Rockers Take Down HC Venom

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FPHL Motor City Rockers

Rockers Take Down HC Venom

March 22, 2025 - Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL)
Motor City Rockers News Release


Fraser MI - For the first time since December, the Motor City Rockers have won back-to-back games.

The Hockey Club Venom and the Rockers battled Saturday night in a pivotal matchup with playoff implications.

For the second straight night, the Rockers fell behind when Venom forward Stavros Soilis beat Rocker goalie Rico Gonzalez to give the Venom the early 1-0 lead.

Yegor Kabatayev evened the score at 1-1 when he finished a scrambling play, netting his 10th of the season.

The Venom would strike back before the first period ended, when Nathan Butler finished a two-on-one chance to put them back on top, 2-1.

That was the last time the Venom would score.

The second period would be rather quiet, until Mark Pozsar took a holding minor, giving Motor City a power play in the waning minutes.

Up a man, Eli Rivers picked the top corner, burying his 25th of the season and bringing the score to a 2-2 deadlock into the third.

Neither side would break the tie in the opening ten minutes of the period.

But during another scramble in front of the Venom net, Venom goalie Rahul Sherma failed to cover the puck, and Cody Oakes collected the loose biscuit, firing it into the back of the net giving Motor City their first lead of the night, 3-2.

Unhappy with the officials during the play. Venom forward Steven Ford picked up a minor penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct before the play resumed.

Off the ensuing draw, the Venom's Craig Connor tried to clear the puck, but lifted the puck over the glass, drawing a delay of game minor just eight seconds later.

On the five-on-three advantage, TJ Sneath corralled a rebound in the low slot, flicking it into the net extending the lead to 4-2.

:29 later, still on a power play, Josh Colten went top shelf to put the finishing touches on the 5-2 victory.

The game was the fourth in as many nights for the HC Venom.

"We wore them down physically and mentally," head coach Jameson Milam said. "They started taking some penalties and it was a good time for our power play to get hot and the puck to start bouncing in for us."

It was the first time since late December that the Rockers recorded wins on back-to-back nights.

"As you could see before this weekend, we were a little bit down," Oakes said. "To come back and get two wins, it builds up all the confidence. Especially doing it against two different teams."

Motor City looks to build off their recent success, as their magic number to clinch a postseason berth sits at 20.

"It's been a while since we put two together," Milam said. "We can't be satisfied, we need to figure out what we did tonight that we can be better at tomorrow and somehow find a way to put it all together again for 60 minutes."

The Motor City Rockers and Hockey Club Venom will rematch Sunday at 2:05 to complete the weekend series.

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