Prowlers Fall to Split in Binghamton

The Port Huron Prowlers dropped a 5-2 decision to the Binghamton Black Bears at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena on December 7. The teams split their weekend series in Binghamton.

Cameron Clark opened the scoring just past the midpoint of the opening period as he stole a clearing attempt from Valtteri Nousiainen and put it in the vacated cage to set off the teddy bear toss. After a lengthy delay to clean up the ice, Port Huron got into penalty trouble and Dakota Bohn sent a wrist shot that Clark deflected home to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes.

The Prowlers got one back early in the second. Alex Johnson fired a seam pass to Reggie Millette and he scored his third of the season. Port Huron got a man advantage trying to tie the score, but a turnover at the Binghamton blue line led Tyson Kirkby to start a two-on-one that was finished by Kyle Stephen for the Black Bears’ fourth shorthanded goal of the season, tied for the league lead.

Five minutes later, the Prowlers turned the puck over in their own end and Donald Olivieri sent a turnaround clapper to the top shelf to extend the Binghamton lead to 4-1.

“Everyone notices the turnover but there’s usually a mistake or two or three before that that leads to it,” said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. “We have a lot to clean up this week but a lot of good things to build on as well, I was impressed with the effort from the guys and I expect good things this week at practice.”

In the third, the Black Bears turned it over in their own zone and Joel Frazee sent a shot past Nolan Egbert. That’s as close as the Prowlers got as Clark completed the hat trick into the empty net.

Nousiainen made 30 saves in the loss for Port Huron.

Kirkby had a pair of helpers for Binghamton and Egbert stopped 27 shots.

The teams combined for 163 penalty minutes including 12 misconducts.

“This is a divisional matchup, it’s a rivalry,” Paulin said. “Everyone knows they’re the defending champion and we’re hungry to take that from them. It’s going to be a battle and war every time we play them. I think the guys stood up, physically, for themselves. I thought there were a lot of extras behind the play that I didn’t like and guys banded together, protected each other, played hard for each other and that definitely will spill over [to our next series against Binghamton]. We’ll be tough to play against at home.”

The Prowlers return home on Friday, December 13 to take on the Motor City Rockers on CL Spirit night. Specialty jerseys will be auctioned off after the game and the only way to have a chance at one is to be there. Tickets are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

Photo courtesy of Bob Howard