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RiverHawks Recover First Place with Victory Over Huntsville

January 5, 2012 - SPHL (SPHL)
Augusta RiverHawks News Release


The Augusta RiverHawks skated to an early three-goal lead and hung on for a 3-2 victory Thursday night over the Huntsville Havoc. Havoc forward Ryan Kretzer scored with just 58 seconds remaining in the game to narrow the RiverHawks' lead to just a goal, but goaltender Jon Olthuis was able to shut the door for the remaining time to preserve the win.

The RiverHawks' win combined with the Knoxville Ice Bears losing Thursday vaults Augusta back into sole possession of first place in the Southern Professional Hockey League, a spot they've held for most of the season.

The game was the RiverHawks' first since the team made a series of changes to the roster designed to jumpstart their performance. The changes seemed to pay dividends early in the game as the RiverHawks controlled play while staking their three-goal lead early in the game.

A major part of the renovations to the roster was the re-signing of forward Egor Mironov, who was one of the RiverHawks' top goal scorers in the 2010-11 campaign. He scored the game's winning goal just 1:11 into the second period, converting a nice passing play from new line-mates Neil Graham and Matt Auffrey.

RiverHawks' defenseman Ed Snetsinger continued his stellar play this season. The RiverHawks' nominee for Player of the Month for December set up both of the RiverHawks' first period goals. The points gave Snetsinger 29 in 28 games this season, just a handful back of the league lead in scoring amongst defensemen.

In the end it was Olthuis who was the star of the game for the RiverHawks. Despite the fact that 24 saves is not a huge number for a goaltender to make during a game, he made the stops when it counted, turning away 11 of the Havoc's 12 shots in the third period when they took over the game in an effort to knot the score up.

The RiverHawks are back in action on Phoenix Refrigeration Ice at the James Brown Arena Saturday, January 7th as they play the Columbus Cottonmouths. The puck drops at 7:35pm. Tickets for the game are available through the RiverHawks' office and the James Brown Arena box office. Additional information on the Team, tickets, and schedule are available on the RiverHawks' home on the web, www.augustariverhawks.com or by calling 706-993-2645.

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