Prowlers And Dashers Split Home-And-Home Series
By: Jeremy Skiba
Another weekend and another three points for the Port Huron Prowlers. In a 4-0 contest on Friday, the Prowlers took down the Danville Dashers for their first shutout victory of the season. However, the Dashers would storm back for a win of their own on Saturday night, downing Port Huron 3-2. This is a quick synopsis of this weekend's action.
On Friday night, scoring would start in the second period when Jarrett Pfeiffer picked off a Danville pass in the neutral zone to create a 2-on-1 opportunity with Justin Portillo. Portillo would tap in Pfeiffer's perfect pass to continue his goal streak in the last three games.
Dalton Young would add the Prowlers second goal of the frame. After picking up Dave Nippard's pass off his skate in the high slot, Young would fire home a shot past Jesse Gordichuk.
With less than five minutes left in the second, Matt Stoia would collect his first goal since October. Sitting all alone in front of the net, he would fire home a pass from Matt Robertson to put Port Huron up 3-0.
In the third period, Young would add his second goal of the game on a 2-on-1. When he couldn’t cleanly corral a pass from Matt Graham, the puck would slide under the stick of Gordichuk resulting in the goal.
Making 36 saves in the contest, Cory Simons recorded his third consecutive win and his first shutout of the season.
Friday night’s game seemed to have been played in slow motion. Both teams seemed sluggish, not skating with the speed they normally have, especially in the first period. Danville may have been disadvantaged, playing Wednesday night with a win over the Battle Creek Rumble Bees 9-2. For the Prowlers, once Portillo found the back of the net, the Prowlers seemed to find their legs. They came back on the ice with a little more pep in their step and completely took over the game. Danville would not generate any quality scoring chances and the Prowlers would secure a well-deserved three points in game one.
On Saturday night, the Dashers would strike first early in the first period. Fred Hein wristed a shot stick-side on Chris Paulin as he nonchalantly entered the offensive zone.
But Prowlers Captain Matt Robertson would even the score up after one-timing a Dave Nippard pass in the high slot past Gordichuk for his 11th goal of the season.
In déjà vu fashion, the Dashers would retake the lead after Hein found the back of the net with a slap shot in the high slot that rocketed past Paulin.
After Nigel Slade was called for a high-sticking and Nick Gullo for interference, the Prowlers would have a 5-on-3. Robertson would cash in from the point with a shot that beat Gordichuk stick side for his second goal of the game.
With time winding down, Danville would score a power play goal of their own. From the point, Alex Pomerville would pass the puck to Hein who would one-time the puck to complete his hat-trick. This put the Dashers up 3-2 and solidified a Danville win.
Saturday’s contest had the complete opposite feel from Friday’s game. The Prowlers and Dashers each played a hard fought, fast action, complete game. Both teams converted on the power play at least once and the game was never really out of reach for either club. The pace was fast but, in the end, it was the Dashers that edged out the Prowlers with a goal coming under five minutes to play.
Head Coach Joe Pace shared his thoughts on the series.
“I think we had one of our best weekends of the season so far. We dominated in every aspect of the game on Friday night, at home, in front of a terrific crowd,” Pace said. “Saturday we were edged out by just a goal but still we played a hard game and took it to the final minutes on the road. We are still hungry for a six point weekend.”
After this weekend, the Prowlers moved to fourth place in the Western Division with a 4-6-2-0 record while the Dashers remain in second with a record of 7-7-0-0. The Prowlers will be back in action on Friday night in Columbus to take on the River Dragons in a single-game series. You can catch all the action on Mixlr. Puck drop is set for 7:35 PM.