Prowlers Drop Chaotic Game in Newburgh

The Port Huron Prowlers dropped a chaotic visit to Ice Time Sports Complex 6-5 against the Hudson Valley Venom. The teams combined for 130 penalty minutes.

Early in the first, Eimanta Noreika took a shot from the slot that hit a stick and rainbowed past multiple players, including Makar Sokolov, into the net to open the scoring. About five minutes later, Dustin Jesseau slid a pass in front to Davide Gaeta who scored and the top line for the Venom had them up 2-0.

The first big fray of the game came with a little under seven minutes to go in the period after Blake Siewertsen gave Sokolov a snow shower while the Port Huron goaltender was covering the puck. Bryan Parsons grabbed Siewertsen and a pile formed with players beginning to pair off. When it was all said and done, 39 penalty minutes were handed out including five fighting majors and a game misconduct to Austin Pickford for being the third man in. That resulted in a five minute man advantage for the Prowlers.

It took 17 seconds for Austin Fetterly to make Hudson Valley pay on the major penalty and 1:05 later, Reggie Millette tied things up with a one-timer from the left-wing circle. He struck again with another power-play marker, a wrister from the right-wing side. The goals were his first two with Port Huron and put his new team ahead 3-2 after 20 minutes.

The Venom got a five-minute power play when, late in the first, Jesseau got tangled up with Alex Johnson who received a holding penalty and Tucker Scantlebury got a five minute major for fighting and an aggressor game misconduct. They connected five-on-three early in the second with Matt Graham also in the box as Noreika walked the goal line and found just enough space to roof a shot and tie the score. 1:03 later at five-on-four, Jesseau unloaded a one-time to make it 4-3 in favor of Hudson Valley.

The Port Huron power play answered later in the period as Alex Johnson leveled the score again with a one-timer of his own. Seven of the first eight goals of the game were power play markers.

The back breaker came for the Prowlers with eight minutes to go in the middle frame. Bret Parker dumped the puck in and Sokolov went to play it behind his net but it hit a stanchion and caromed into the vacated cage. 88 seconds later, Jesseau tried to make a back-door pass that hit a sliding Luke James and bounced in. That made it 6-4 and ended Sokolov’s night. He took the loss with 17 saves.

Jake Vaughan got one back in the third, his first of the season, but Port Huron failed on a five-on-three opportunity later in the period and the comeback fell short. Things broke loose again with just over two to play as four players were handed 10-minute misconducts.

Millette had two goals, Fetterly and Johnson finished with a goal and an assist apiece and Lukas Lacny dished out a pair of helpers in the loss. Yoshihiro Kuroiwa stopped all eight shots he faced in 25:16 of relief.

The top line for the Venom combined for 11 points with five for Jesseau and three each for Gaeta and Noreika. John Moriarty made 22 stops in the win.

The Prowlers move on to Binghamton on Saturday, Nov. 9 with puck drop at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena scheduled for 7 P.M. The game will be streamed live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Photo courtesy of Hudson Valley Venom