By David Dell
PORT HURON- After a short road trip the Prowlers came home to host another expansion team, the Indiana Sentinels out of Columbus, Indiana. The Sentinels came to town win-less in all nine of their games this season. Port Huron recognized the Hometown Heroes with a salute to all Fire, Police and other First Responders to open the game.
Just 47 seconds into game time Bohdan Zinchenko put the visitors on top with their first shot on goal of the night. Bailey Huber got the nod for the game with Reid Cooper on a call up to the East Coast Hockey League’s Kalamazoo Wings. Zinchenko would strike again a 9:01 on a powerplay from Brett Lockhart’s assessed Unsportsmanlike Conduct minor. At 13:00 Zinchenko closed out his natural hat trick, even strength to give the Indiana a 3-0 lead. Port Huron’s Lukas Lacny (4th of the season) got one back at 15:52 with help from Nicholas Favaro. Lacny showing signs of Pavel Datsyuk dropped the puck back between his legs and putting a backhand shot past Rahul Sharma, to help the home team. Roughing and Continuing an Altercation penalties were assessed to Prowler Luke James and Sentinels’ Marian Pazitka at 16:10 came from one of the multitudes of pushing and shoving matches after the whistle, during a goalie puck freeze. Bryan Parsons was called for Slashing at 18:04 giving Ryan Glazer his first of three goals, just 11 seconds into the man advantage. Glazer would strike again at 19:54 again on the power play, again for a Slashing minor, this time assessed to Favaro. The scoreboard read 5-1 with 15-7 shots on goal deficit at the end of the 20 minutes.
Bobby Price (2nd of the season) who just rejoined the Prowlers chipped away at the 4-goal spread with his marker at 5:33. Working around the Indiana zone, Jamie Bucell and Lockhart got the puck across the top of the slot to Price who wristed it to the far corner of the goal to beat Sharma making it a 5-2 game. Shots favored Port Huron 18-11, but they still trailed at the end of the frame.
Less than a minute in Glazer layed Lockhart out on the ice with a high shoulder hit and Ben Brockway raced to the defense of his linemate. Brockway was finished for the night a 00:41 with Fighting and Aggressor penalties leading to him hitting the showers early. Former Prowler Jonas Leas gave the Sentinels and even half-dozen goals at 4:15 putting them back up by 4. Lacny (5th of the season) notched another red lamp at 7:32 assisted by Player Coach Matt Graham. Graham slid the puck from the right-wing boards to Lacny coming down the slot who went to the backhand again, to halve the lead 6-3. Pazitka put lucky number 7 in at 14:08 even strength but, the Sentinels still weren’t finished. Glazer finished HIS hat trick with an empty net goal at 17:50 putting the score to 8-3, and Connor Mullins ended the scoring for the game at 18:34 with another empty net goal. Indiana managed just 7 shots on goal to Port Huron’s 19 but a 4-goal period sealed the Prowlers to the L column for the night.
The Sentinels converted on 4 of 15 power plays while Port Huron failed in 12 extra man advantage opportunities.
Port Huron holds second place in the Empire Division with a 7-3-0 record, behind last year’s Commissioner’s Cup champions Binghamton Black Bears.
The Port Huron Prowlers, now in their 11th consecutive season, are the longest tenured team in the FPHL.
