By David Dell
PORT HURON– It would take all 60 minutes and 15 powerplay opportunities for the Prowlers to defeat the visiting Mississippi Sea Wolves Friday night in front of 948 spectators.
The Sea Wolves were an expansion team for the 2022-2023 season playing out of Biloxi Mississippi, under the direction of former Prowler Joe Pace Jr. Pace is the head coach and general manager of the team, much like he was in Port Huron a few seasons back. The Prowlers played the Sea Wolves a couple of times last season, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a new expansion team this year along with Wytheville, Virginia’s Blue Ridge Bobcats.
The fast hard play of Mississippi was a welcome change from the dirt Fraser Motor City Rockers bring to the ice but they still presented plenty of man-advantage chances. Port Huron scored first at 11:31 on a Kyle Russel Slashing minor. Brandon Picard (2nd of his career, 2nd of the season). Prowlers’ goalie Ian Wallace pushed the puck to Vincent Dekumbis who then fed Picard. Picard gained the zone on the right-wing boards, dragged it over to the top of the slot, and wristed home the first goal of the night. Forty seconds later, another Port Huron rookie, Tristan Simm netted his first professional goal. Dalton Young and Matt Graham were credited with the assists. Graham handled the puck on the goal line to the right of Mississippi’s Joseph Sheppard and fed the puck through the low slot, tape to tape for Simm who found the back of the net at 12:11 of the period. That wouldn’t be the end of it. With Connor Lind in for Tripping and Yianni Liarakos sitting for Slashing, Port Huron picked up his second goal of the night in almost the same fashion as his first. This time Evan Foley got the puck to Graham who fed it into the low slot for Simm, who had no trouble finding the same hole in Sheppard’s defense. Just like that the Prowlers were up 3-0 at 16:10. With only Lind’s minor erased Liarakos’s Slashing stayed on the board. The Sea Wolves tallied a short-handed goal twenty seconds later to kill the momentum on a goal by Chuck Costello at 16:30. Matt Graham and Connor Lind got into a tussle in front of the Mississippi goal with Graham picking up a Goalie Interference minor and a Fighting major while Lind sat for Instigator and Fighting. Hugo Koch netted number two for the Sea Wolves at 18:27 followed by Joakim Nillson adding one at 19:06 both even strength but 4 on 4. When it looked as if the first 20 minutes would end knotted at three each, Phil Bushbacher pushed Port Huron up by one at 19:12. On the ensuing face-off from center ice Foley made a clean break down the slot but found the post. Bushbacher was there to grab the rebound with a one-timer tap on the opposite and open side of the net for his 1st points of the season and a Prowler lead going into intermission.
The second frame started on a Port Huron power play as Lucas Helland drew a Roughing minor with only a second remaining from the first. Dalton Jay let a shot go from high in the zone and Bushbacher was able to get a touch on it for his second goal of the night. Jay’s assist made him the first player in Prowler franchise history to accumulate 400 points. This goal would also clear the penalty box for Mississippi and be recorded as Port Huron’s third power-play goal. The Sea Wolves provided three more power play opportunities up to just over the halfway mark but were able to protect the net on each minor, but that was all she wrote for scoring in the stanza.
After 40 minutes the Prowlers got the start on the power play again, this time it was Tyson Lambert who drew a Cross Checking minor at 19:51 of the previous period although they were thwarted once again. It wouldn’t be long before a pair of minors to the Sea Wolves popped up. Lucas Helland for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and Jackson Bond for Boarding both at 4:02. This time it was Matt Graham (1st of the season) who lit the red lamp. With Alex Johnson and Austin Fetterly eating up the clock at the blue line, they got the puck down low on the right-wing side of Sheppard. Simm shoveled the puck through the crease and Graham was there to redirect from the back door at 4:43. Still on the power play at 5:31, Sam Marit brought a Dekumbis pass deep into the right face-off circle, dropped it back to Johnson who wristed it high stick side for his first of the season and a 7-3 Port Huron lead. In what was beginning to look like a Prowler rout of the Sea Wolves, Mississippi cut it down to a one-goal lead on a pair of power-play goals and one even-strength tally. Phillip Wong at 8:06 on Adam Heinzl’s Cross Checking minor and Joakim Nillson’s at 15:34 on Austin Fetterly’s Cross Checking minor book-ended an even-strength goal by Hugo Koch coming at 10:18. The Sea Wolves Sheppard would be pulled for the extra attacker with 1:45 remaining in regulation but Ian Wallace stopped both shots he faced.
Port Huron finished with a one-goal and one-shot differential of 37-38. At the end of the night, the Prowlers converted 5 of 15 power play chances while giving up 2 of 7 to Mississippi. The win gave the Sea Wolves their first loss on the season (2-1-0) while Port Huron broke into the Win column with a 1-1-1 record. See the Prowlers host the Sea Wolves again Saturday night at 7:05 in McMorran Arena.
