Series Preview: Regular Season Finale

The Port Huron Prowlers will wrap up their regular season this weekend with their third series against the Watertown Wolves in five weeks. Port Huron has taken the previous four meetings between the teams in that span.

Last weekend, the Prowlers headed east to visit the Binghamton Black Bears and Danbury Hat Tricks. Friday in Binghamton, Port Huron scored first but the Black Bears responded with five unanswered in a rough-and-tumble 5-1 game. The next night in Danbury, the Prowlers held leads of 2-1 and 3-2 in the third period but Konstantin Chernyuk tied it with a power play goal each time. Grady Friedman put home the overtime winner to give the Hat Tricks the extra point. Port Huron will finish the season in second place in the Empire Division and currently sits 35-17-2 with 101 points.

The Wolves hosted those same teams on opposite nights. Friday was a barn burner against Danbury. Watertown held a 4-2 lead in the second but the Hat Tricks scored four unanswered en route to a 7-5 win. The next night against Binghamton, Darion Benchich got the scoring started with the Wolves’ second shorthanded goal of the weekend but the Black Bears got nine-straight to take it 9-1 and end a dominant season series. Watertown has lost 11 in a row and is in danger of dropping to the basement of the Empire. The Wolves are 14-34-6 with 45 points, two points above the last-place Indiana Sentinels.

SEASON SERIES (PROWLERS LEAD 7-1)

Oct. 17 @ Port Huron: Wolves 6, Prowlers 2

Oct. 18 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 2, Wolves 1

Jan. 30 @ Watertown: Prowlers 3, Wolves 2

Jan. 31 @ Watertown: Prowlers 3, Wolves 2 (OT)

Mar. 14 @ Watertown: Prowlers 5, Wolves 4 (SO)

Mar. 15 @ Watertown: Prowlers 7, Wolves 1

Mar. 27 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 12, Wolves 1

Mar. 28 @ Port Huron: Prowlers 2, Wolves 1

LAST MEETING

Port Huron got a pair of first period goals from Grayson Dietrich and Bobby Price but that was it for their scoring. Trevor Neumann got the only one past Bailey Huber who made 23 saves to help his team get the split.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Prowlers - Bryan Parsons (D) - The Port Huron blueliner can reach career highs this weekend. He needs one point and two assists to reach those respective career highs.

Wolves - Dustin Henning (D) - The veteran defenseman has been hot offensively lately with points in three of his last four games. He’ll wrap up his 13th FPHL season with the second-most games played in league history.

STAT CENTRAL

Matt Graham (PHP) needs 1 assist to become the second player in FPHL history to reach 400 … The Wolves have 1 win over their last 18 games … 5 of the 8 meetings between these teams this season have been decided by one goal. The other three were decided by an average of 7 goals

SERIES SCHEDULE

Apr. 10, 7:05 P.M. at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Apr. 11, 6:05 P.M. at McMorran Place (Port Huron, MI)

Friday is Flags Rebrand Night and Saturday is Fan Appreciation Night! There will be door giveaways both nights so get your tickets in advance at phprowlers.com/tickets and show up early!

Photo courtesy of Delta Imaging