By David Dell
PORT HURON- For the fifth game in a row, the Prowlers put finished a game with a one-goal differential going 4-0-1. Sunday’s matinee game against the Athens Rock Lobsters was the third game in as many days for both teams, and the Prowlers put up their best effort of the weekend.
Player Coach Alex Johnson (16th of the season) started the scoring at 11:12 of the first period on a feed from the slot to the top of the left faceoff circle. Dragging into the ring, his strong wrist shot beat Josh Rosenweig low on the far side under his blocker. Not long after there was a wholesale filling of the penalty box with nearly a dozen infractions. Bryan Parsons served minors for Slashing and Roughing. Jamie Bucell had a Roughing call against him. Lobsters’ Daniil Glukharev got two minutes for Roughing while Orca Weisblatt had Roughing and Unsportsmanlike Conduct minors assessed. One second after both Player Coaches for Port Huron were whistled for infractions. Alex Johnson for Unsportsmanlike Conduct and Matt Graham Fighting. Athens’ Malik Johnson drew Cross Checking, Fighting and Aggressor calls and left the game on an ejection. Port Huron’s Valterri Nousiainen stopped a penalty shot against Filip Virgili who was awarded the opportunity on a questionable hooking by Brett Lockhart. With just nine seconds remaining, Prowlers newcomer Braiden Simmons-Fischer and Kyle Pow dropped the gloves for the bloodiest fight at McMorran this year. Shots were nearly even at 12-10 and both teams were itching for more fight time.
Filip Virgili got his goal at 1:24 of the middle frame to tie things up and then things flared up again. Timur Gavrilovich picked up a Cross Checking minor and Prowlers Brett Lockhart got a Slashing call at 2:10. At 3:03 Jamie Bucell was called for Cross Checking and Roughing along with Rock Lobsters’ Garrett Milan. 50 seconds later, Timur Gavrilovich served a bench minor for Too Many Men while Carter Shinkaruk and Player Coach Alex Johnson threw hands in front of the Prowlers’ bench. Port Huron’s resultant power play saw the puck land on Player Coach Matt Graham’s stick (17th of the season) to put the Prowlers back on top 2-1. Graham had passed to Austin Fetterly along the left side boards who fired the puck on Rosenwieg. With the puck loose in the crease and a mad scramble, Graham was first on it with his stick to light the red lamp. Graham picked up a Hooking minor and Athens’ Kayson Gallant was able to take advantage of the extra man opportunity to tie the game at 2, at 8:44. Luke James picked up a Delay of Game call along with Embellishment at 17:08 with Rock Lobster Carter Shinkaruk’s Unsportsmanlike Conduct, gave Athens’ another powerplay but nothing became of it.
With the game tied going into the third, tension in the crowd signaled they didn’t want another overtime game. Braiden Simmons-Fischer (1st of the season) got a collector puck for his first professional goal when he grabbed a feed from Graham at the top of the slot. Skating in on the right wing he let a rocket fly from the face off circle and beat Rosenweig low on the glove side to put Port Huron back in front 3-2. The play started with Joel Frazee beating the defense to the puck to negate an icing call and getting the puck centered to Graham. Simmons-Fischer’s goal coming at 2:08 of the period. With the usual back and forth through the remaining time, the Rock Lobsters pulled Josh Rosenweig at 18:05 but were unable to send the game to overtime.
With the Watertown Wolves besting Motor City Rockers of Fraser, Port Huron remains one point out of the automatic playoff spot. The Prowlers’ win sets them at 18-16-2 and in 4th place. Port Huron travels I-94 next Friday 14th for a home and home series on the weekend against the Fraser Motor City Rockers. Fraser is in fourth place, 32 points behind Port Huron.
The Prowlers play in the Empire Division of the Federal Prospects Hockey League, now in its’ 15th year.
