Prowlers Dumped by Rockers in Physical Affair

The Port Huron Prowlers fell to the Motor City Rockers 8-4 on New Year’s Eve at Big Boy Arena. The teams combined for 199 penalty minutes and the game ended with a fight between Dan Chartrand and Rockers goaltender Trevor Babin.

Roman Gaudet opened the scoring under four minutes in and then the rough stuff kicked off in the third game in three nights between these rivals. The game saw four-on-four for a full two minutes twice in the opening period.

 Later in the frame, the Prowlers got a power play and Austin Fetterly went end-to-end and beat Trevor Babin to tie the score. As Port Huron celebrated, both goaltenders picked up unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and during the stoppage, Tristen Wells got whistled for slashing and the Motor City bench got an unsportsmanlike conduct minor.

The Rockers scored twice in 21 seconds late in the period to take a 3-1 lead into the break.

TJ Sneath put home a power play goal in the first minute of the second, the first of three Motor City tallies in the opening 5:11 of the frame. After the third, Fetterly and Cade Lambdin dropped the mitts. 

Brandon Picard got one back for the Prowlers on a shorthanded steal and score to make it 6-2 just past the midway point of the game. Babin and Tucker Scantlebury got into it a couple of minutes later and both received penalties.

Mitch Jones scored a power play goal to make it 6-3 and Babin and Scantlebury came together again as both teams were leaving the ice at the end of the period with the Rockers’ goaltender getting two penalties and the Port Huron forward getting one.

The third period began with little incident as Declan Conway scored his third and fourth goals of the night within the opening nine minutes. Shortly after, Gaudet and Alex Johnson battled and, eventually, fought with both getting a fight and a game misconduct.

Fetterly scored his second of the night to round out the scoring but the final fracas came with 3.5 seconds on the clock. Chartrand and Babin, who have been involved in pushing and shoving dating back to last season, fought with both getting in some strong left hands. Babin ended up adding 15 penalty minutes to his total, adding match penalties for spearing and slashing to the fight. Chartrand also received a misconduct. Other players from both teams also received misconducts to close out the lengthy penalty sheet.

Fetterly led the Prowlers with three points Jones and Picard had a goal and an assist apiece. Makar Sokolov began the game for Port Huron but was pulled after giving up five goals on 19 shots. Ian Wallace made 11 saves the rest of the way.

Conway’s four goals made him the first star of the game. Sneath and Gaudet each finished with three points while four more Rockers chipped in two apiece. Babin made 30 saves in the win and picked up 25 penalty minutes which is more than any other goaltender in the FPHL has received this season.

The Prowlers get a day off before visiting the Mississippi Sea Wolves on Jan. 2 and 3 with both games beginning at 8:05 P.M. eastern. They’ll be available to watch on the PHP Network.

Photo courtesy of Delta Imaging