Weekend Preview: Division Leaders Invade Port Huron

The Port Huron Prowlers face tough tests when both division leaders visit McMorran Place. They’ll face the Continental-leading Columbus River Dragons twice and the Empire-leading Binghamton Black Bears once.

The Prowlers faced the Elmira River Sharks on March 22 and 23 with both games getting all the way to the shootout. The first night, Conor Foley scored the only goal of the skills competition in the first round while Ian Wallace stopped all three Elmira shooters to earn the extra point. The next night, Foley scored again in the first round but this time, Blake Peavey responded. Dalton Jay walked it off in the bottom of the third round as Wallace picked up another shootout win, stopping five of six shots between the two. Port Huron is firmly in third place in the Continental at 24-19-6 with 72 points, 14 points better than fourth-place Mississippi but the Sea Wolves have three games in hand. 

The River Dragons were also home last weekend against an Empire Division opponent as they hosted the Motor City Rockers. Columbus built a 5-0 lead in the first game and cruised to a 5-2 win. The next night, the Dragons went up 3-0 and 6-2 while holding off a couple of comeback attempts to win an 8-5 track meet. They wrapped up the series sweep on Sunday and got a hat trick from Josh Pietrantonio and the game winner from Ryan Hunter with 58 seconds to go to keep Motor City from bringing any points back to Michigan. Columbus sits atop the Continental at 40-4-3 with 119 points and can clinch the top seed on Friday the earliest with their magic number at 6.

The Black Bears stumbled last weekend against a hungry Watertown Wolves team, dropping two of three. They won the first game at home thanks to four unanswered goals in the second and third periods after the Wolves opened the scoring. Connor Smith had two in the 5-2 win. The series shifted to Watertown and Spencer Kozlowski made 43 stops to help the Wolves take the middle game of the series 4-2. The rubber match was a back-and-forth battle. Carter Thornton put Watertown ahead with under five to play but Tyson Kirkby tied things up less than two minutes later. Then, after the Wolves had a goal called off, Trevor Lord put one home that counted for the game winner with 15 seconds left to leave Binghamton without a point. The Black Bears have already clinched the top seed in the Empire at 33-8-7 with 104 points.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Prowlers - Ross Bartlett (F) - Bartlett has settled in and produced offensively over the past couple of weeks. He’s scored in three of the last four games and has gotten power-play time.

River Dragons - Justin MacDonald (F) - MacDonald joined the Dragons this season after winning the SPHL MVP last season and the FPHL MVP the season before. He’s a favorite to win another MVP this year as the league leader in assists (68) and points (106) while riding a 37-game point streak.

Black Bears - Colan Fitzgerald (D) - After starting the season in the SPHL, Fitzgerald returned to Binghamton near the beginning of March and has put up five points in seven. He helps to solidify an already very strong blue line.

STAT CENTRAL

Ian Wallace (PHP) has gone beyond regulation in four of his last five starts going 3-1 in those four…Breandan Colgan (CRD) and Connor McAnanama (BIN) are the only two goaltenders in the FPHL with multiple shutouts this season…The Black Bears are the first Binghamton pro hockey team to win a regular-season division title since the 2013-14 Senators (AHL)

WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Mar. 28, 7:05 P.M. vs CRD at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Mar. 29, 7:05 P.M. vs BIN at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Mar. 30, 7:05 P.M. vs CRD at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Tickets to all three games are available in advance at phprowlers.com/tickets or by calling the McMorran box office at 810-985-6166.