Prowlers Rebound, Split with Rockers

The Port Huron Prowlers battled back from a pair of deficits to earn the weekend split with the Motor City Rockers after a 5-3 win on Jan. 25 at McMorran Place. Joel Frazee scored twice in the third to cap a run of four unanswered for the home side.

“It was a good response from yesterday’s game,” Frazee said. “We played well for 55 minutes yesterday and didn’t get the result we wanted. Today, the mindset was to come out and dominate from puck drop. We did that and, in the third period, we got rewarded.”

Eli Rivers opened the scoring as Mathias Tellström took advantage of a Port Huron miscue and fed him a cross-ice pass. The Prowlers responded a few minutes later when Reggie Millette flew in on a breakaway that Trevor Babin stopped most of. The puck sat behind him on the goal line until Alex Johnson cleaned it up.

Tellström put the Rockers back in front with a power-play goal early in the second as his team dominated the early portion of the frame. 

The tide shifted Port Huron’s direction when chaos ensued near Babin’s net and he went sprawling. Jamie Bucell put the loose puck in at the side of the post. 1:25 later, Matt Graham kept the puck in with a steal at the blue line and Luke James found Austin Fetterly coming down the slot to give the Prowlers their first lead.

Frazee struck first in the third fresh out of the penalty box. Fetterly cut off a clearing attempt and sent a pass to Frazee who touched the puck past Babin. 2:03 later, Millette took a shot from the blue line that Frazee tipped home to make it 5-2.

“The first one was a turnover that [Fetterly] was able to feather to me and I was able to put it past Babin,” Frazee said. “That’s pretty much the only way to beat him is those quick plays at the net. The second one was a good shot I was able to get a tip on.”

Josh Colten pulled the Rockers within two with his second man-advantage goal of the weekend, but that was it for a comeback.

Fetterly and Johnson finished with a goal and an assist apiece while Millette dished out two helpers. Valtteri Nousiainen grabbed the win with 25 saves.

Colten and Tellström each had a goal and an assist while Babin made 29 stops.

The Prowlers head to Topeka, Kansas next for neutral site games against the Dashers Hockey Club. While there, they will take on the identity of the Topeka Roadrunners. Puck drop on both Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 is 8:30 P.M. eastern and the games will be streamed live on the PHP Network YouTube channel.

Photo courtesy of Delta Imaging