By David Dell
BATON ROUGE, MISSISSIPPI- Following a back-and-forth first game between the Zydeco and visiting Port Huron Prowlers Friday night, the Prowlers controlled the scoring Saturday. Port Huron started Tucker Tynan in goal while Baton Rouge went with Greg Harney. Both teams resting their starters from the night before.
Tynan faced one shot to Harney’s seven before the seventh time was the charm for Liam Freeborn (2nd of the season) who went high on the glove side for the first goal of the game, fed from Brandon Picard. Port Huron outshot Baton Rouge 22-19 in the frame and killed off a pair of Bryan Parsons Interference minors, and a Picard High Sticking penalty. Baton Rouge gave the Prowlers a single power-play opportunity that carried over to the second period for High Sticking.
Shortly into the second period with both teams at even strength, Parsons and Zydeco’s Liam Little drew each other’s dance cards and picked up Fighting majors at 1:27. At 9:28 with 5 skaters a side, Dalton Jay (2nd of the season) just to the right of Harney, grabbed a Parsons pass from the right-wing boards and with a little redirect doubled the Prowlers score. Braden Deck picked up the 2nd assist on the play at 9:38 of the period. Noah Robinson’s Cross-Checking minor gave Port Huron their 2nd power play opportunity at 10:52 but it wouldn’t be until 18:36 when Captain Evan Foley got his first goal of the season even strength. Parsons picked up his fourth point in four games on a feed from behind the goal to Foley standing all alone in front for the easy flip over Harney’s glove-side shoulder. The Prowlers ended the period with 40 shots to 28 and a three-goal lead.
Stanza three, ran for just over two minutes before Brandon Picard became the fourth Prowler to score when he intercepted a clearing pass just outside the offensive zone, skated unopposed to the slot, and picked the top shelf corner above Harney’s stick for the red lamp. Austin Fetterly was called for Tripping at 5:03 and Zydeco took no time in drawing their first blood. On the ensuing face-off, Noah Robinson ruined an otherwise perfect game for Tynan, with what looked like a fluke deflection through traffic that handcuffed the netminder. With the game beginning to look like another frustration for the home team, Baton Rouge’s Matthew Bazarin was thrown of his game enough to pick up an Abuse of Officials minor at 6:51. Port Huron could do nothing but draw a pair of minors giving Zydeco some more power play opportunities. With Bazarin, and with Baton Rouge unable to take advantage, took a Major Boarding call with a Game Misconduct and Ejection at 16:41 when he put Tucker Scantlebury into the wall, to the right of the Zydeco goal. The Prowlers ran the rest of the game with Alex Johnson (3rd of the season) taking a pass from Liam Freeborn and Dalton Jay, just outside the slot for a wide-open shot that Harney never even saw. Five goals from five skaters sealed the deal for a Louisiana sweep.
The Prowlers put up a season-high 54 shots on goal and will take a 3-3-1-1 record over to Biloxi, Mississippi when they play a pair of games with the Sea Wolves on the 24th and 25th of November. Mississippi is one place behind Port Huron with a 3-4-1-1 record in the Continental Division.
