Prowlers Blasted in Binghamton

The Port Huron Prowlers were thoroughly defeated by the Binghamton Black Bears 9-1 at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena on December 5. It’s the second time this season Port Huron has given up nine goals.

Binghamton started right from the jump and opened up a 2-0 lead within the first four minutes on goals by Gavin Yates and CJ Stubbs. Yates added another later in the period and it was 3-0 after one.

“Obviously, a very tough start for our group and then we started sitting back,” said Prowlers associate head coach Chris Paulin. “We were very slow to react, I think things started to snowball a little bit. We didn’t execute even remotely close to a high level and when you do that, whether you’re playing a top-end team, middle or bottom-end team, you’re going to lose.”

Luke James got one back for the Prowlers early in the second but the comeback window was slammed shut almost immediately by a power play goal from Austin D’Orazio and Yates’ hat trick marker less than two minutes apart. Stubbs put home a short-handed goal to make it 6-1 heading to the third.

The Black Bears piled on in the final frame, getting goals from Austin Thompson, Yates and Zac Sirota to complete the onslaught.

Reid Cooper started the game for Port Huron but was pulled after allowing five goals on 22 shots through 28:23. Bailey Huber made 18 saves on 22 shots the rest of the way.

“Honestly, I thought Cooper was playing very well,” Paulin said. “He was battling and competing. You could tell this morning he was on. He made some phenomenal saves. The way the game was going, I saw it as an opportunity to get Huber some minutes. It was as tough a game on our goaltenders as we’ve surrendered this year.”

Yates added an assist to his four goals for a five-point night, the most given up by the Prowlers to an individual player this season. Stubbs had three points and five other Bears pitched in two apiece. Dominik Tmej stopped 30 shots in net.

The teams rematch on Saturday, December 6 at 7:00 P.M. That game can be seen live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Photo courtesy of Bob Howard