Prowlers vs Watertown Wolves, March 25th, 2023

By David Dell

PORT HURON- Not wanting to be in the hole early in the game, the Prowlers came with guns a blazing in their hunt for the Wolves Saturday night.  Port Huron got going with a flurry of shots right off the bat in the second game against the Watertown Wolves.  Frank Schumacher (4^th of the season) put up the first tally of the night at 8:35 of the opening stanza.  Dalton Jay battled the puck away from a Wolves player deep in the corner where Matt Graham was able to center it up to Schumacher in the slot.  Schumacher split two defensemen with his shot going above the glove of Owen Liskiewicz in the corner of the net.  A minute and a half later, Watertown’s Kolton Maguire put I high hit on Austin Fetterly at the Wolves’ bench, and Matt Stoia always ready to scrap grabbed Maquire. Dakota Seaman in his infinite wisdom hooked Stoia’s stick laying on the ice and launched it halfway up the upper bowl.  Stoia picked up a minor Unsportsmanlike Conduct penalty while Dakota’s night was cut short with a Game Misconduct and Game Ejection.  Expect Dakota to gather a suspension from the league as well.  Stoia and Charles Pens Jr got tangled up at 14:26 and Fetterly and Maquire jumped in.  Stoia and Pens drew Fighting majors, and Maquire and Fetterly drawing Roughing minors with an add-on Cross Checking minor for Fetterly.  Watertown failed to take advantage of the power play.  Alex Johnson and Peter Moskal had words and both received Unsportsmanlike Conduct but the period would end with the Prowlers up by one.  Port Huron outshot Watertown 10 to 12 and held the advantage in Penalty Minutes 13 to 19.

The Wolves faced another onslaught of offense from Port Huron at the start of the second stanza.  The Prowlers put up seven shots with the last making it past Liskiewicz with 14:40 left to play.  Sam Gagnon (4^th of the season).  Adam Heinzl corralled an errant puck in the neutral zone and got it to Dalton Jay who brought it unopposed into the Watertown end.  Fading to the left-hand wing, Jay went tape to tape with Gagnon who had a wide-open backdoor for Port Huron’s second goal of the night.  Kolton Maguire would halve the score at the six-minute mark on a weak fluttering shot from the top of the right-wing face-off circle.  Wyatt Hoflin appeared to get a piece of it but not enough as the puck dropped to the ice and dribbled in.  Port Huron doubled up the Wolves in shots on goal 15-7 but the teams would head off for intermission with the Prowlers holding a one-goal lead.

The third frame was a dump-and-chase affair punctuated by a few minor penalties with no results to show for the effort.  Liskiewicz was pulled at 18:04 for the extra Watertown attacker with a reversal of fortune, resulting in Port Huron getting the empty net goal.  Play was whistled dead as both teams were locked up against the boards to the right of Hoflin as they tried to get control of the puck.  Watertown took their time out and kept Liskiewicz on the bench.  With less than two minutes remaining Alex Johnson took a shot from the right-wing face-off circle, the puck going wide right of the Watertown net.  Evan Foley clearly had the defender beat in the race to the puck but the Linesman called Icing.  With the face-off back to Hoflin’s right, the Wolves gained control after the puck was chipped down to their zone.  Peter Moskal got a clean shot off dinging Hoflin in the mask before Port Huron got it cleared to center ice.  Schumacher intercepted a Brennan Young pass, caromed the puck off the side boards, then dangled around John Amanatidis before flipping it in from the low slot.  Leaving just 26 seconds in regulation, Jay picked up the puck and skated through the neutral zone with just one man to beat, who got just enough of the shot to steer it off into the corner.  Port Huron finished with 40 shots on goal to Watertown’s 29.  With the Motor City Rockers picking up a win against Binghamton in Fraser, there is no movement in the Continental Division.  The Prowlers host the Motor City Rockers Friday 1 April and then travel I-94 to play them on the road.