Graham Hits Franchise Milestones, Prowlers Beat Bobcats

The Port Huron Prowlers got back in the win column with a 4-1 win over the Blue Ridge Bobcats at McMorran Place on November 15. Matt Graham reached 400 points as a Prowler with a goal and an assist in his franchise-leading 330th game with the club.

“If you play long enough, that stuff happens,” Graham said. “It’s nice to have a long career and be in one spot for so long. I’m just happy we got the win at the end of the day.”

In the first period, the Port Huron power play came through as Lukas Lacny floated the puck on net and Hunter Virostek knocked it down. Three Prowlers crashed the net and Daniel Chartrand muscled it over the line. Chartrand was named an alternate captain before the game.

“We got them with some traffic in front,” Graham said. “The puck went off a body or two and [Chartrand] was able to poke it in at the crease. [Assistant coach Chris Paulin] talked about it before the game, we need to score more goals in the crease.”

Blue Ridge pushed back in the second period and found the equalizer. Joel Frazee entered the zone and made a move before centering the puck for Savva Smirnov who one-timed home his team-high fifth of the season. Valtteri Nousiainen and the Prowlers kept the game tied into the third. 

Early in the final frame, Ludwig Thellström rushed the zone and gave a pass to Lacny who connected to put Port Huron back in front.

The home side held on from there and tacked on a pair of empty netters, including one from Graham which was his 400th point with the team.

Graham and Lacny had a goal and an assist while Nousiainen made 38 saves. The Prowlers’ penalty kill went 7-7.

“We take a lot of pride in our penalty kill,” said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. “It wasn’t perfect, the goaltender made up for a lot of sins on the PK. We had some guys that were willing to block shots, and we said the guys that are willing to compete and block shots will play in those situations.”

Virostek stopped 23 shots in the loss.

The teams match up again on November 16 at McMorran Place with a 6:05 P.M. puck drop. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

Photo courtesy of Delta Imaging