FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps
FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

Published on January 17, 2026 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


DANBURY HAT TRICKS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

First Period Goals Lift Prowlers Past Danbury

By Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - A first period flurry made up 75% of the game's scoring as the Port Huron Prowlers downed the Danbury Hat Tricks 3-1 at McMorran Place. The teams split the two-game weekend series.

The Hat Tricks got a power play in the first but Bobby Price caused issues for them. He stole the puck and went up ice on a breakaway but hit the post on a shot. Seconds later, he stole the puck again up high and got into the offensive zone but, this time, he pulled up and gave the puck to Vincent Dekumbis who returned it right back and Price buried it. It was Port Huron's first shorthanded goal of the season leaving just one team in the FPHL without one; the Twin City Thunderbirds.

Just after that same power-play expired, Anton Rubtsov knocked down a shot to the net and tucked the puck around Reid Cooper to tie it up.

The score stayed tied for all of 27 seconds until Blake Anderson spun a centering pass to Dekumbis who put home his second point of the period. The three goals all came in a span of 2:03.

"We did some things really well tonight," said Prowlers associate head coach Chris Paulin. "We put an emphasis on rotations and playing behind their net. Vinny's goal was a really good example of executing how we wanted to attack."

The Hat Tricks pressured but couldn't find the tying tally. Reggie Millette sealed the deal with an empty netter with 5.2 seconds remaining.

Dekumbis and Price each finished with a goal and an assist while Cooper made 36 saves to take sole control of third place on Port Huron's all-time wins list with 24.

"It's the whole team," Cooper said. "We preach clearing lanes so I can see it. I love the defense corps. Brockway is a die hard shot blocker, we saw that last night on the penalty kill. All the boys do their part."

Kyle Penton stopped 22 shots.

The Prowlers return next weekend for a home-and-home against the Indiana Sentinels on January 24 and 25. Tickets to the game on January 24 at 8:05 P.M.

Shorthanded Goal Lifts Prowlers Past Hat Tricks, 3-1

By Tyler Platz

Port Huron, MI - The Danbury Hat Tricks split the weekend series in Port Huron, falling 3-1 to the Prowlers in Game 2.

Unlike the first game of the weekend series, when he scored, Danbury forward Kadyn Fennell appeared to open the scoring with a tip-in goal early in the first period. After a review, the goal was waved off.

Prowlers forward Bobby Price opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, making up for hitting the post moments earlier. He beat Hat Tricks goaltender Kyle Penton on a two-on-one at 12:34 to put Port Huron up 1-0.

At 10:58, seconds after Danbury's first power play ended, Hat Tricks forward Anton Rubtsov extended his point streak to seven games, beating Prowlers goaltender Reid Cooper in tight to tie the game 1-1.

Twenty-seven seconds later, Port Huron regained the lead when forward Vincent Dekumbis, after assisting on the first goal, scored on a wide-open backdoor chance to make it 2-1.

Neither team pulled ahead in the second period, and the score remained 2-1 after 40 minutes. The best chance of the period came from Hat Tricks forward Eli Rivers, who broke up a Port Huron pass for a breakaway but could not finish as he looked to extend his point streak to four games.

After a similar third period in which both the Hat Tricks and Prowlers struggled to gain an edge, Port Huron sealed the win on Reginald Millette's empty-net goal as the clock wound down to secure a 3-1 victory.



Danbury returns to home ice Friday at 7:30 p.m. when they host the Watertown Wolves.

ATHENS ROCK LOBSTER at PEE DEE ICECATS

ICECATS SET SEASON ATTENDANCE RECORD IN 5-1 WIN

By Tom Callahan

Florence, SC -The Pee Dee IceCats set a new 2025-26 single game attendance record with 7,837 fans on Military Appreciation Night, a 5-1 win over the Athens Rock Lobsters.

Dominiks Marcinkevics recorded a goal and three assists to pace the offense, while Alex Legkov had a goal and two assists. The IceCats also scored twice on the power play to help Parker Rutherford to his first win in his first Pee Dee start.

The win earned the IceCats a weekend split with Athens and keeps them in a tie with Twin City for the final playoff spot in the Continental Division.

Notes:

7,837 fans at Florence Center is the most any team has drawn in the FPHL this season.

Jordan Popoff scored his first goal of the season.

Trevor Lord recorded a Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a goal, assist and a fight.

Five IceCats recorded multi-point games in the win.

Nick Gullo appeared in his 200th FPHL game.

The Binghamton Black Bears are up next for the IceCats, who will not play at home again until February 13, 14 and 15 against the Twin City Thunderbirds.

Athens' Win Streak Snapped at Eight by Pee Dee

By Matteen Zibanejadrad

Florence, SC - The Athens Rock Lobsters fell 5-1 Saturday night in a series finale against the Pee Dee Ice Cats, snapping an eight-game win streak for the Crustaceans.

The hosts logged another early goal on the weekend, with Alexander Legkov wrapping it around just 45 seconds in.

Jordan Popoff doubled the Ice Cats' advantage later on in the period with his first goal since Nov. 1, 2024.

The captain tried to be the catalyst again tonight, with a dangle and finish from Carter Shinkaruk clawing one back for the Lobsters six minutes into the second period; however, Patriks Marcinkevics restored the multi-goal advantage on the man advantage with 36 seconds left in the frame.

The Ice Cats iced the game in the third with a power play goal from Trevor Lord and a late-stage tally from Dominiks Marcinkevics.

The Rock Lobsters return home to Akins Ford Arena to take on the Biloxi Breakers for the first time this season next weekend. Game one drops the puck on Friday, Jan. 23.

BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Black Bears Hold of Wolves, 2-1

By Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - The previous eleven games between these two teams has been a lopsided affair with the Black Bears taking ten wins along the way. The Wolves lone bright spot came two weeks ago when Watertown ended Binghamton's fifteen game win streak, with a 4-3 win here in the Watertown Municipal Arena. Since that night, the Black Bears have responded by starting another streak, with four wins coming into the night, with the Wolves trying to get back to the win column following last night's loss in Binghamton.

The Black Bears leading goal scorer CJ Stubbs took advantage of a Wolves penalty and put Binghamton up 1-0 on a power play goal at 8:25 of the frame, assisted by Ivan Bonderenko and Austin D'Orazio. That would be the only goal of the first twenty minutes with Binghamton outshooting Watertown 15-4 in the period.

Watertown took advantage of a power play to tie the game at the 7:01 mark of the second making the score 1-1 on a Hunter Hall goal, assisted by Konstantin Chernyuk and Egor Filippov.

The third power play goal of the night was registered at the 17:18 mark when Dan Stone put the Black Bears back on top 2-1, assisted by Kyle Stephen. Binghamton held that lead after forty minutes of play, with the Wolves outshooting Binghamton 16-8 in the period.

The final twenty minutes of the game went scoreless, and the Black Bears held on for a 2-1 win.

Next weekend the Wolves will once again battle the Danbury Hat Tricks in a home and home series, beginning Friday night in Watertown at 7:30. The Black Bears will be back on home ice next weekend as they host the Pee Dee Ice Cats for games.

Stone Scores GWG on the PP

By Brooks Hill

Watertown, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears defeated the Watertown Wolves 2-1 on the road Saturday night. CJ Stubbs and Dan Stone both scored on the power play and Dominik Tmej made 27 saves.

In the lowest scoring game of the season with the Wolves, the Black Bears would strike first. CJ Stubbs scored on Binghamton's first power play of the night at 8:25. Binghamton locked down Watertown in their own end in the opening period, only allowing four shots on goal. After one, Binghamton led 1-0.

The Wolves were able to find the scoresheet in the second. Hunter Hall scored at 7:01 into the frame, tying the game at 1-1. Watertown turned up the heat, putting 16 shots up, but still found themselves trailing after the period. Late in the period, the Black Bears were back on the power play and Dan Stone would score his 4th of the season. Nick Swain took away the eyes of the goalie and Stone's shot went right by the tender. Binghamton led 2-1 after forty.

Watertown applied pressure in the third, but were unable to find the equalizer throughout the period. Dominik Tmej recorded his 8th one-goal allowed game of the season, earning the Black Bears 29th victory of the season.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at TOPEKA SCARECROWS

Zydeco Lull 'Crows to Sleep, 4-1

By Jon Kliment

Topeka, KS- The Scarecrows and Zydeco kicked off the second half of their series on Friday night as Topeka took a 4-2 win. Despite the Scarecrows ability to secure their seventh win of the season series it has all come in 1 and 2 goal games. These two squads are closer than their appearance in the standings and each has their eyes set on future success.

Baton Rouge got things started early when Blake Keller was the recipient of some tic--tac-toe passing from Nick Ketola and Dmitry Kuznetsov, who scored his 200th career FPHL point on the play, as Keller deposited the puck into the open crease behind Daniil Bryzgalov for a 1-0 lead just 5:50 into the first period. Topeka had a power play after an ensuing fight between Justin Schmit and Matthew Bazarin saw Bazarin penalized the extra two minutes for illegal equipment. Topeka was unable to cash in however, but 12:04 into the period Scott Coash buried a shot off a perfect faceoff play from TJ Sneath to tie the game up 1-1.

It seemed to continue to roll Baton Rouge's way after Jake Cox was able to score just 2:47 into the second period for the 2-1 edge and things got tougher as Jacob Gagnon was assessed a 5 minute major and match penalty for slew footing and on a Ross Bartlett point shot a puck deflected off of Tyler Larwood and into the net for a power play goal past Bryzgalov for the 3-1 advantage.

Topeka continued to try to scratch and claw their way back, but it wasn't to be as Nick Ketola scored a final dagger at 14:26 of the third to give the Zydeco the 4-1 victory.

Bryzgalov stopped 18 of 22 in the loss.

The Scarecrows return home to close out the weekend series tomorrow afternoon at 4:05pm looking for a chance to pull back within two points of Port Huron.

TWIN CITY THUNDERBIRDS at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Franchise Record Crowd Sees 'Cats Battle But Fall To 'Birds 5-3 In St Jude Showdown

By Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - A franchise-record crowd of 2,888 packed Hitachi Energy Arena on Saturday night as the Blue Ridge Bobcats and twin City Thunderbirds battled for a great cause in the St Jude Showdown/Hockey Fights Cancer game. The bitter rivals put their animosities aside and skated for the fight against childhood cancer with both teams wearing specialty Stick It To Cancer uniforms, proceeds from the auctions of which went to St Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Blue Ridge jumped out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to a snipe from Dustin Jesseau, his 7th goal in 6 games as a Bobcat. Zach Ross followed with his first professional goal to double the lead just 37 seconds later.

Twin City responded with three unanswered in the final half of the opening frame. Jan Salak converted on the power play, followed exactly six minutes later with a snipe from Dionne Demke. Gus Ford connected two minutes later to put the Thunderbirds ahead 3-2 after twenty minutes, which is where the score stood until the 6:32 mark of period three. There, Jacob Schnapp joined the scoring with a wicked wrister over the shoulder of Anthony Shrum to make it a 4-2 game.

Jesseau, the game's second star, struck again for his 8th in 6 games with Blue Ridge to pull the Bobcats back within a goal at the 13:57 mark of the final frame. But a final man advantage counterpunch from Ford, the game's first star, sealed Twin City's 5-3 triumph.

Shrum stopped 37 of 42 shots in net for Blue Ridge. Boris Babik stopped 40 of 43 in the crease for the Thunderbirds.

Both squads re-rack things for the third of four consecutive meetings and the 9th of 12 total on the season on Friday night. Puck drop for the final game of a 3 game homestand at Hitachi Energy Arena is scheduled for 7:30 pm.

Thunderbirds Defeat Bobcats 5-3

By Kendall Grayson

Wytheville, VA - The Twin City Thunderbirds defeated the Blue Ridge Bobcats by a final score of 5-3 Saturday night at Hitachi Energy Arena. Gus Ford (2), Jan Salak, Dionne Demke, and Jacob Schnapp scored goals for the Thunderbirds in the victory. Boris Babik collected the win in net for Twin City in a 40-save-on-43 shot effort.

Dustin Jesseau gave the Bobcats a 1-0 lead just under seven minutes into Saturday night's showdown. Daniel Klinecky and Daniel Martin each notched an assist on Jesseau's powerplay goal. Zach Ross gave Blue Ridge a two-goal advantage in the matchup with an even-strength scoring play at 7:36 of the 1st period. Justin Daly and Seth Bacon recorded an assist on the goal. Jan Salak scored his tenth goal of the year at 10:54 of the 1st period to put the Thunderbirds on the scoreboard for the first time in Saturday night's matchup. The goal was assisted by Corey Cunningham and Connor Craig. Dionne Demke netted his first career FPHL goal at 16:54 of the 1st period to bring the game to a 2-2 tie. Demke previously skated for the Port Huron Prowlers, Elmira River Sharks (defunct), and Athens Rock Lobsters, but his first scoring play as a professional hockey player was accomplished wearing a Thunderbirds sweater. Zach White recorded an assist on Demke's first career goal. Gus Ford netted his team-leading twentieth goal of the season at 18:56 of Saturday's opening period to give the Thunderbirds a 3-2 advantage in the matchup. Ford's goal was assisted by Jon Buttitta and Troy Harwell. Twin City was outshot by an 18-14 margin during the 1st period, but carried a one-goal lead into the 2nd period.

Twin City and Blue Ridge battled back and forth during Saturday's middle period, but neither team was able to net a goal. The Thunderbirds were outshot by a 16-13 margin during the 2nd period, and the 3rd period began with Twin City leading by a 3-2 score.

Jacob Schnapp gave Twin City a 4-2 advantage in the matchup at 6:32 of Saturday's final period. Nate Keeley recorded an assist on Schnapp's even-strength scoring play. Dustin Jesseau scored a goal for Blue Ridge at 13:57 of the 3rd period to cut into Twin City's lead. Danny Martin and Filip Hlavac each notched an assist on the scoring play. The final goal of Saturday's game was netted on the powerplay by Gus Ford. Ford's goal was his second of the game, and team-leading twenty-first of the season. Zach White and Josh Labelle each recorded an assist on the scoring play. Twin City outshot Blue Ridge 15-9 during the 3rd period, and was outshot by an overall margin of 43-42 during the contest.

Boris Babik won a game in net for the Thunderbirds for the ninth time this season, and forty-third time in his FPHL career with Saturday night's result. Anthony Shrum made 37 saves on 42 shots and dropped the game in net for the Bobcats. Twin City improved to 12-16-1 on the 2025-2026 regular season in the victory.

Twin City will return to action next weekend in a home and home series with Blue Ridge. The Thunderbirds will travel to Hitachi Energy Arena for a 7:30pm puck drop against the Bobcats on Friday night, and return home to the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena Saturday night to host the Bobcats for NASCAR Night at 6:05pm ET.

COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS at INDIANA SENTINELS

Sentinels Drop 6th Straight Game, Fall 1-0 to River Dragons

By Andy Poetzinger

Columbus, IN -With some fresh faces and notable members of the lineup returning this week, the Sentinels were hoping to get back to mostly healthy and have better opportunity to compete in this weekend's set against the River Dragons.

It was a clunky performance last night with the Sentinels looking somewhat out of sorts for a majority of the game. However, the 3rd period highlighted the true talent level of this team as they peppered the River Dragons and clawed closer to tying the game. It would be too little too late, and they would drop the game 3-2.

Tonight, the Sentinels added Aaron Shahin into the lineup for the first time in nearly a month for a little more of a physical presence up front. The first period saw both teams skate to a scoreless tie even though the Sentinels were awarded a 5-minute powerplay after Tyler Barrow was ejected from the hockey game for slashing Dylan Infantino behind the play. Throughout mounting pressure for a majority of the 5-minute powerplay, the Sentinels were unable to crack the River Dragons penalty kill.

In the second period, play evened out a bit more and Columbus would open the scoring. Off a face-off victory, Mike Winn took a shot from the point that was stopped by John Werber. The rebound hopped right to the stick of Ryan Galvin potted his 13th goal of the season to give Columbus a 1-0 lead.

For the second straight game the Sentinels would outshoot the River Dragons in the 3rd period but were unable to find the game tying goal to send the game to overtime. The River Dragons would hang on to win 1-0 for their 17th win of the season. Meanwhile, Indiana drops their sixth in a row, and their fifth one goal differential loss in the last six.

Indiana will regroup next week and hope for the return of a few more of their top offensive players in Ryan Glazer and Marek Tortorella are close to returning. They look forward to an important home and home matchup with the Port Huron Prowlers starting on Saturday at McMorran Place.

Catch the action live on the Indiana Sentinels YouTube page as Andy Poetzinger will be on the call for Saturday night with puck drop at 8:05 pm ET.

RIVER DRAGONS SWARM SENTINELS IN 1-0 WIN

By Liam Gotimer

Columbus, IN - The Columbus River Dragons beat the Indiana Sentinels 1-0 on Saturday night, at the Hamilton Community Center in Columbus, Indiana.

Tyler Roy manned the crease for the road side, while John Werber, who backed up Chris Curr last night for the Sentinels, got his chance.

At 9:25 of the first period, Tyler Barrow received a major penalty for slashing, ending his evening early.

Columbus, though, despite being short handed, did an exceptional job of closing passing lanes, blocking shots, and even had a look at the opposition's cage. As a result, the Sentinels did not score, even with five minutes of power-play time.

The first goal of the game came in the middle frame, off of the stick of forward Ryan Galvin. Mike Winn started it all with a blue line shot, and Galvin pounced on the rebound.

The River Dragons would shut down their opposition throughout the remainder of regulation, leading to the victory.

Tyler Roy, making a second consecutive start in net, denied 32 in the shutout win for Columbus, while John Werber suffered the defeat in goal for Indiana.

"Tyler Roy was incredible," Head Coach Jerome Bechard said. "The first ten minutes were fantastic, but we got a little bit cute afterward. We came out flying again to start the second, and we got rewarded with the goal. Overall, I'm pleased with the weekend, and shoutout to our guys for stepping up without Tyler Barrow."

The River Dragons are back at home next week, for back-to-back meetings with the Baton Rouge Zydeco.

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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 17, 2026


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