FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps
FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

Published on December 6, 2025 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


PORT HURON PROWLERS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Black Bears Completes Weekend Sweep

by Cole Parenti

Binghamton, NY - The Black Bears and Prowlers met for the second time in as many nights, with Binghamton looking to complete the weekend sweep. The contest took place once again at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena as the home team looked to extend its win streak to eight games.

Port Huron struck first when Reggie Millette converted on a 4-on-4 opportunity to give the Prowlers an early 1-0 lead. The next two goals, however, came from the Binghamton power play, as defensive partners Austin D'Orazio and Dan Stone each scored to give Binghamton a 2-1 advantage. That score held through the end of the first period as both teams headed to the locker room.

The rest of the way became mostly a goaltending showcase, with just one more goal scored in the contest. Zac Sirota connected on a beautiful backhander to give Binghamton a much-needed insurance goal. From there, both goaltenders were perfect, and the Black Bears closed out a 3-1 victory.

Dominik Tmej was terrific, stopping 15 of the 16 shots he faced. His counterpart, Reid Cooper, also turned in a strong performance despite the final score, making 46 saves on 49 shots. With the win, the Black Bears extend their winning streak to eight games and complete the weekend sweep of the Prowlers. Binghamton is back in action next week as they take on the Hat Tricks in Danbury.

Prowlers Swept For The First Time This Season

by Will Wiegelman

Binghamton, NY - The Port Huron Prowlers came close but still fell to the Binghamton Black Bears 3-1 on December 6 at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. The Prowlers are on a season-long four-game losing skid and were swept in a weekend series for the first time in 2025-26.

"I'm very proud of the effort tonight," said Prowlers associate head coach Chris Paulin. "Execution, we have a lot to improve upon. Some of the stuff we have installed, and are slowly building, is going to come in handy when we're very good at it in a couple of months. It takes time."

Port Huron opened the scoring in the first. Right off a faceoff, Reggie Millette wristed a shot that leaked through Dominik Tmej's pads.

The Black Bears used their power play to get all of their goals. Later in the first, Austin D'Orazio sent a shot from the point through traffic that Reid Cooper got a piece of but it still ended up in the back of the net. Dan Stone put Binghamton in front with a similar-looking play with under three to go in the frame.

Zac Sirota got the insurance goal in the middle period following multiple outstanding saves from Cooper. Ivan Bondarenko swooped in and sent a pass to Sirota and he was able to tuck in a backhander at the top of the crease.

Cooper made 46 saves as his team was outshot 49-16.

"The biggest thing was battling and competing on every single puck," Cooper said. "I had to give the boys a chance to win. I care a lot about this group. It's a good rivalry between us and Binghamton, it's not hard to get up for these games."

Bondarenko finished with two assists. Tmej stopped 15 shots.

The Prowlers end their road trip and begin a four-game homestand on December 12 against the Indiana Sentinels. It's teddy bear toss night and fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to throw on the ice for donation.

BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS at DANBURY HAT TRICKS

Hat Tricks Extend Win Streak to Four after a Weekend Sweep of Blue Ridge

by Lexi Burkey

Danbury, CT - The Hat Tricks completed a weekend sweep of the Blue Ridge Bobcats and extended their win streak to four games after a thrilling 4-2 win at the Danbury Ice Arena.

Danbury opened the scoring with just under four minutes remaining in the first period when Vadim Frolov tapped it in while planted in the crease on the power play.

Blue Ridge found itself on the five-on-three man advantage after penalties on two Hat Tricks defenseman, Ian Tookenay for slashing and Jackson Legro for tripping. The Bobcats utilized their advantage, scoring a power play goal of their own at 10:56 in the second period from second-year forward Brandon Reeler from the right circle, past the stretched-out Danbury goaltender Sebastian Resar. Blue Ridge then took their only lead of the night, a minute and nine seconds later, from former Hat Trick Kyle Heitzner.

At 13:34 in the second frame, Hat Tricks captain Jonny Ruiz tied the game on a penalty shot after being hooked by Bobcats defenseman Preston Kugler.

From there on, the Hat Tricks took charge. Rookie forward Alexander Legkov punched in his league-leading 16th goal of the season at 14:33 of the final frame from a rebound off the pad of Blue Ridge netminder Hunter Virostek. Noah Robinson then sealed the deal for Danbury at 18:59 on the empty net to put the rabbits up by two.

The Hat Tricks are back at home on Friday, December 12, against the Binghamton Black Bears; puck drop is set for 7:30 p.m.

ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS

RIVER DRAGONS DROPPED BY ROCK LOBSTERS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT GAME

by Liam Gotimer

Columbus, GA - The Columbus River Dragons lost to the Athens Rock Lobsters by a final score of 6-2 on Saturday night at the Columbus Civic Center, in Columbus, Georgia.

Trevor Babin was in net for the River Dragons, while Carter McPhail started in goal for Athens.

Athens opened the scoring in the first period when Gleb Bandurkin converted on a rebound.

At 15:10, Ryan Hunter answered for Columbus with a power-play one-timer to unleash the Teddy Bears from the River Dragon faithful.

Midway through the second period, Eric Neiley restored the Athens lead with a laser of a shot past Trevor Babin. Just 21 seconds later, Hunter scored again for the home, tying the game 2-2.

Athens regained control late in the period, with a gorgeous Jesse Lowell deflection.

In the third period, the Rock Lobsters added three more goals. Carter Shinkaruk scored from the circle, and Kayson Gallant struck twice to put the game out of reach.

Carter McPhail earned the win for the Rock Lobsters with 35 saves on 37 shots, while Trevor Babin took the defeat for Columbus.

Late Athens Barrage Finishes Off Sweep of Dragons

by Matteen Zibanejadrad

Columbus, GA - The Athens Rock Lobsters generated another lopsided scoreline against their in-state rival, defeating the Columbus River Dragons 6-2 Saturday night in Columbus Civic Center.

Just like Friday, Gleb Bandurkin opened the scoring on a putback in the first period. The Moscow Mule recorded his fourth goal in two games.

Teddy Bear Toss night in the Dragons' Den, Ryan Hunter brought the stuffed animals to the sheet with a power play one timer at 15:10 of the opening 20.

At the halfway point of the game, Eric Neiley showed off his shot with a laser past Trevor Babin.

21 seconds after Athens grabbed the lead back, Hunter scored his second of the night to knot it back up at 2-2.

On a meteoric rise, Jesse Lowell recorded his fourth tally in five games with a creative backhand tip right after the power play expired.

Despite logging only four shots in the third period, Athens scored three goals in the final 20 minutes. Carter Shinkaruk shifted from slot to circle with a top-shelf notch, before Kayson Gallant's late brace to secure the three points for the visitors.

Carter McPhail, third star of the night, recorded 35 saves on 37 shots.

Athens swept Columbus and outscored their Georgia foe 14-3 over the weekend.

The Rock Lobsters (12-2-2-0, 40 pts) return to Akins Ford Arena on Thursday, Dec. 11 for the Pee Dee IceCats' first visit to the Tank.

INDIANA SENTINELS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Sentinels Split the Weekend Series against the Wolves

by Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - Game two of the weekend set between the Watertown Wolves and Indiana Sentinels was on tap for this Saturday evening. With Watertown coming off a 5-1 win last night, the Wolves would be trying to sweep the weekend and add three more points to their total. For the Indiana Sentinels, they're still looking for that elusive win number two on the season.

Indiana's Ryan Glazer slipped into the offensive zone beating the Wolves defense, and snapped a wrist shot past Watertown starter Breanden Colgan at the 2:50 mark assisted by Connor Mullins to put the Sentinels up 1-0.

Watertown would strike right back on a Steven Klinck snipe at the 5:01 mark, his fourth goal of the weekend, knotting the game at 1-1. Egor Filippov and Matthew Gordon got the assists.

At the 15:17 point, Glazer added his second goal of the period putting the Sentinels back in front 2-1, this time from the right hand side, assisted by Denver Craig and Marian Pazitka.

Ryan Glazer wasn't done yet as the Montreal native scored on a power play to record a hat trick in the first twenty minutes, this time on a wrap-around at 9:37, assisted by Romeo Torain.

Indiana held the 3-1 lead at the break with the shots on goal favoring the Wolves 12-7.

Just 3:01 into the second period, Ryan Glazer knocked home his fourth goal of the game, extending the Sentinels lead to 4-1 with assists by Nolan Dawson and Romeo Torain.

The Sentinels continued to pour on the offense when Denver Craig lit the lamp at 10:27 of the second frame, assisted by Ethan Esposito pushing the lead to 5-1.

Watertown would get a little boost at 15:47 when Egor Filippov slapped home a one timer on a pass from Steven Klinck, cutting the lead to 5-2. That's the way the second period ended with Watertown once again outshooting Indiana 12-9 in the period.

Former Wolf Vladislav Pavlov extended the Sentinels lead back to four goals at the 9:27 mark of the third, blasting a shot from the left point and making the score 6-2.

The four goal advantage held through the remainder of the game, and Indiana scored a 6-2 win, and a split on the weekend.

The Wolves will be on the road next weekend when they head to Virginia for a two game battle with the Blue Ridge Bobcats. The Sentinels will be in Port Huron, MI next weekend for two games with the Prowlers.

PEE DEE ICECATS at TWIN CITY THUNDERBIRDS.

Thunderbirds Win Overtime Thriller over IceCats

by Kendall Grayson

Winston-Salem, NC - The Twin City Thunderbirds, proud members of the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL), won a 2-1 overtime thriller over the Pee Dee IceCats Saturday night at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena. Roman Kraemer scored the game-winning goal for Twin City in overtime. Boris Babik made 52 saves on 53 shots to collect the win in net for the Thunderbirds. Liam Blomquist netted Twin City's only goal during regulation time. The Thunderbirds posted a two-game weekend sweep over the IceCats after defeating Pee Dee by a final score of 5-4 on the road Friday night. Twin City will return to the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena next weekend for back-to-back home games against the Columbus River Dragons. Friday's game will begin at 7:35pm, and Saturday's matchup will start at 6:05pm.

After two scoreless periods of intense action, Saturday's 3rd period began in a scoreless tie. Liam Blomquist netted Twin City's first goal of the contest just over two minutes into the final period of regulation. Blomquist's goal was assisted by Jon Buttitta and Cade Hanley. The IceCats elected to lift goaltender Ricardo Gonzalez for an extra attacker in the game's final moments. Trevor Lord scored the game-tying goal for Pee Dee with thirty-two seconds left to play in the 3rd period. Nicholas Magill-Diaz and Patriks Marcinkevics each collected an assist on the scoring play. The game entered overtime in a 1-1 tie.

Each team notched four shots on goal during Saturday's thrilling overtime period. Roman Kraemer scored the game-winning goal on the powerplay with twenty-one seconds left to play. Josh Labelle and Zach White assisted on the goal. Twin City won the game by a final score of 2-1, and improved to 4-2-0 in head-to-head contests against Pee Dee this season.

Boris Babik made 52 saves in net for Twin City to improve to 4-5-0 on the season. Ricardo Gonzalez dropped the game in net for Pee Dee in a 22-save-on-24 shot performance. Roman Kraemer was named the 1st Star of the Game, with teammates Liam Blomquist and Boris Babik collecting 2nd and 3rd Star honors.

Saturday's game served as the organization's Special Olympics Night presented by Flow Automotive. The Thunderbirds wore specialty jerseys that were auctioned off live following the matchup. There was also a postgame skate after Saturday night's battle between the Thunderbirds and the IceCats.

The Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena is currently offering a Holiday 4-Pack for only $60. The deal includes four tickets to a Thunderbirds home game in December, and four public skating passes. The ticket package can be purchased and picked up at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena Box Office.

ICECATS NET POINT IN OVERTIME AGAINST TWIN CITY

by Tom Callahan

Winston-Salem, NC - Trevor Lord scored in the final minute of regulation to send the game to overtime as the Pee Dee IceCats rallied to secure a point on the road against the Twin City Thunderbirds.

The scoring didn't start until early in the third period, when Liam Blomquist broke the ice for Twin City at 2:11, scoring on a centering feed from John Buttitta for a 1-0 lead.

As they had the night before, Pee Dee tried hard to find the equalizer all period long, but this time had the answer at 19:28 when Lord scored on a rebound in front of Thunderbirds goaltender Boris Babik to force overtime.

In the OT both teams had quality scoring chances, but a late power play for Twin City provided the game winner as Roman Kraemer put a wrist shot over the shoulder of Ricardo Gonzalez, just under the crossbar at 4:39.

The point broke a three-game slide for the IceCats, who now look forward to a three game series next week against the Athens Rock Lobsters.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at MONROE MOCCASINS

ALBRECHT HAT TRICK POWERS MOCCASINS PAST ZYDECO 6-1

by Joseph Furtado

Monroe, LA - Austin Albrecht recorded a hat trick and four-point night as the Monroe Moccasins rolled past the Baton Rouge Zydeco 6-1 on Saturday night at the Monroe Civic Center, extending their winning streak to five against Baton Rouge.

Monroe, now 5-1-0 against the Zydeco this season, set the tone early. Carlos Fornaris opened the scoring at 1:11 into the first period and Albrecht doubled the lead at 10:03, giving the Moccasins a 2-0 cushion after the opening frame.

The Moccasins continued to control the pace in the second. Corey Cunningham pushed the lead to 3-0 at 6:44 and Albrecht added a shorthanded at 9:42 to make it 4-0. Baton Rouge answered late in the period on a power-play goal from Dmitry Kuznetsov at 19:01.

Monroe closed it out in the third as Daryk Dube Plouffe scored at 2:31, while Albrecht capped his hat trick at 10:44 to make it 6-1. The Moccasins improve to 11-4-2-0-0 on the season while the Zydeco fall to 2-10-2-0-0

BILOXI BREAKERS at TOPEKA SCARECROWS

Topeka Battles To The End, Can't Find a Prayer on Faith and Family Night Falling 5-2

by Jon Kliment

Topeka, KS - Topeka and Biloxi played a weekend series for the Scarecrows home opening set back in October and the results saw each team come away with points as both squads secured a victory. Since then it has been a very different tale for each squad. Topeka hoped to remedy that home series split with a sweep on Saturday night after a decisive 5-3 victory on Friday night.

The Breakers came out showing urgency early on and it paid off as on a two on one Khaden Henry put an initial shot on Sammy Bernard, but two rebounds later Declan Conway found a path over the outstretched netminder for a 1-0 lead 4:51 into the game. 12:05 into the period Aldiyar Nurlan set up on a faceoff play that Henry won back and fired a slapper past Bernard for the 2-0 advantage.

Nurlan continued his hot weekend as he came in on a stretch pass breakaway and went forehand-backhand to take Bernard out of position and give Biloxi the 3-0 lead.

Biloxi showed no signs of letting up as 5:02 into the third period Xavier Charbonneau shoveled home a one timer past Bernard for the 4-0 lead. Topeka finally put up a crooked number of their own as on a power play Scott Coash rifled a shot from the hash marks toward Josh Rosenzweig and found a path into the back of the net to close the gap to 4-1 at 11:38 of the third period. 1:29 later the Breakers slowed down that momentum as Lucas Piekarczyk put one off Hugo Koch's skate past Bernard to make it 5-1. Elijah Wilson found a later power play goal of his own on the rush as he stepped inside the circle and fired one past Rosenzweig to narrow the score to 5-2, but that was as close as the Scarecrows could get.

Bernard stopped 24 of 29 in the loss.

The Scarecrows head out on the road to Baton Rouge to take on the Zydeco for their next four games. Catch all the action on Youtube and Sporfie!

Nurlan, Henry 4-Point Nights Fuel Biloxi

by Devin Dobek

Topeka, KS - After a rough loss last night, the Breakers returned to the Stormont Vail Events Center with a vengeance against the Topeka Scarecrows. Fueled by 4 point nights from rookies Aldi Nurlan and Khaden Henry combined with 37 saves for Josh Rosenzweig, the Breakers outlasted Topeka and earned a weekend split with a 5-2 victory.

The Breakers needed to find a way to snag 3 points in their final road battle with Topeka on Saturday night. Slow starts have been a constant problem all season long for Biloxi, but tonight they came out firing. At 4:51, Topeka got caught in transition and Khaden Henry fed Declan Conway in all alone. Bernard made a great initial save, but a tenacious second effort by Conway lit the lamp for his 12th of the season to put the visitors on the board first at 1-0. By this time, the Breakers had an 8-1 advantage in shots, a positive sign for them early on. However, Topeka began to chip back away with some pepper on Rosenzweig, who continued to make some tremendous saves to keep the lead intact. Around the 12 minute mark, reigning rookie of the month Khaden Henry had a clean offensive zone faceoff win back to Aldi Nurlan in the shooting position. WIthout any hesitation, Nurlan fired a one timer over the glove of Bernard for his 5th of the season and 3rd of the weekend to make it 2-0. The Breakers had their lead, but Topeka continued to tilt the ice. Xavier Charbonneau was assessed the only penalty of the frame a couple minutes later, but Topeka still couldn't crack Rosenzweig. The final few minutes bled out with the Breakers maintaining their 2 goal lead, despite Topeka flipping the shots to 12-10 in their favor.

Period 2 was a very odd one. Neither team could get much going offensively, with both passing and shooting lanes consistently clogged up. Topeka dominated zone time early, and the Breaker defense was forced to dump the puck virtually every time they came into possession to catch a breather. Aldi Nurlan began to catch on to the tempo, and with the Breakers shooting the puck down with every touch, he decided to sit at the Topeka blueline. Low and behold, at 7:16 Nurlan caught a stretch pass and was in by his lonesome on Bernard. With a few shimmies and shakes, Nurlan got Bernard to bite and finished on his forehand to push the Biloxi lead to 3. Another uneventful few minutes went by until Scott Coash was assessed a 5 minute major for a hit to the head. The Breakers went to their first powerplay, but 2 minutes into it Declan Flanagan was booked for playing with a broken stick, and it became 4 on 4. From here the two squads continued to ping pong the puck back and forth with no sustainable pressure. When the intermission horn sounded the score remained 3-0 Biloxi, with each side logging just 5 shots a piece in the middle chapter.

The 3rd and final frame was action packed but very drawn out. At 5:02, Khaden Henry swooped around the goal and found a streaking Xavier Charbonneau who finished for his first professional goal to make it 4-0. A couple minutes later, during a media timeout, a scrum broke out by the benches. Robbie Nichols was given an unsportsmanlike penalty and AJ Schlepp a match penalty for spearing that led to an interesting special teams sequence. Once Topeka killed off their minor, they went to work on the man advantage. With the zone established, a cross crease feed was tipped home by a Breakers' killer and it became 4-1. Less than 2 minutes later, Lucas Piekarczyk scored on a pass that was tipped home by a Topeka defender and it became 5-1. The final blow came from Elijah Wilson with a blocker side snapshot to beat Rosenzweig and make it 5-2. The horn sounded with the Breakers earning a split, and the long bus ride home would be a happy one.

The Breakers improve to 5-11-1, and will head to Monroe next weekend for a pair with the Moccasins. Topeka falls to 10-5-0, and will head to Baton Rouge to take on the Zydeco next weekend.

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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from December 6, 2025


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