slice a shot past Rosenzweig, and silence the packed home crowd.

Tate Leeson was finally able to solve the Eli Bowers puzzle when he beat the River Sharks starter over the glove side to cut the lead to 2-1 at the 8:10 mark of the frame.

The River Sharks' Steven Klinck would continue his streak of goals scored in the Watertown Municipal Arena at 14:39 of the period assisted by Davide Gaeta and Kyle Powell, putting Elmira back up by two goals.

Watertown's Josh Tomasi would get the Wolves back to within one at the 18:02 point on a crossing pass from Carter Thornton. Dustin Henning would also be credited with an assist, cutting the lead to 3-2.

The second period ended with that score, with the Wolves outshooting the River Sharks once again. Second period shots were 15 to 9 in favor of the Wolves.

The lone goal of the third period would be an empty netter for Elmira's Elijah Wilson at 19:28 after the Wolves pulled Rosenzweig in favor of the extra skater. Steven Ford was credited with the assist.

The River Sharks net minder Eli Bowers was outstanding over the final 20 minutes to lead the River Sharks to the win.

The River Sharks take the 4-2 win over Watertown despite being outshot by the Wolves 47 to 34.

These two teams will square off again on Sunday evening at 7:05 to finish the 3 game weekend.

River Sharks Sink Teeth Into Wolves, 4-2

by Jon Kliment

Watertown, NY - After finding their way to a 4-2 victory on Friday night at home Elmira made the trip to Watertown looking to close the gap on their division rivals with two more games on the weekend.

Elmira kicked off the scoring with a power play goal halfway through the period as Elijah Wilson made a perfect pass to the newest member of the River Sharks Kyle Powell who tucked it past the outstretch Josh Rosenzweig to give Elmira the 1-0 lead.

The River Sharks found the back of the net again as Bret Parker found the back of the net for the first time this season as he banked a shot off the back of Rosenzweig to put Elmira up 2-0. Tate Leeson answered back on an even strength goal past Eli Bowers to cut the lead to 2-1. However, Elmira answered back six minutes later on a 4 on 4 opportunity when Steven Klinck received a pass from Davide Gaeta and buried it past Rosenzweig to give the River Sharks back their two goal lead. Watertown's Josh Tomasi found the back of the net 3:23 later to bring the Wolves back within one.

Despite some back and forth late Elmira was the only team to capitalize in the third period when the Wolves pulled their netminder for an extra attacker, Powell sent a puck down the ice narrowly missing the goal, but Elijah Wilson was there for the rebound and put it home to ice the 4-2 victory for Elmira.

Bowers stopped 45 of 47 for his first win as a River Shark.

Elmira returns to the ice tomorrow at 7:05pm looking for a weekend series sweep of the Wolves. Follow along on Youtube and Mixlr.com! #FeartheFin

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at WYTHEVILLE BOBCATS

THIRD PERIOD COMEBACK NETS CATS' POINT

by Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA -The Blue Ridge Bobcats stormed back from two-separate third period deficits to earn a huge standings point against the first-place Columbus River Dragons.

Joel Frazee put home two goals just five minutes apart, at 6:13 and 11:13 of the third respectively, to tie the game at 2.

Alexander Jmaeff answered for Columbus a minute and 40 seconds later to give Columbus a 3-2 lead. The Bobcats would battle back once again, using a goal from Vladislav Vlasov at 17:32 to send the game to overtime. Nolan Slahjetcka won it for Columbus on a breakaway at 2:43 of OT to give the River Dragons a 4-3 win.

Owen Liskiewicz was huge in net for the Bobcats, stopping 42 of 46 River Dragons shots.

The Bobcats pull to within one point of fifth place in the Continental Division ahead of a three game series at Motor City next weekend.

RIVER DRAGONS TAKE WEEKEND SET FROM BOBCATS

by Tom Callahan

Wytheville, VA - Nolan Slachetka scored his first career overtime winning goal on a breakaway at 2:43 of the extra session to give the Columbus River Dragons a 4-3 victory over the Blue Ridge Bobcats on Saturday night.

After a turnover in the Columbus zone, Cody Wickline fed Slachetka a lead pass as he broke in alone and beat Bobcats goaltender Owen Liskiewicz five hole.

"I was pretty tired... at the end of my shift," said Slachetka. "I was actually looking to change earlier on. I thought I was going to get caught from behind so I just wanted to be sure to get a shot off."

The goal capped a back-and-forth affair that saw the River Dragons lead 2-0 after the first period, only to have Blue Ridge score three times in the third and force overtime.

Alexander Jmaeff, Ryan Hunter and Austin Daae all scored in regulation for the River Dragons.

The game marked only the second time all season Columbus had gone past regulation in back-to-back games, winning in a shootout on Friday night by a 4-3 score as well.

Notes:

Justin MacDonald kept his scoring streak alive, assisting on Hunter's first period goal to register a point in his 17th consecutive game. Over that stretch he has 15 goals and 20 assists for 35 points.

Hunter's goal also extended his personal-best scoring streak to seven games (5-5-10).

Tyler Roy won back-to-back games for the first time since October 27 and November 10.

Saturday marked Columbus' final regular season appearance in Blue Ridge.

Before the game on Saturday, Columbus moved forward Hunter Bersani to the 15-Day IR.

The River Dragons now head home for a weekend set against Baton Rouge, marking the first time the expansion Zydeco travel to the Fountain City. Single game seats are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office and online at TicketMaster.com.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Black Bears Defeat Hat Tricks for 3 points

by Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears defeated the Danbury Hat Tricks, 6-2 on Saturday night. Thomas Wray earned his first career "First Star" with the game-winning goal and an assist.

4,547 fans packed into the Visions Veterans Memorial Arena for the Saturday night showdown between two of the best teams in the Empire Division. It took the teams about 10 minutes to get on the score sheet, but the Hat Tricks where the first team to do so. Bohdan Zinchenko scored on a 5on3 power play to put the visitors on the board first. This time around it was Binghamton being the team that scored in the final two minutes of a period. Tyson Kirkby deflected a shot from the blue line off of a JT Walters shot, tying the game at 1-1.

Binghamton was the only team to score in the second period. Austin Thompson got back in the goal column off a set-play from a faceoff, giving Binghamton the lead 2-1. One minute later, Thomas Wray deked around a defender and shot low-glove, giving the Black Bears a much-needed insurance goal. Danbury had two more power play opportunities in the frame, but came up empty handed on both. Binghamton found themselves in a familiar position up 3-1 after two full periods.

The Black Bears played to win in the third period, scoring three more goals. Gavin Yates scored on the power play, moving the lead to three. Danbury's Corey Cunningham did take advantage of a turnover and scored unassisted. That would be the final goal of the night for the Hat Tricks. Kirkby and Yates added a pair of empty netters, as Binghamton wins 6-2, picking up the three points available.

MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES at CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS

THUNDERBIRDS FALL IN SHOOTOUT TO MISSISSIPPI, 6-5

by Brendan Reilly

Winston-Salem, NC - The Carolina Thunderbirds dropped game one of a two-game series to the Mississippi Sea Wolves, 6-5, in a shootout Friday night at the Annex.

Carolina (20-6-1) started quickly taking a 2-0 lead less than three minutes into the 1st period on goals from Josh Koepplinger and Jiri Pestuka, but Mississippi (15-14-1) responded. Jackson Bond and Danny Liscio both scored before the 14:00 minute mark of the first, tying the game at two. The Thunderbirds answered with Koepplinger recording a hat trick before the first period came to an end, but Hugo Koch cut the Carolina lead to one with 55 seconds remaining in the 1st and the Thunderbirds led, 4-3, after 20 minutes.

In the second, Dalton Anderson beat Frankie McClendon at the 8:52 mark of the 2nd period to tie the game at four before Jon Buttitta snapped one past Anthony D'Aloisio at the 10:19 mark giving Carolina the 5-4 lead going to the 3rd.

After the second intermission, both sides had opportunities before Philip Wong on the power play tied the game at five at the 9:39 mark. Carolina had opportunites late, but D'Aloisio made save after save sending the game to overtime. Carolina outshot Mississippi 5-2 in overtime but couldn't find a winner as the two sides went to a shootout.

In the shootout, neither side scored in the first round before Yianni Liarakos beat McClendon in the second round and after a save from D'Aloisio, Koch won it in the third round taking down Carolina, 6-5 (2-0).

The loss marks Carolina's first loss in overtime or a shootout this season but salvage a point. The Thunderbirds and Sea Wolves meet for game two on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 7:35 p.m. from the Annex in Winston-Salem.

MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

PROWLERS STYMIE ROCKERS, EARN SWEEP

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - The Port Huron Prowlers edged the Motor City Rockers 2-1 on Jan. 20 at McMorran Place. Evan Foley's shorthanded goal in the second period went down as the game winner.

"That's how we built the team," said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. "The plan was to construct a team that had the parts to win these low-scoring games. I thought at every position, the boys battled and that's what we got done."

Liam Freeborn opened the scoring in the first as he and Matt Graham worked a give and go on the right-wing side. Freeborn cut to the net and potted a backhander.

In the second, the Rockers got their third power play of the period but as Jameson Milam chased the puck, he gave it up to Evan Foley who skated to the slot and fired a shot past Trevor Babin.

"We wanted to be more aggressive on the penalty kill," Foley said. "I saw he was the last guy back and just tried to force him a little bit more. Luckily, it hit my stick and I found a little bit of an opening."

In the third, Scott Coash fed a pass to the slot that was deflected away but right on the stick of TJ Delaney and he got Motor City on the board. Tucker Tynan shut the door the rest of the way and Port Huron earned the weekend sweep.

Matt Graham and Austin Fetterly got assists while Tynan made 35 saves.

Pavel Svintsov picked up a helper and Babin stopped 34 Prowlers shots.

Port Huron is on the road for Thursday and Friday meetings with the Elmira River Sharks. Puck drop both nights is scheduled for 7:05 P.M. and both can be found live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Rockers Comeback Falls Short In 2-1 Loss To Port Huron

by Ben Szilagy

Port Huron, MI -The Motor City Rockers comeback bid against the Port Huron Prowlers fell short as the Rockers dropped its second straight game in the I-94 Rivalry series 2-1 on Saturday night.

The Rockers found themselves down 2-0 entering the third period when Motor City got help from two players that were previously inactive heading into the series this weekend.

Scott Coash held the puck in the near side circle and waited for a centering opportunity. One opened after a quick game of catch with Jameson Milam where Coash then fed the puck to the slot where it was deflected to TJ Delaney's stick for his tenth goal of the season.

Coash has been inactive since Dec 30th, while Delaney was inactive since Jan 12th.

The Prowlers, however, took the lead with 7:53 remaining in the first period when Austin Fetterly fed the puck across the neutral zone to Liam Freeborn as Port Huron had numbers on a rush. Graham trailed the play, and received a pass from Freeborn and immediately gave it up on a give-and-go. Freeborn then went to his backhand for a 1-0 score.

Port Huron added to its lead in the second period while killing a Rockers power play.

Evan Foley intercepted a pass along the half wall in the defensive zone and chipped it ahead in the neutral zone. Milam tried to play the puck, but it bounced back off the boards and back to Foley's stick where he was all alone in the offensive zone where he fired the puck low gloveside for a 2-0 lead.

Motor City will turn around and host the Blue Ridge Bobcats in a three-game series at Big Boy Arena on Jan 26th, 27th, and 28th.

Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2024

• River Sharks Sink Teeth into Wolves, 4-2 - Elmira River Sharks
• Prowlers Stymie Rockers, Earn Sweep - Port Huron Prowlers
• FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps - FPHL
• River Dragons Take Weekend Set from Bobcats - Columbus River Dragons
• Third Period Comeback Nets Cats' Point - Blue Ridge Bobcats
• Carolina Bounces Back, Take Down Mississippi, 4-2 - Twin City Thunderbirds
• Black Bears Defeat Hat Tricks for 3 Points - Binghamton Black Bears
• Rockers Home Streak Snapped Behind 5-3 Loss to Port Huron - Motor City Rockers

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