FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

February 16, 2024 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


WYTHEVILLE BOBCATS at ELMIRA RIVER SHARKS

River Sharks Take Bite Out of Bobcats, 3-2

by Jon Kliment

Elmira, NY -Elmira and Blue Ridge both had Wednesday night games and both tasted defeat against Binghamton and Carolina respectively. Both teams also had winning streaks broken in the previous weekend as both looked for redemption on Friday night.

After a quiet first period that saw multiple penalties the second kicked off in much the same way, a Blue Ridge goal was overturned for goaltender interference, but after Josh Newberg took a hooking minor it was Kyle Powell who finally broke the scoreless drought as he took a bad angle shot and off Connor Green's pads was able to get the puck to cross the line for the 1-0 lead. 54 seconds later Assistant Coach MJ Maerkl went to school on Powell's goal and snuck to an almost identical spot and scored a very similar goal to give Elmira the 2-0 lead. A late Daniel Martin goal after a turnover brought the Bobcats back to within one, 2-1.

After an early tripping minor on Rasmus Asp, Blue Ridge got the game tied up on a Zach Tatrn shot to tie the game up at 2-2. The Bobcats got a little too excited and ended up with too many men on the ice and then while the River Sharks were on the power play Josh Newberg upended Steven Klinck to give Elmira a 5 on 3 opportunity. Klinck who drew the penalty drew the attention of the Blue Ridge defense and tossed a perfect pass to Davide Gaeta for a forehand backhand deke to and roofed it over the netminder for a 3-2 lead for Elmira that held up through the end of the game.

Sammy Bernard stopped 34 of 36 for his 9th win of the season.

Elmira and the Bobcats conclude the season series tomorrow night at 6:07 pm here at the First Arena. Get your tickets on ticketmaster.com or by calling the box office at 607-734-PUCK! #FeartheFin

MOTOR CITY ROCKERS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

ROCKERS TAKE DOWN SHORTHANDED PROWLERS

by Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI -The Motor City Rockers snapped the Port Huron Prowlers' three-game win streak with a 5-1 victory at McMorran Place on Feb. 16. The Rockers picked up their seventh win in 12 tries against the Prowlers this season.

"Too many mistakes to win, plain and simple," said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. "[Mitch] Jones, [Liam] Freeborn and [Tucker] Tynan being out hurts. I think we had a lineup capable of winning but we made too many mistakes."

The first period was scoreless thanks to some brilliant saves from both Ian Wallace and Trevor Babin but in the second, Tristan Wells fired a shot past Wallace on the blocker side to open the scoring.

Eight minutes later, Jameson Milam came down and, from nearly the same spot in the right-wing circle as Wells, beat Wallace to the blocker side to make it 2-0. Scott Coash came in on a similar play less than two minutes later and made a move in tight, roofing a shot that made it 3-0 after 40 minutes.

In the third, Josh Colten found the top corner after a cross-ice pass from Coash and Milam got his second of the night, tapping in a back-door feed from Danny Vanderwiel. Austin Fetterly spoiled Babin's shutout by re-directing a pass from Tristan Simm.

Wallace ended up with 24 saves while Paul Arnott picked up an assist on Fetterly's goal.

Milam was the first star and led all scorers with two goals and an assist while Coash, the third star, had a tally and a helper. Babin was the second star after a 33-save effort.

The Prowlers and Rockers are back at it on Saturday, Feb. 17, this time in Fraser.

"I think we all need to self-reflect," Paulin said. "It's not about positives or negatives right now, it's about digesting what just happened, making the appropriate fixes to our game and coming back stronger tomorrow."

Rockers Cruise To 5-1 Win Over Port Huron

by Ben Szilagy

Port Huron, MI -It was almost a year to the day that the Motor City Rockers shut out the Port Huron Prowler behind a 34 save performance by then goaltender Blake Scott in a 5-0 win.

History came very close to repeating itself at McMorran Place as the Rockers behind Trevor Babin's 33-out-of-34 save performance as the Rockers beat Port Huron 5-1 on Friday night.

After a scoreless first period the Rockers came out guns blazing as Motor City scored three unanswered goals in the second period.

Tristan Wells lit the lamp first with his fourth of the season after he collected a loose puck at center ice and walked the puck into the offensive end. When he entered the circle on the far side he offered a quick wrister that beat Ian Wallace for a 1-0 lead.

Eight minutes later Jameson Milam added to his point total with his eighth goal of the season when he accepted a back-handed pass from Ryan Rontondi and raced the puck down into the offensive zone and fired a wrist shot from the slot for a 2-0 lead. Milam also earned an assist on the first goal breaking a tie for most assists on the team with 24.

Scott Coash added the third goal of the period off another Milam assist when he collected the puck from the blue line. Coash was pestered as he walked into the offensive zone, but got a shot off as he crashed the post for his team leading 19th goal this season.

The third period got more physical as both teams sent players to the box as 17 penalties were called. Some of the calls were off-setting resulting in 4-on-4 hockey.

The open ice allowed for Motor City to continue its attack when Coash took a feed from Mike Winn and saucered the puck to Josh Colten on the nearside post. Colten added a goal to lead all defensemen with nine goals this year and a 4-0 lead 2:39 into the final frame.

Milam added a power play goal for a commanding 5-0 lead four minutes later for his second of the game. It was his eight multi-point game this season.

Austin Fetterly was credited with the Prowlers lone goal that came with 5:19 left to play as Tristan Simm centered a pass to the net that ricochet off a couple of players skates, including Fetterly's and past Babin for a 5-1 game.

Motor City has the lead on the series this season 7-4-1 as the first to 10 wins will take the I-94 Rivalry in 2023-24. Motor City won the series last season 9-6-1.

Motor City and Port Huron will play again on Saturday at Big Boy Arena at 6:05pm as the Rockers honor all local medical professionals on Medical Appreciation night.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Wolves Nip Hat Tricks in OT

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - For the 9th time this season the Danbury Hat Tricks and the Wolves squared off in FPHL action. This time, back inside the Watertown Municipal Arena. Both teams were coming in with each losing 4 games in a row, including each team losing a game in overtime.

The Wolves would improve a bit on their power play percentage when Trevor Lord blasted a one timer from just inside the left point at the 2:31 mark of the first, giving the Wolves a 1-0 lead. Assists on the goal belonged to Vladislav Pavlov and Aleksandr Gamzatov.

Watertown took the 1-0 lead to the room after 20 minutes of play. The Wolves outshot Danbury 17-15 in the frame.

Johnny Ruiz would knot the game at one goal each just 3:58 into the second on a power play goal, with a slapper from just inside the left circle, on a crossing pass from Daniel McKittrick. Josh Labelle would also be credited with an assist.

Watertown jumped back into the lead when Tate Leeson got behind the Hat Tricks defense and went one on one beating Connor McCollum at the 13:18 mark. Chiwetin Blacksmith was credited along with Trevor Lord on the assists.

Watertown again outshot the Hat Tricks 14-10 in the second, and held the 2-1 lead after 40 minutes.

Period three found both goalkeepers, Watertown's Eloi Bouchard and the Hat Tricks' Connor McCollum turning in outstanding performances keeping the game close, until the 18:54 mark, when Johnny Ruiz notched his second goal of the night knotting the game at 2 each.

Regulation time would end with the game tied, with both teams trying to break their losing streaks.

It only took 1:31 into the overtime frame for the Wolves to score the win when Vladislav Pavlov lifted a shot over the shoulder of McCollum, Making the final score 3-2. Assists belonged to Marc Bottero and Mike Mercurio.

Next weekend the Wolves go to Binghamton for Fri. & Sat. 7:00 both nights, then back home Sunday to host Elmira at 7:05

Danbury will host Elmira Fri. & Sat. 7:30 Fri & 7:00 on Sat.Sun. host Bingo @ 3:00

HAT TRICKS GRAB ONE POINT IN OVERTIME LOSS TO WATERTOWN

by Doug Lattuca

Watertown, NY -Vladislav Pavlov's wrist shot in overtime lifted Watertown over the Hat Tricks 3-2 on Friday night in the first game of the weekend trio. With the loss, the Hat Tricks have now dropped five consecutive games and six of the last seven.

Wolves goalie Eloi Bouchard made 35 saves on 37 shots while Hat Tricks netminder Conor McCollum allowed three goals on 44 shots.

Watertown was assessed a pre-game warm-up violation resulting in an early man advantage for the Hat Tricks. But Danbury squandered its power play opportunity. Shortly after that, Brandon Stojcevski was assessed an interference penalty and Watertown quickly cashed in thanks to a Trevor Lord slap shot at 2:31 of the period.

In the second period, the Hat Tricks answered with a power play goal of their own. At 3:58, Captain Jonny Ruiz netted a one-timer from the left face-off circle to tie things up at one. Ruiz, the Hat Tricks' leader in goals and points, missed last weekend's games against Elmira following the birth of his child.

With under seven minutes left in the second, Watertown's goals and points leader Tate Leeson buried a breakaway to re-establish Wolves' one-goal lead.

With time running out on the Hat Tricks' comeback effort, Ruiz swooped in off the boards and scored his second of the night to even the score at two and secure a road point by forcing overtime.

But in the end, it only took a minute-and-a-half for Watertown's Pavlov to snipe a wrister past McCollum for the game-winner.

The Hat Tricks return to action Saturday and Sunday to finish off a three-game road series in Watertown. The puck is set to drop Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7:05 p.m.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS

River Dragons Dominate Zydeco

by Tom Callahan

Columbus, GA -The Columbus River Dragons put up a season-high 11 goals to collect the team's 14th consecutive win against the Baton Rouge Zydeco on Friday night at the Columbus Civic Center.

Columbus broke the game open with six second period goals, taking the game from 2-0 to 8-0 and effectively shutting down any chance of a Zydeco rally.

Eight different River Dragons scored in the game with Josh Pietrantonio (2-1-3), Austin Daae (2-2-4) and Ryan Hunter (2-2-4) each posting a pair of goals to lead the way offensively.

With the River Dragons leading 1-0 late in the first period the game hit a crucial point. Columbus failed to score on a four-minute power play and the Zydeco seemed to gain momentum from the penalty kill. But then Nolan Slachetka's wrist shot was deflected over the shoulder of goaltender Bailey Stephens with under a minute to go in the frame to make it 2-0 and swing the pendulum back towards the River Dragons at the intermission.

Notes:

Justin MacDonald (1-2-3) notched his seventh consecutive multi-point game and ran his league-record scoring streak to 24 games dating back to December 1st. Over that stretch MacDonald has 18 goals and 36 assists for 54 points.

Kyle Moore's scoring streak reached 13 games (11-20-31) with a two assist night.

Austin Daae now has a point in 10 straight games (8-10-18) after his two goal, two assist performance.

Josh Pietrantonio now has points in six consecutive games (4-9-13) after scoring twice and adding two assists.

Nolan Slachetka has points in five straight games (3-4-7) and recorded his second multipoint game of the season.

The 11 goals represents a team season high for the River Dragons.

Columbus has now scored 41 goals in its last five games.

The team's franchise-record win streak has now reached 14 games.

The River Dragons remain undefeated in regulation at home at 17-0-1.

The same two teams are back at it tomorrow night at 7:05 pm to round out the River Dragons' current eight-game homestand. Tickets are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office and online at TicketMaster.com.

CAROLINA THUNDERBIRDS at MISSISSIPPI SEA WOLVES

TWO POWER PLAY GOALS LEAD SEA WOLVES TO SIXTH STRAIGHT HOME WIN

Dustin Skinner earns first win as Sea Wolves head coach in win over Carolina

by Javik Blake

Biloxi, MS -Behind two power-play goals separated by 36 seconds, the Mississippi Sea Wolves (14-4-2-17) earned their sixth straight win on home ice in a 2-1 win over the Carolina Thunderbirds (18-7-1-9) at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum on Friday night. Dustin Skinner also earned his first win as the Sea Wolves' head coach after being hired on Wednesday as the third head coach in franchise history.

The Thunderbirds struck early with a goal from Josh Koepplinger in the first period, giving Carolina a 1-0 lead. In the second, the Sea Wolves earned an extended five-on-three power play chance at the mid-way point and cashed in twice with goals from Yianni Liarakos and Dalton Anderson. The two goals, separated by 36 seconds, proved to be the difference for the Sea Wolves after a scoreless third period for both sides.

Joseph Sheppard also earned the win in his first start with the Sea Wolves after being activated off Injured Reserve on Friday morning. On defense, the Sea Wolves limited Carolina to 22 shots, including just 13 after the first period.

The Sea Wolves will finish out their two-game homestand on Saturday night against the Thunderbirds at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Puck drop is scheduled for 6:05 p.m.

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