Ice Chips

February 1, 2015 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) News Release

Federal Hockey League draws 1,709 fans to McMorran

Hockey was back at McMorran Arena on Saturday night.

The official attendance to welcome it back was 1,709, but the arena looked pretty full as fans watched the Danville Dashers defeat the Danbury Whalers 4-1 in a regular-season, neutral site Federal Hockey League game. Many left with a positive impression.

"I thought it was a good game," Matt Netter, 25, of Marysville said. "I don't know the teams too well, but I would come out to watch again."

The FHL is not hiding the fact it has been looking into Port Huron as a possible market for expansion, and Saturday night's game certainly didn't hurt the city's case.

"I love the market," Danville owner Barry Soskin said. "With me being in Toledo as long as I was, I know all about Port Huron and the positives and negatives that the market's had and seen. I like what they've done. I like the business side, the economic development that's going on around this area is certainly going to provide a good backbone for a new team that comes in here. Hopefully we can put together a lease and put something here."

On Saturday night, fans got their first look at the league, and saw a fight 4 seconds after the opening faceoff. From there, Danville controlled much of the play, out-shooting Danbury 48-24, and never trailing.

Brian Soskin scored two goals for Danville, while Gehrett Sargis and AJ Tesoriero each had one. Tim Richter scored the lone goal for Danbury.

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Battalion Outplay Wolves, Win 6-1

In what is becoming one of the best rivalries in the Federal Hockey League the Watertown Wolves and Berkshire Battalion met Saturday night after an overtime thriller the previous evening. The Wolves came out trying to establish the physical game but it would come back to bite them as they would let the game slip away late to lose 6-1.

The first period began much the same as the last contest between the two teams. Back and forth action abounded and the stellar play of both net minders kept their teams in it. Physical play from the Wolves would boil over as Corey Evelyn would fight Tristan Lysko. Late in the period the Battalion would break the ice when Vadim Guskov slapped the puck home after a Andrew Dadds wrist shot deflected off of the back boards. The Battalion were 0-3 on the man advantage while the Wolves were kept 0-2, one of their powerplays cut short by a penalty.

The second period would begin in wild fashion and devolve into an absolute mess. Immediately off the faceoff Lysko fought Lucas Labelle after Labelle delivered a hard slash to the back of Lysko's leg before the start of the period. In addition Brad Ritter would fight Kris McCarthy. Just 2 minutes later Cody Dion would battle with Jeff Sanders in the corner resulting in several punches being thrown at Sanders while lying on the ice. Both men received roughing penalties. Just 30 seconds after Justin MacDonald took an instigator penalty coupled with a 5 minute fighting major and a game misconduct. While exiting the ice MacDonald became involved with a fan and security had to step in both near the Wolves locker room and behind the penalty boxes where fans were similarly engaged with Wolves players. The whole affair took about 15 minutes to resolve. On the ensuing 5 on 3 powerplay the Battalion would score when Vadim Guskov fed Mike Dolman on the backdoor making the game 2-0. The Wolves would strike back 10 minutes later when Chad Bennett picked up a Labelle rebound and fired it home making the game 2-1.

In some respects the third period settled down, but offensively on the ice it was a one sided affair. Only 4 penalties were called in the period as opposed to the 24 called in the first two periods. 10 minutes into the period Guskov would rifle home his 2nd of the game, 3rd point, after Vlad Gavrik beat Zach Hale and fed Guskov from below the goal line. After a Cody Dion Holding call shortly followed by a Phil Bronner rough would set up Jeff Sanders to slam home the powerplay goal making the game 4-1. This would end Jo St.Pierre's night as he would be pulled for the extra attacker with 5 minutes left. It was to no avail as Tom Tracy would pot an empty netter, bringing back up goalie Brian Kalczynski into the game. The backup would fare no better as he would be beat by Mike Dolman set up beautifully by Martin Uhnak, who departs the Battalion for a brief stint to play for his home country of Slovakia.

Watertown was 0-5 on the man advantage in the penalty filled game while the Battalion were 2-10. In the loss St.Pierre stopped 35 of 40 while Louie George made 43 saves on 44 shots.

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Tagoona's Two Goals Lead Dayton Past Steel City

This evening's Federal Hockey League (FHL) action at Hara Arena was a match of opposites as the second-place and defending league champion Dayton Demonz faced off against the expansion Steel City Warriors. The Demonz came in off a tough loss to arch rival Danbury and looked to get back on track against the last place Warriors. Tonight the Demonz defeated the Warriors by a score of 4-2.

Dayton took control immediately when Forward Roger Tagoona scored from the slot, just over a minute into the contest. The quick goal by the Demonz put the underdog Warriors down 1-0. Lester Brown notched his 11th of the year moments later giving Dayton a 2-0 lead, 16:43 left to play in the initial period.

The onslaught continued midway through the period as Jared Hicks tallied his 18th goal of the season on assists by Tagoona and Brian Marks. After one period, Dayton led 3-0.

Steel City got on the board 8:55 into the second period on a blast just inside the blue line by Nicola Levesque, his 14th, cutting the margin to two at 3-1. However, Tagoona went top shelf on Warrior's goaltender Dalton McGrath for his second of the game with a little less than eight minutes to go in the period, and increased the Demonz lead 4-1. To this point, the Demonz had outshot the Warriors 32-16 and led by a comfortable three goals.

The Warriors scrapped to within striking distance on a goal by Zach Tatryn with just over four minutes played in the third period. The score stood at 4-2 in favor of Dayton. After a hot start, the lethargic Dayton club had been surprisingly outplayed by Steel City. The Warriors effort should not be overlooked as they controlled the final 20 minutes of play, and gave the Demonz everything they had after being down by 3 goals early in the game.

With the win, the Demonz are a one point behind the first place behind the Watertown Wolves. Dayton now leads the FHL in wins with 23 on the season. Dayton and Watertown will play meet next Thursday evening at Hara Arena, and first place on the line.

Federal Prospects Hockey League Stories from February 1, 2015

• Ice Chips - FPHL
• Demonz Defeat the Steel City Warriors 4-2 - Dayton Demonz

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