Series Preview: Seventh I-94 Rivalry Series This Season

The Port Huron Prowlers and Motor City Rockers battle for the 13th and 14th times with another home-and-home series on Feb. 17 and 18. Friday’s game will be in Port Huron and Saturday’s matchup is in Fraser.

The Prowlers are coming off of a series split with the Binghamton Black Bears at home. They took the first game 6-3 before dropping a 3-2 heartbreaker the next night. Three goals in 2:43 of game time between the end of the second period and the beginning of the third opened up a 5-2 lead for Port Huron in the win. Matt Graham and Liam Freeborn, now playing on different lines, each finished with three points. A tightly-contested game the next night looked like it was headed to overtime before Austin Thompson scored a power-play goal with 1:10 to go in the third. Wyatt Hoflin started both games and made 58 saves on 64 shots. Port Huron is 20-15-3 with 61 points and third in the Continental Division. The Prowlers sit four points ahead of fourth-place Motor City and eight points behind second-place Carolina at the writing of this article. The Thunderbirds have a chance to extend that lead on Wednesday night.

Motor City traveled down to Mississippi but came up short twice in overtime. The first game was a 7-6 barn burner that featured two multi-goal leads for the Rockers within the first 40 minutes. The Sea Wolves took the lead in the third but Tommy Cardinal tied it with under eight minutes to go. Yaroslav Yevdokimov completed his hat trick with the overtime winner. Mississippi didn’t hold a lead the next night until the game was over. Lucas Helland tied the game in the third and Sam Turner was the OT hero, completing a hat trick. Scott Coash led the way for Motor City with six points between the two games; no other Rocker had more than three. Blake Scott took both losses and made 61 saves on 73 shots. Motor City is fourth in the Continental with an 18-12-6 record and 57 points. 

SEASON SERIES (TIED 6-6)

Oct. 13 @ Motor City: Prowlers 3, Rockers 2

Oct. 14 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 7, Rockers 3

Oct. 15 @ Port Huron: Rockers 2, Prowlers 1

Oct. 28 @ Motor City: Rockers 6, Prowlers 2

Oct. 29 @ Port Huron: Rockers 4, Prowlers 2

Nov. 5 @ Motor City: Rockers 4, Prowlers 3 (OT)

Dec. 30 @ Port Huron: Rockers 5, Prowlers 4

Dec. 31 @ Motor City: Prowlers 6, Rockers 3

Jan. 13 @ Motor City: Prowlers 6, Rockers 3

Jan. 14 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 4, Rockers 3

Jan. 19 @ Motor City: Rockers 5, Prowlers 2

Jan. 21 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 2, Rockers 1 (SO)

LAST MEETING

A goaltending duel between Wyatt Hoflin and Trevor Babin came down to the skills competition tied at one. Tim Perks scored in the first round but Dalton Jay and Dan Chartrand scored in the third and fourth before Hoflin stoned Cardinal in round five to secure the win.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Prowlers - Liam Freeborn (F) - Freeborn is fitting in nicely on his new line alongside Evan Foley and Joe Deveny. He and Foley had the primary assists on each other’s goals last Friday vs Binghamton.

Rockers - Blake Scott (G) - Motor City relies heavily on its goaltender and with Trevor Babin out on Friday due to suspension, that burden will continue to fall on Scott’s shoulders. He is 1-0-2 since Babin was suspended.

STAT CENTRAL

The last series sweep for the Prowlers was Jan. 13-14 vs Motor City…The Rockers scored 5 of their 10 goals at even strength last weekend in Mississippi (3 PPG, 2 SHG)…Dalton Jay (PHP) is the only FPHL player with over 200 shots on goal (217)…Trevor Babin (MCR) has 73 penalty minutes this season, 54 more than any other goaltender in the FPHL

SERIES SCHEDULE

Feb. 17, 7:05 P.M. at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Feb. 18, 7:00 P.M. at Big Boy Arena (Fraser, MI)

Tickets for the Feb. 17 game are available at phprowlers.com/tickets or by calling the McMorran Box Office at 810-985-6166 and both games will be streamed live on the Port Huron Prowlers YouTube channel.