Prowlers Defeat River Dragons 3-2, Simons Records 41 Saves

By: Jeremy Skiba

In an entertaining contest, the Port Huron Prowlers earned their second straight victory over the Columbus River Dragons last night, downing Columbus 3-2.

The heated action started with the opening face-off when Dave Nippard and Chase Fallis dropped the mitts just eight seconds into the game in the Prowlers defensive zone. The bad blood between the two started back in college days and every game since, the two have jawed at each other, leading to this long-awaited brawl. The fight set the tone for a physical game as the both took penalties early on.

Early in the first, the Prowlers cashed in on the power play with a goal from Justin Portillo. Matt Graham would feed Portillo a perfect pass from behind the net and he would wrist the puck into the net.

Port Huron native, Austin Fetterly would put the Prowlers up 2-0 after he created a turnover in the offensive zone and then roof the puck short side on Jared Rutledge, surprising the goaltender. This was his second goal of the season.

In the second, the River Dragons seemed to find their legs after both teams took turns skating up and down the ice.  But when the Prowlers were on a penalty kill, Zach Zulkancyz put Port Huron up by three. After Dalton Jay picked up a loose puck in the neutral zone, he drove to the net creating a rebound that Zulknacyz would then tap home.

Moments later, on a breakaway, former Prowler Yianni Liarakos put the River Dragons on the board when he wristed a shot past Corey Simons.

Liarakos would tally again in the third period when on a 2-on-1 opportunity, he scored from a pass from Tim Santopaolo.

But Cory Simons was nothing less than spectacular. With his 41 save performance, the Prowlers held onto a 3-2 win, earned three points and now lead Columbus by four points in the standings. Both teams will meet once again tomorrow night. Puck drop is set for 6.