FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps
FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

Published on January 24, 2026 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS at TWIN CITY THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds Win Overtime Thriller against Bobcats 4-3

By Kendall Grayson

Winston-Salem, NC - The Twin City Thunderbirds won an overtime thriller against the Blue Ridge Bobcats by a final score of 4-3 Saturday evening at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena. Roman Kraemer scored two goals, including the game-winning goal for Twin City in the victory. Zach White and Jan Salak also netted goals for the Thunderbirds during the victory. Boris Babik collected the win in goal for Twin City.

Three-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Joey Logano signed autographs prior to the game, and participated in Saturday's ceremonial puck drop. Due to weather related concerns, the full promotional elements of the Thunderbirds originally scheduled NASCAR Night will be rescheduled to a later date. Twin City and Blue Ridge played to a scoreless tie during Saturday's opening period. The Thunderbirds were outshot by a 15-7 margin during the 1st period.

Justin Daly gave the Bobcats a one-goal lead in the matchup at 10:28 of Saturday's 2nd period. The goal was netted on the powerplay, and was assisted by Dustin Jesseau and Zachary Ross. Dustin Jesseau netted a goal for Blue Ridge during the final minute of Saturday's 2nd period to give the Bobcats a 2-0 lead in the matchup. The goal was scored even strength, and was assisted by Nicholas Stuckless and Denis Radchenko. Twin City was outshot by a 15-11 margin during the 2nd period, and trailed by two goals entering Saturday's final period of regulation time.

Zach White netted Twin City's first goal of the afternoon at 1:52 of the 3rd period. White's goal was scored even strength, and was assisted by Gus Ford and Connor Craig. Carson Andreoli scored a powerplay goal for Blue Ridge following Kaleb Melanson's five-minute major penalty for fighting. Brandon Reller and Justin Daly each recorded an assist on the scoring play. After falling behind by a 3-1 score, Twin City scored the final three goals of the rivalry matchup. Roman Kraemer netted his first goal of the night, and tenth goal of the season with less than four minutes to play in the 3rd period to bring the score to 3-2. Gus Ford and Egor Ramanau each collected an assist on the scoring play. Twin City elected to lift goaltender Boris Babik for an extra attacker, and scored the game-tying goal with less than two minutes to play. The game-tying goal was scored by Jan Salak, and was assisted by Josh Labelle and Zach White. Twin City outshot Blue Ridge 15-6 during the 3rd period, and Saturday's rivalry showdown required an overtime period to determine a winner.

Roman Kraemer scored his second goal of the night, and eleventh goal of the season at 2:51 of the overtime period to give Twin City a 4-3 victory over Blue Ridge. Zach White recorded an assist on the scoring play. The Thunderbirds outshot the Bobcats 2-0 in the overtime, but were outshot by an overall margin of 36-35 during the matchup. Twin City improved to 13-7-1 on the 2025-2026 regular season with the overtime win. The Thunderbirds are now 10-8-0 in home games played at the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena this season, and 5-5-0 in head-to-head matchups against the Bobcats. Twin City will travel to Visions Veterans Memorial Arena for back-to-back road games against the Binghamton Black Bears next weekend. The puck drop time for both Friday and Saturday's matchups is scheduled for 7:00pm ET.

Boris Babik collected the win in net for Twin City Saturday afternoon in a 33-save-on-36-shot effort. The win for Babik was his tenth of the 2025-2026 regular season, and forty-fifth of his FPHL career. Anthony Shrum recorded the overtime loss in goal for Blue Ridge in a 31-save-on-35-shot effort. Roman Kraemer was named the 1st Star of Saturday's showdown, with teammates Zach White and Gus Ford collecting 2nd and 3rd Star honors, respectively.

The Thunderbirds will play the next seven games on the road before finally returning home to the Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Arena to host the Watertown Wolves in back-to-back home games on Friday, February 27th, and Saturday, February 28th.

PEE DEE ICECATS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

ICECATS END BLACK BEARS STREAK

By Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears fell on home ice to the Pee Dee Icecats on Saturday night by the final score of 4-0. The two sides split the season series with three points each and one regulation victory.

The IceCats scored early in the first period for the second-straight game. Alex Legkov opened the scoring at 3:50 into the period. Unlike Friday night, Pee Dee was able to find an insurance goal. Patriks Marcinkevics scored halfway through the period, pushing the lead up to 2-0. That's were the period would draw to a close.

The second period had a ton of opportunities, but no goals to show for it from either side. The IceCats had a 5-on-3 for over a minute and failed to covert. Then, the Black Bears had two separate power plays that came up empty handed. 12 PIM combined for the teams as they went to the intermission still at 2-0.

Black Bears pressed in the third period but were unable to break onto the scoresheet. They had 17 shots on goal in the frame, the most by either side in a period. Pee Dee got one more penalty kill and the IceCats added a pair of goals in the final period to defeated Binghamton on their home ice. Pee Dee wins 4-0.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Loss Weekend for the Wolves

By Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - Game two of the home and home series between the Wolves and Hat Tricks moved to the Watertown Municipal Arena on this very cold Saturday night, for the eleventh meeting between the two teams this season. Coming off Friday night's 3-2 shootout loss, the Wolves were hoping for a little home cooking to back to the win column. It was the second shootout between these two teams and also the fifth overtime game of the season.

The Hat Tricks' Jordan Kromm got the scoring started at the 14:54 mark of the first assisted by Genaro Fronduto, giving Danbury the 1-0 lead. Danbury would extend the lead to 2-0 on an Austin Bellefeuille goal, assisted by Kaiden Kanderka at 16:23 of the first.

Watertown cut the lead in half at the 017:03 point when Yefim Mishkin netted a goal assisted by Chase DiBari making it 2-1 in favor of Danbury. The Hat Tricks outshot Watertown 20-10 in the period, and took the 2-1 lead into the break.

Austin Bellefeuille added his second goal of the night at 5:19 of the second, putting the Hat Tricks back up by two goals, making the score 3-1. Assists on the goal belonged to Jadyn Fennell and Anton Rubstov. The Hat Tricks continued to outshoot Watertown,12-6 in the period.

At the 14:37 mark of the third, Danbury continued to pour on the offense, this time it was Maxim Maziarchuk making it 4-1, assisted by Eli Rivers and Kadyn Fennell.

Just 10 seconds later, Kaiden Kanderka made it 5-1, assisted by Kadyn Fennell and Justin Movali. The Hat Tricks held on for the 5-1 win.

Next weekend the Wolves will host the Port Huron Prowlers with the puck drop slated for 7:30 both nights.

DANBURY DOWNS WATERTOWN 5-1 TO CLOSE OUT WEEKEND SERIES

By Meaghan Baker

Watertown, NY - Following Friday's shootout win over the Watertown Wolves, the Hat Tricks picked up their second in a row and fourteenth of the season in the second half of their weekend series.

After a scoreless start to the opening frame, Jordon Kromm broke the deadlock at 14:54, firing an even-strength shot from the top of the right circle past netminder Matt Lenz to give the Hat Tricks a 1-0 lead. Just three minutes later, Austan Bellefeuille capitalized on a two-on-one rush, finishing a feed from Noah Robinson to extend Danbury's lead to 2-0.

The Wolves answered late in the period with a shot from forward Yefim Mishkin through the blockers side at 17:03 to cut the deficit 2-1 closing out the opening frame.

Bellefeuille struck again at 5:19 of the second, tipping in his second goal of the night to restore the Hat Tricks two-goal lead at 3-1. Kadyn Fennell and Anton Rubtsov picked up the assists. A quiet remainder of the period kept Danbury up two heading into the second intermission.

Late in the final period, Hat Tricks newcomer Maxim Maziarchuk buried the insurance marker at 12:18, slipping a shot from the right corner through Lenz's right pad. Just three minutes later, Kaiden Kandereka wired a wrist shot from the left circle to extend the lead to 5-1.

Kyle Penton turned aside 35 shots to secure the win, marking his sixth victory of the season between the pipes.

The Hat Tricks look to extend their win streak to three on Friday, January 30th against the Blue Ridge Bobcats at the Hitachi Energy Arena. Puck drop is set for 7:30.

INDIANA SENTINELS at PORT HURON PROWLERS

Prowlers Dominate Sentinels

By Will Wiegelman

Port Huron, MI - In their only game of the weekend, the Port Huron Prowlers dominated the Indiana Sentinels 5-1 at McMorran Place. Bobby Price led the way with the Prowlers' third hat trick of the season in a game that featured plenty of physical play and multiple fights.

"We're a chippy group," said Prowlers associate head coach Chris Paulin. "We play hard, we play physical. A lot of the way we play frustrates other teams and gets them to go into that. There was a lot of physicality all the way around, every line played heavy for the most part."

Port Huron heavily outshot Indiana in the first period and finally got rewarded in the final minutes. During a four-on-four stretch, Matt Graham found Price in front of the net to open the scoring.

The floodgates opened in the second. First, Alex Johnson entered the offensive zone and pushed back the defense before dropping the puck to Arttu Heikkilä who ripped it home off the post and in. Later, after a long offensive-zone shift, Jamie Bucell picked the pocket of a Sentinel and fed the puck to Reggie Millette all alone in front. Millette held it and returned back to Bucell who scored to make it 3-0. Less than a minute later, Price wired a shorthanded goal top shelf from the top of the circle, exploding John Weber's water bottle into pieces in the process.

"It was definitely top three in my pro career," Price said of the goal.

Price completed the hat trick in the third with Port Huron's second power-play goal of the night, the Prowlers third hat trick of the season. Richard Colarusso got his first pro goal to prevent the shutout.

Johnson finished with three helpers and Reid Cooper made 24 saves for his 16th win of the year.

Werber finished with 36 stops. Tomorrow's game scheduled to be played in Indiana has been postponed with no makeup date announced yet.

The Prowlers hit the road next weekend to Watertown for the first time since April 2023. The games on January 30 and 31 both start at 7:30 P.M. and will be streamed live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Sentinels Drop 7th Straight in 5-1 Loss Against the Prowlers

By Andy Poetzinger

Port Huron, MI - It was a tough night for the Sentinels all around as they drop their seventh straight game in a 5-1 rout against the Port Huron Prowlers.

It was a later start to the road trip than anticipated for the Sentinels due to bus issues in Columbus, but Indiana had a sleepy start to the game, allowing nineteen shots in the first period and only picking up nine of their own. John Werber was on his game early allowing only one goal in the first to Bobby Price after a failed clearing attempt by Indiana found Matt Graham in the corner who hit Price with a pass just above the top of the crease for a tap in goal to give Port Huron a 1-0 lead.

The second period would only get worse for the Sentinels as they gave up three tallies to the Prowlers on 12 shots while only getting 4 shots on net of their own. It all started with Arttu Heikkila on the powerplay potting his 11th of the year.

Almost 8 minutes later, the Prowlers would strike again as Jamie Bucell picked a pocket just inside the Sentinels blue line and had a 2 on 0 from the tops of the circles in. Bucell would pick up his 3rd of the season.

To cap off the period, Bobby Price would get a shorthanded opportunity that ended up bursting the water bottle of Sentinels goaltender John Werber to make it 4-0 through two periods of play.

In the third period, the Sentinels would find themselves down on a 5 on 3 on penalties just six seconds apart. The Prowlers would pick up another powerplay goal, the hat trick for Bobby Price who has scored 8 of his 14 goals on the season against Indiana.

The Sentinels would not go down without a fight as Richard Colarusso picked up his very first goal in the FPHL on a Prowlers turnover. He blasted a snapshot just under the glove of Prowlers goaltender Reid Cooper to get Indiana on the board.

While no more scoring occurred in the game, the nastiness would only ramp up. Two fights broke out in the final six minutes of the game. The first between Aaron Shahin and Bryce Anderson. Both guys got good licks in and were escorted to the locker room.

With under two minutes left in the game, Reggie Millette started wailing on Ryan Glazer who never had a chance to drop the gloves, and they too were escorted to the locker room.

The Sentinels fall to 6-20-4 on the season and will lick their wounds to prepare for a weekend battle against the Topeka Scarecrows next Friday and Saturday. Puck drop for both of those games will be at 8:30 pm ET. Andy Poetzinger will be on the call for both games, so make sure to tune in on the Sentinels YouTube page: @indianasentinelshockey.

BATON ROUGE ZYDECO at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS

COLUMBUS SWEEPS BATON ROUGE WITH 5-0 WIN

By Liam Gotimer

Columbus, GA - The Columbus River Dragons defeated the Baton Rouge Zydeco by a final score of 5-0 on Saturday night, at the Columbus Civic Center in Columbus, Georgia.

Trevor Babin was back in between the pipes for the River Dragons, while for the Zydeco, Connor Green, who spent training camp with Columbus, was the goaltender for the visitors.

The scoring started at 1:51 of the second period, as Tyler Barrow netted his 21st goal of the season.

40-seconds later, Cody Wickline doubled the lead for the River Dragons, with a wrist shot from the low slot.

Ryan Hunter, in his first game back from the South Carolina Stingrays, found the back of the net, making the score 3-0.

At 4:04 of the final frame, Ryan Hunter scored again, this time shorthanded, extending the advantage by another goal.

Before regulation was out, Alex Storjohann scored a power-play goal, by smoking a bullet into the top corner of the cage.

Trevor Babin made 31 saves in the shutout victory for Columbus, while Connor Green suffered the defeat for the Zydeco.

Columbus will be back in action next Friday night, taking on Biloxi at 7:35 p.m.

GAMES POSTPONED

due to weather

Saturday, January 24

Biloxi Breakers @ Athens Rock Lobsters

Topeka Scarecrows @ Monroe Moccasins

Sunday, January 25

Port Huron Prowlers @ Indiana Sentinels

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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 24, 2026


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