Venom Bite Prowlers in Poughkeepsie

The Port Huron Prowlers opened up a four-game road trip with a 3-2 loss to HC Venom at McCann Ice Arena in Poughkeepsie, New York. Rahul Sharma shut the door in the third period to seal the win for his team.

“I don’t think we played with the same urgency that we had been,” said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. “We weren’t sprinting at pucks, we weren’t stopping on pucks. What people call the ‘little things,’ we didn’t do well enough tonight. Credit to them, they finished some chances and they got us tonight.

Sharma was strong to start the game but the Prowlers snuck one by him in the final minute of the opening period. Austin Fetterly sent a shot along the ice that Matt Graham tipped five-hole. 

Seconds into the middle frame, Olivier Beaudoin tied things up with a wrist shot after stepping over the Port Huron blue line on a rush. 

A few minutes later, Alex Johnson ripped a shot from the left-wing circle past Sharma to restore the lead. Danila Belov knotted the score at two with a skillful deflection of a Connor Craig shot.

Late in the period, Ivan Ponivanov got a shot from the point to find the twine. His power-play goal went down as the game winner.

Johnson added an assist to his goal and Fetterly finished with two assists for the Prowlers. Valtteri Nousiainen took the loss after making 31 saves.

Dustin Jesseau and Stavros Soilis dished out a pair of helpers apiece. Sharma stopped 34 shots in his first pro win.

The Prowlers move on to Danbury to take on the Hat Tricks on Saturday, Feb. 22 with puck drop scheduled for 7 P.M. The game will be available live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

“We’re past this one,” Paulin said. “We’re already on to Danbury. We have a huge game tomorrow, a rivalry game. This is a game we have to let go immediately, no time to dwell on it.”

Photo courtesy of Stefania Bastinck