Prowlers Down Rumble Bees 3-1 In Wednesday Night Matchup
By: Jeremy Skiba
It was a cold snowy night in Port Huron as the Prowlers hosted the Battle Creek Rumble Bees for a midweek matchup. Despite a lopsided number of shots, the Prowlers would defeat the Rumble Bees 3-1 in a hard-fought battle against their interstate rivals.
The Rumble Bees opened the scoring when Stavros Soilis tipped in a pass from Marco Luciani past the pad of Chris Paulin for the lone tally of the first period. It was a well orchestrated tic-tac-toe play that beat Paulin. The Prowlers would pressure Eisenhower but the presence of Battle Creek players in front of the net led to multiple shots being blocked and the Rumble Bees would take the lead into the locker room.
In the second period, Mike Moroso would tie the game at one for the Prowlers after a backhanding home a loose puck past Eisenhower. The Prowlers would take the lead two minutes later when Joe Pace rocketed a shot high, past the stick of Eisenhower to put Port Huron up 2-1. Pace and former Prowler Alex Gregorich would attempt to drop the gloves but the scrum would be broken up by the refs and each player would be charged with a two-minute roughing penalty. Later in the period, Gregorich would drop the mitts with Zachary Hartig but Hartig would quickly take Gregorich down to the ice. Ryan Alves, of the Rumble Bees, would also be given a game misconduct for obscene gestures.
Matt Rupert would have the lone tally for the Prowlers in the third period with some controversy surrounding the goal. At 12:23 in the period, Rupert fired a puck that might have gone into the net. As the goal light came on, he was about to celebrate but it looked to hit the cross bar. The puck would come straight down, out of the crease and play continued on. After the next whistle, the play would be reviewed and Rupert was given the goal, his first in the FPHL. The Prowlers went on to win 3-1 to earn three points. Chris Paulin made 26 saves in the win.
The Prowlers will be back in action this weekend when they face the Mentor Ice Breakers. Friday night’s matchup is set for 7:35 PM and Saturday’s for 6:30 PM. You can catch all the action on Mixlr.com/PHProwlers.