Series Preview: Prowlers Look To Stay Hot in Battle of I-94

The Port Huron Prowlers and Motor City Rockers renew their rivalry with another home-and-home this weekend. The Prowlers have won five of the last seven meetings between the teams this season.

Port Huron welcomed in the Watertown Wolves on Feb. 9 and 10 and escaped with a pair of similar-looking victories. In the first game, the Wolves came back from 3-1 down in the second but Liam Freeborn scored the only goal of the third to give his team all three points. The next night, Watertown made the 3-1 comeback in the third to send the game to overtime where Freeborn ended it after 15 seconds of extra hockey. The Prowlers sit comfortably in third in the Continental at 19-13-4 with 58 points.

Motor City hosted the Empire Division leading Binghamton Black Bears and earned a split. The first game saw back-and-forth scoring but Binghamton stayed one step ahead and took a 7-5 win behind Dakota Bohn’s hat trick and Gavin Yates’ five-point night. The next night, Trevor Babin returned from suspension and stopped 37 of 38 shots to backstop his team to a 3-1 win despite being outshot 38-18. The Rockers are firmly in second in the Empire at 20-12-4 with 60 points.

SEASON SERIES (ROCKERS LEAD 6-5)

Oct. 20 @ Port Huron: Rockers 3, Prowlers 2 (OT)

Oct. 21 @ Port Huron: Rockers 3, Prowlers 2

Nov. 10 @ Motor City: Rockers 7, Prowlers 1

Nov. 11 @ Port Huron: Rockers 3, Prowlers 2

Dec. 8 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 5, Rockers 3

Dec. 9 @ Motor City: Prowlers 5, Rockers 4

Dec. 29 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 3, Rockers 2 (OT)

Dec. 30 @ Port Huron: Rockers 5, Prowlers 3

Dec. 31 @ Motor City: Rockers 8, Prowlers 4

Jan. 19 @ Motor City: Prowlers 5, Rockers 3

Jan. 20 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 2, Rockers 1

LAST MEETING

Liam Freeborn scored in the first and Evan Foley got the shorthanded game winner in the second as the Prowlers earned a low-scoring win behind 35 saves by Tucker Tynan. That completed Port Huron’s second series sweep of the season against Motor City.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Prowlers - Liam Freeborn (F) - Freeborn has been captain clutch during the Prowlers’ three-game win streak, notching the game-winning goal in each. All four of his goals over the past three games have come in the third period or later.

Rockers - Nick Gullo (F) - The newest Rocker gets his first taste of the Battle of I-94 after coming over from Elmira at the end of January. He has four points in his first five games with Motor City.

STAT CENTRAL

Tucker Tynan (PHP) now has enough games played to join the FPHL’s goaltending leaderboards and he ranks second in goals-against average (2.44) and save percentage (.930)…Ricky Gonzalez (MCR) has been the goaltender of record all 14 times he’s entered a game this season despite two of them being relief appearances…The Prowlers are 8-2-0 in their last 10 games, the second-best current mark in the FPHL…The Rockers have the fewest recorded power play opportunities in the FPHL (123) but hold the league’s best power play percentage (33.3%)

SERIES SCHEDULE

Feb. 16, 7:05 P.M. at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Feb. 17, 6:06 P.M. at Big Boy Arena (Fraser, MI)

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