FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps
FPHL Federal Prospects Hockey League

FPHL Ice Chips - Game Recaps

Published on January 31, 2026 under Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release


TWIN CITY THUNDERBIRDS at BINGHAMTON BLACK BEARS

Black Bears Comeback Falls Short in OT

By Brooks Hill

Binghamton, NY - The Binghamton Black Bears fell short on Saturday night 7-5 against the Twin City Thunderbirds. Binghamton's falls for the second-straight night on the weekend, outscored 12-9.

They started early in the first, and didn't let up. The teams combined for six goals in the first period, scoring five in the first 11 minutes. Twin City jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Binghamton drew even with a power play goal from CJ Stubbs and another from Mac Jansen. The tie did not last long, as the Thunderbirds scored 46 seconds later, reclaiming their one-goal lead. They added a power play strike in the final five minutes and led 4-2 after the first period.

Binghamton could not inch closer in the second period, as Twin City extended their lead with the only goal in the frame. Chris Mott got his first of the night at even strength and pushed the score up to 5-2.

The Black Bears had a blazing start to begin the third, trying to claw back into the contest. Kyle Stephan scored at 2:52 and Stubbs scored his second power play goal of the night. They cut the lead to 5-4 but Twin City did not allow the game-tying goal to happen again. Zach White scored on a breakaway and Mott added another power play goal, the lead was back to three.

Bondarenko scored with the net empty to make it 7-5 but the Black Bears scoring ended there. Binghamton comes up with one point this weekend at home and now have a record of 30-5-1

Thunderbirds Defeat Black Bears 7-5

By Kendall Grayson

Binghamton, NY - The Twin City Thunderbirds defeated the Binghamton Black Bears by a final score of 7-5 Saturday night at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena. Twin City posted a two-game sweep over Binghamton, and became the first team this season to win consecutive games in a single weekend against the Black Bears. Jacob Schnapp (2), Chris Mott (2), Connor Craig, Jon Buttitta, and Zach White scored goals in the two-goal win for the Thunderbirds. Boris Babik backstopped the team to victory with 41 saves in net for Twin City.

Connor Craig netted his first goal of the season for the Thunderbirds at 4:23 of Saturday's opening period. Gus Ford and Jan Salak each recorded an assist on the scoring play. Jacob Schnapp netted his first goal of the period, and fifth goal of the season just over eight minutes into the 1st period to give Twin City a two-goal advantage in the battle. Schnapp's goal was assisted by Gus Ford. CJ Stubbs scored a powerplay goal for the Black Bears at 9:19 of Saturday's opening period to cut into the Thunderbirds' lead. Gehrett Sargis and Gavin Yates each collected an assist on the scoring play. Mac Jansen tied the game at 2-2 with an even strength goal netted at 11:06 of the 1st period. Ivan Bondarenko and CJ Stubbs assisted on the scoring play. Jacob Schnapp gave Twin City a 3-2 lead in the game less than one minute later. Schnapp's goal was netted even strength, and was assisted by Jon Buttitta and Nate Keeley. Jon Buttitta scored a powerplay goal at 14:12 of Saturday's 1st period to give the Thunderbirds a two-goal lead in the battle. Gus Ford and Chris Mott each collected an assist on the scoring play. Mott's assist was his first point as a member of the Thunderbirds. Twin City was outshot 21-9 during the opening period, but led by a score of 4-2 entering the 2nd period of Saturday night's showdown.

Chris Mott netted the only goal of Saturday's 2nd period to give Twin City a three-goal advantage in the matchup. Mott's goal was his first as a Thunderbird, and was scored even strength. Jon Buttitta and Jan Salak each recorded an assist on Mott's scoring play. Twin City was outshot by a 9-5 margin during the middle period, and carried a 5-2 advantage into Saturday's 3rd period.

Kyle Stephan scored an even strength goal at 2:52 of the 3rd period to bring the score to 5-3. Jesse Anderson and Gavin Yates each recorded an assist on the scoring play. CJ Stubbs netted a powerplay goal at 6:46 of the 3rd period to bring the Black Bears within one goal of the Thunderbirds' lead. Mac Jansen and Gavin Yates recorded an assist on the goal. Zach White scored an even strength goal eight minutes into the 3rd period. The goal gave Twin City a two-goal lead in the matchup, and was assisted by Josh Labelle. Chris Mott scored his second goal of the game at 10:12 of the 3rd period to give the Thunderbirds a 7-4 lead in the game. The goal was netted on the powerplay, and was assisted by Gus Ford and Connor Craig. The final goal of Saturday's contest was scored by Ivan Bondarenko with less than two minutes to play. Bondarenko's goal was scored with an extra attacker, and was assisted by Austin D'Orazio and CJ Stubbs. Binghamton outshot Twin City 16-8 in the 3rd period, and 46-23 overall in the matchup. The Thunderbirds won the game by a final score of 7-5, and improved to 15-17-1 in the victory. Twin City passed Pee Dee for 4th place in the FPHL's Continental Division standings with the win.

Boris Babik collected the win in goal for the Thunderbirds in a 41-save-on-46-shot-performance. CJ Hapward recorded the loss in goal for Binghamton. Hapward made 12 saves on 15 shots in just over 42 minutes of game time. Dominik Tmej started the game in net for the Black Bears and was pulled during the 1st period after Twin City's 4th goal of the game. Tmej made 4 saves on 8 shots during Saturday's opening period.

Twin City is idle next weekend and will hit the ice again on Friday, February 13th in a road game against the Pee Dee IceCats. The Thunderbirds will play a three-game road series that weekend at the Florence Center. Twin City's next home games will be played back-to-back against the Watertown Wolves on Friday, February 27th and Saturday, February 28th. Puck drop for Friday's game is set for 7:35pm ET, and Saturday's matchup will begin at 6:05pm ET.

PORT HURON PROWLERS at WATERTOWN WOLVES

Lost Weekend for Wolves

By Jeff Barrett

Watertown, NY - After dropping a heartbreaking 3-2 game on Friday night, the Wolves looked to rebound against the Port Huron Prowler in game two of the weekend in Watertown.

Through a very spirited first period that saw both teams with quality scoring chances, the score would remain tied at 0-0 after twenty minutes, with Watertown outshooting the Prowlers 8-5.

Just 1:14 into the second, the Prowlers got the first goal of the night on a Blake Anderson power play goal, assisted by Jamie Bucell and Bobby Price.

The Wolves tied the game at 9:30 of the frame with a Steven Klinck goal, assisted by Egor Filippov and Yefim Mishkin.

The Prowlers nabbed their second power play goal of the period at 16:56 mark, on a Timothy Organ goal assisted by Lucas Lacny and Arrtu Heikkila.

The Prowler outshot the Wolves in the second 9-4, and took the 2-1 lead to the locker room after forty minutes of play.

5:24 into the third period, the Wolves would get their own power play goal from Yefim Mishkin to knot the game at 2-2. Assists on the goal belonged to Egor Filippov and Steven Klinck.

Regulation time ended with the score tied at 2-2. In the extra frame the Prowler Bobby Price rang a shot off the pipe that was ruled a goal. The officials would study the replay for several minutes but could see nothing to overturn the call that it didn't go in, so it was ruled a good goal and the Prowler ended up with a sweep of the weekend with a 3-2 win.

The Wolves will be back to Danbury, CT next week--end to battle the Hat Tricks for two games, while the Prowlers get set for a weekend off before hosting the Binghamton Black Bears in a fight between the two top teams in the Empire Division.

Price's OT Winner Propels Prowlers to Sweep

By Will Wiegelman

Watertown, NY - Bobby Price scored his second of the night in overtime to propel the Port Huron Prowlers past the Watertown Wolves 3-2 at Watertown Municipal Arena on January 31. Port Huron is leaving Watertown with five of a possible six points on the weekend.

"It's obviously good to get a big win," said Prowlers associate head coach Chris Paulin. "It was kind of a crazy game but the guys stuck to it and we got some really spectacular goaltending, especially in the third period."

After a scoreless opening period, Price opened the scoring with a power play goal as he drove the net and tucked it home along the ice. Steven Klinck got a penalty shot later in the period, but Reid Cooper stopped him.

"I thought Coop played it spectacularly," Paulin said. "I think [Klinck] panicked a little and ran out of room. Coop knows how to play penalty shots, for sure."

Klinck got on the board a few minutes later on a partial breakaway to tie the score. Tim Organ clapped home a power-play marker to answer and the Prowlers took a 2-1 lead into the third.

There, it was the Wolves' turn to convert on the power play as Yefim Mishkin stuffed it home. That sent the game to overtime.

In a delayed penalty situation, the Prowlers attacked four-on-three. They worked the puck to Price in the right-wing circle. He stepped in and ripped a shot over Matt Lenz's blocker that hit the post and bounced in and out quickly. It was called a goal on the ice and that call was confirmed after a long review.

Organ added an assist to his goal while Jamie Bucell dished out two helpers. Cooper made 21 saves in his league-leading 17th win of the season.

Klinck and Mishkin each added an assist to their goals while Egor Filippov had two. Lenz made 24 stops in Watertown's sixth-straight loss.

The Prowlers have a week off before returning home on February 13 and 14 to face the Binghamton Black Bears.

DANBURY HAT TRICKS at BLUE RIDGE BOBCATS

Jesseau Hat Tricks the Hat Tricks, Bobcats Sweep Danbury With 4-2 Win

By Brett Wiseman

Wytheville, VA - Dustin Jesseau continued the torrid start to his tenure as a Blue Ridge Bobcat, putting a hat trick up against his former team, the Danbury Hat Tricks, and carrying his current club to a 4-2 win and a weekend sweep of their Empire Division rivals.

After an inauspicious start which saw a penalty on the Bobcats for a pregame warmup violation followed 11 seconds into the contest by a lineup sheet violation on Danbury, both clubs struggled to find a rhythm through the first few minutes of the first period. Jesseau woke up his team and the crowd at Hitachi Energy Arena, finishing off a gorgeous tic-tac-toe passing sequence on a rush with linemates Danny Martin and Carson Gallagher at the 14:32 mark of the opening frame.

Jesseau struck for his second just 34 seconds into the second period, one-timing a puck through the pads of Kyle Penton on a great setup by Gallagher from behind the net. Danbury would respond swiftly, scoring the only two remaining goals of the middle frame. Gerano Fronduto and Kaden Kanderka both converted on the power play just 5:37 apart to even the game at 2 heading to the second intermission.

Carson Andreoli hopped on a loose puck and finished off a mini breakaway with a top-shelf backhand goal that served as the eventual game winner just 3:06 into the third. Jesseau completed the hat trick and sealed the victory sniping a wrist shot home in the low slot past Penton at the 15:26 mark.

Greg Hussey made his first start in net for the Bobcats since last April, and didn't look like he'd missed a single beat, stopping 43 of 45 Danbury shots. Martin, Gallagher and Jesseau combined for third, second and first star honors respectively.

The Bobcats return to the road and make their first ever trip to Landon Arena to face the Topeka Scarecrows next Friday and Saturday night with sole possession of third place in the Empire Division on the line. Both games are scheduled to begin at 8:05 ET (7:05 CT) and both games will be available on the Blue Ridge Hockey Network on YouTube, Facebook, Sporfie and 96.5FM/1360AM WCGX The Cat.

Hat Tricks Fall 4-2 to Bobcats in Playoff-seed Battle

By Tyler Platz

Wytheville, VA -The Danbury Hat Tricks fell 4-2 to the Blue Ridge Bobcats in Game 2 of the weekend's fourth-seed showdown. With the loss, the Hat Tricks sit nine points out of the playoffs as the regular season winds down.

Danbury tested Bobcats goaltender Greg Hussey in his first start this season, outshooting Blue Ridge 24-11 in the first period. Despite more than doubling the Bobcats in shots, the Hat Tricks couldn't capitalize, and Blue Ridge made the most of its opportunities.

On a three-on-two rush at 5:27, Bobcats forward Dustin Jesseau beat Danbury goaltender Kyle Penton with a high wrist shot for his team-leading 14th goal of the season, giving Blue Ridge the 1-0 lead.

The Bobcats wasted no time in the second period, doubling their lead to 2-0 just 33 seconds in when Jesseau scored his second of the game with a one-timer in the slot.

After Blue Ridge defenseman Seth Bacon was called for cross-checking, the Hat Tricks showed some life when Jordon Kromm's point shot was tipped by Kaiden Kandereka for his sixth goal of the season at 11:40, cutting the Bobcats' lead to 2-1.

Following a hooking penalty on Jesseau, Kromm stayed involved on the power play, firing a point shot on Hussey that Anton Rubtsov put away on the rebound at 6:02 for Danbury's second power-play goal of the night to tie the game 2-2.

Despite the Hat Tricks' success on the power play, penalties throughout the first two periods limited their chances and gave Blue Ridge time on the man advantage.

The Bobcats scored the first goal in each of the first two periods, and the trend continued in the third. At 16:55, Blue Ridge forward Carson Andreoli won a race to a loose puck and backhanded a shot high to give the Bobcats a 3-2 lead.

At 4:36, Jesseau, who had hit the post on a breakaway seconds earlier, scored his third of the game for the second Bobcats' hat trick this season, giving Blue Ridge a 4-2 lead in the final five minutes.

After Danbury's attempt to pull Penton for an extra attacker resulted in a too-many-men penalty with under two minutes in regulation, the 4-2 score held as the final.

The Hat Tricks return home to host the Watertown Wolves on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

BILOXI BREAKERS at COLUMBUS RIVER DRAGONS

RIVER DRAGONS BEAT THE BRAKES OFF BILOXI, 5-1

By Liam Gotimer

Columbus, GA -The Columbus River Dragons defeated the Biloxi Breakers by a final score of 5-1 on Saturday night, at the Columbus Civic Center, in Columbus, Georgia.

Trevor Babin received the start in goal for the River Dragons, while in net for Biloxi was Anton Borodkin.

The first goal of the game was scored by Alexander Jmaeff, after a sensational set-up from Yaroslav Yevdokimov and Josh Colten.

In the second period, the River Dragons scored three times in the final ten minutes of the stanza. Lucas Texmo, Tyler Barrow, and Cody Wickline were the recipients.

In the third, Cody Wickline scored his second of the game, putting the game away for the River Dragons at 7:20.

Biloxi scored between regulation time completed.

Trevor Babin made 18 saves in the victory for Columbus, while Anton Borodkin took the loss for the Breakers.

Columbus will be back in action next Friday to take on Biloxi once again, but this time, on the road, at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. Coverage of the contest will begin at 7:35 p.m. on the club's YouTube!

Dragons Roll Breakers

By Devin Dobek

Columbus, GA - After showing some flashes last night, Biloxi was eager to seek some revenge over their former captain and the Columbus River Dragons. Unfortunately, Saturday night's affair would be one that Columbus dominated from start to finish, en route to a 5-1 win.

Columbus came out hot to begin period 1, forcing Anton Borodkin to make some difficult saves in just his first start dating back to his injury on January 2nd. As the game progressed to the 7 minute mark, Joel Texmo and AJ Schlepp shed the mitts. Schlepp came out decisively in a quick bout, and quieted the Civic Center crowd as he was sent to the box for his league-leading 174th penalty minute of the season. 94 seconds after the fight, Alexander Jmaeff darted down the lane and one-timed a Josh Colten centering-pass home to open the scoring at 1-0 Columbus. The back half of the period featured end to end action, with as long as 6 minutes without a whistle. Both teams settled into the game after a sloppy start, but no one else found the scoresheet. The horn sounded with Columbus taking a 1-0 lead to the room, outshooting Biloxi 10-8.

The second period began with Columbus coming out strong once-more, and looking to add to their lead. They began to tip the scales in their favor for both possession and zone time, but Breakers netminder Anton Borodkin was dialed in. 14 minutes into the second, it was still 1-0, but it felt like Columbus was moments away from opening things up in a big way. At 14:19, Lucas Texmo picked up a deflected pass in the offensive zone and sniped a goal top shelf while being taken down to make it 2-0. Biloxi needed to find a way to generate some momentum late, but unfortunately, things couldn't have gone much worse. With 75 seconds to play, a bad Breaker pass kicked out into the neutral zone where it was collected by Tyler Barrow. The leagues' 3rd best points-getter was off to the races, finishing with a wrister on the glove side to make it 3-0. 45 seconds later, Cody Wickline pulled the puck out of traffic and stuffed it home to extend the lead to 4. Columbus dominated in shots 20-7 in the middle frame, and carried a comfortable 4-0 lead out of thin air into the room, 20 minutes away from their 6th consecutive win.

In the third period, the River Dragons continued to floor the gas. Biloxi looked deflated, and despite finishing a lot of checks, they just simply couldn't get much rolling offensively. At 7:20, Cody Wickline potted his 2nd of the night to make it 5-0, essentially planting the dagger. The silver lining for Biloxi came at the midway point, when DonHeaven Veilleux crashed the net to shovel home his 2nd of the season to save his team from a shutout. Columbus cruised the rest of the way to triple zeros, outshooting the Breakers 42-19 en route to a 5-1 victory.

Biloxi falls to 6-26-1, and will close out their 3 game road trip tomorrow at 3:05 CST against Athens. Columbus wins their 6th straight, imp

INDIANA SENTINELS at TOPEKA SCARECROWS

Sentinels Continue March Through Topeka, 5-3

By Jon Kliment

Topeka, KS - Topeka returned to their home ice on Saturday night looking for a more structured effort after their Friday night loss to the Indiana Sentinels. The Scarecrows found ways to score but struggled to find consistency against the revamped Indiana squad and needed to find a way to spark offense coming into their final matchup in January.

The Scarecrows got things going with some aggression and puck luck as Alex Norwinski pinched in and launched a shot towards the net and Elijah Wilson tipped home his 16th goal of the season to give Topeka the 1-0 lead just 4:24 into the game. 3:13 later Maximus Marek-Tortorella came down the far side and found a hole in Sammy Bernard's arm to tie the game up. 3:30 later Jhuwon Davis scored his second of the weekend and of the season to give Indiana their first lead of the evening. At 18:43 Jonas Leas dropped a puck to Bohdan Zinchenko who pinched in on Bernard who stymied two attempts before Zinchenko was able to put one behind Sammy for the third goal of the period and his first goal since late November.

Once again the Scarecrows came crashing in again during period two with a change in net as Bryn Sommerfeldt made his Scarecrows debut. With both sides testing their special teams it was five on five play that saw the lone goal of the middle period as Tyler Inlow took a pass in the slot from recently released Hugo Koch and fired it off a couple of legs and behind John Werber to bring Topeka back within one, 3-2.

After numerous special teams attempts it was Indiana who struck first as Ethan Esposito sent a shot off the right pad of Sommerfeldt that bounced up and over and trickled in for a 4-2 lead. The Scarecrows answered back with netminder pulled as Aldiyar Nurlan buried one behind Werber to close the gap back to one, but an empty netter from Zinchenko closed out the game 5-3 for Indiana.

Bernard stopped 6 of the 9 while Sommerfeldt took the loss stopping 12 of 13.

Topeka returns home next weekend to face off with the Blue Ridge Bobcats next Friday night at 7:05pm.

Sentinels Sweep Scarecrows

By Andy Poetzinger

Topeka, KS - After a huge win yesterday, the Indiana Sentinels had eyes on their second weekend sweep of the season. They would have to fend off an angry Scarecrows unit who felt they had missed an opportunity the night before.

We thought the Scarecrows would come out firing, and they were the first to get on the board. Elijah Wilson in the right place at the right time was able to redirect an Alex Norwinski shot just under the crossbar for his 16th goal of the season.

The Sentinels would answer the bell by scoring three goals in the final 12:23 of the first period. It all started with Maximus Marek-Tortorella lulling the Scarecrows to sleep on a one-on-four rush. He snapped a shot that surprised Sammy Bernard and rolled over the goal line for Marek-Tortorella's sixth of the season, and first since returning to the lineup from injury.

Just three and a half minutes later, the Sentinels were buzzing in the offensive zone and Ashton Collazo, after being denied twice, sent a backhand pass to the slot for a waiting Jhwuon Davis who scored his second goal in as many games to give the Sentinels a 2-1 lead.

To finish the period, the 80's line which consists of Bo Zinchenko, Jonas Leas and Dylan Infantino, completed a pretty passing play that found Zinchenko alone in front of the net. He was denied on his first attempt but stuck with it and pounded home the second try for his tenth of the season.

Period two saw the end of the night for Sammy Bernard as he was replaced by former Sentinels goaltender Bryn Sommerfeldt after giving up three goals on nine shots. While Indiana held a good amount of pressure in the first few minutes of the period, they could not beat Sommerfeldt.

Topeka had the only goal in period two as Tyler Inlow released a shot that he did not get full power on. It hit the inside of Ivan Ponivanov's skate, and in between John Werber's legs to cut the Sentinels lead to 3-2.

The third period was a penalty-filled affair where there was a grand total of six penalties, three of which came to the Sentinels who were a perfect seven for seven on the PK tonight. Amidst the penalties, Ethan Esposito gave the Sentinels their two-goal lead back as he overpowered Sommerfeldt with a snapshot to grab his eighth goal of the season.

With time ticking away on the Scarecrows, they converted with their net empty to cut the Sentinels lead back to one. It was a picture-perfect pass from Connor Lind that found Aldiyar Nurlan waiting at the back door and he potted his tenth of the year, second of the weekend.

Indiana would not go down without a fight and sealed the sweep with a 150-foot empty net goal by Bo Zinchenko, his second goal of the game, which effectively clinched the Sentinels 8th win of the season. The Sentinels now trail Watertown by ten points in the Empire division after the Wolves lost their game tonight 3-2 in overtime.

The Sentinels head to Binghamton next weekend to take on the Black Bears for the third and fourth time this season. The puck drops at 7:00pm ET, and the Body Armor Pre-Game Show starts at 6:50 pm with Andy Poetzinger. Catch all the action on the Indiana Sentinels YouTube channel!

PEE DEE ICECATS at ATHENS ROCK LOBSTERS

GAME POSTPONED

due to weather

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Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from January 31, 2026


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