By David Dell
FRASER- Friday night’s Motor City Rockers team was off to the races against the visiting Port Huron Prowlers, allowing only two shots before Prowlers goalie Tucker Tynan picked up a minor Tripping penalty at 11:30 in the first frame. Dalton Jay had a breakaway, short-handed chance but aired the puck over Rocker Trevor Babin. He and the rest of the Prowlers had an effective penalty kill. Devon Fields put Port Huron on the powerplay at 14:32, but the score remained at zero for each. Alex Johnson’s Charging minor at 16:05 initiated a stretch with no shots on goal for the rest of the period. Motor City Rockers managed 11, while the Prowlers just got past the half-dozen mark with 7.
Sam Marit (6th of the season) lit the scoreboard for Port Huron just 34 seconds into the period. Tristan Simm dug the puck from deep in the Prowler’s zone up to Marit, who took the pass off the far boards. Skating in with Mitch Jones on the left-wing side of the ice, they got the perfect give-and-go for Marit to bury the puck past a sprawling Babin, who had absolutely no chance of stopping the play. Dante Suffredini was called for Slashing at 7:43, but the Port Huron powerplay unit again shut everything down, allowing only one shot. The Rockers appeared to be on another powerplay as they peppered Tucker with 8 shots before Port Huron could clear the zone. Alex Johnson (6th of the season) grabbed a long clearing pass from Dalton Jay across the neutral zone and, from against the left-wing boards, fired a laser, finding the smallest of the gap between Babin’s glove side shoulder and the iron to double up the tally 2-0 with 3:30 left in the period. Again, there was no play to contend with a goal through the end of time. Motor City again outshot the Prowlers, this time at 12-11.
The beginning of the final stanza provided plenty of excitement when Austin Fetterly (8th of the season) put the Prowlers up 3-0 at 1:59. Liam Freeborn brought the puck up from the right side and got the puck across the ice to Fetterly, who’s shot was taken away by a sliding Rockers player. Digging the puck out, Fetterly fired, and again, Babin was beaten low on the stick side. Adam Kuhn put up the first Fraser goal at 4:31, but while Sam Gagnon was serving a Bench Minor for Too Many Men, Dalton Jay got the score right back shorthanded, coming straight down the slot. This time his shot went over Babin’s glove and shoulder to put Port Huron up 4-1 at 6:52. Mitch Jones got his stick tangled up with a Rocker and was whistled for Tripping at 7:01 to put Fraser back on the powerplay and this time, the Prowlers were unable to stop the score. TJ Sneath added one for the home team at 7:20. Ryan Rotondi and Austin Fetterly got mixed up and a bit of a wrestling match to Tynan’s right, and while both teams were at 4 men apiece, Jonathan Juliano put up #3 for the Rockers at 9:46. With under 2:30 in regulation, Matt Graham brought the puck deep behind the Fraser net and rimmed it around to Alex Johnson near the top of the slot. Dragging to Babin’s right side, he fired towards the goal, and Liam Freeborn (13th of the season) was there for the redirect through lots of traffic at the top of the crease. 5-3 was the score with 2:21 in regulation. The Prowlers were credited with an astonishingly low 5 shots on goal, but 3 were good, and that’s what matters.
Port Huron plays Fraser again Saturday night at McMorran Arena with a game time start of 8:05. It is Mitt’s Birthday Celebration night.
