Prowlers Take Wild Win Over Carolina

The Port Huron Prowlers took a wild 7-5 decision over the Carolina Thunderbirds at Winston-Salem Fairgrounds Annex on Dec. 2. After no penalties in the first period, the teams combined for 85 penalty minutes in the final 40 minutes of play.

Blake Peavey got the scoring started early in the first. He took a one-handed pass from John Buttitta on the rush and potted his fifth goal of the season. That was enough to earn him first-star honors. Liam Freeborn ripped a shot off a faceoff that beat Mario Cavaliere for his first FPHL goal to tie things up with just under six minutes to play in the frame.

The Carolina power play went to work early in the second and Jacob Schnapp was on the receiving end of a passing play to give the Thunderbirds the lead just four seconds into the man advantage and 5:45 into the period. Port Huron dominated the rest of the frame. Joe Deveny picked off an outlet pass and his shot produced a rebound that Evan Foley cleaned up just past the halfway point.

1:38 later, Vincent Dekumbis found Sam Marit sneaking to the back post to give the Prowlers their first lead of the game 3-2. Minutes after that, Freeborn caused a turnover on the forecheck and the puck found its way to Dalton Jay who went bar down to extend the lead. 

A scuffle ensued with under two minutes to go in the period that resulted in Sam Williams heading to the box for Port Huron along with three Thunderbirds that was a taste of things to come. Tucker Scantlebury scored on the ensuing power play to pad the Prowlers’ advantage.

The 5-2 lead quickly shrank to 5-4 when Carolina added two more power-play markers within the first six minutes of the third. Dekumbis responded to push the lead back to two 32 seconds after Lucas Rowe dropped it to one. A few minutes later, chaos ensued.

Freeborn and Viktor Grebennikov got tangled up as Freeborn back-checked a shorthanded opportunity for Carolina. Play was stopped with Grebennikov in pain in the Port Huron end. As he skated back to his bench, a fight broke out between him and the Prowlers’ bench. The Thunderbirds cleared their bench in the ruckus and when everything was all said and done, Grebbenikov, Schnapp and Rowe were sent to the showers early as was Bryan Parsons for Port Huron. 

Things settled down from there and Gus Ford brought his team within one again with his second power-play goal of the night. That was all Carolina could muster and Alex Johnson netted his first goal of the year, hitting the empty cage from deep in his own zone.

Six Prowlers finished with multiple points led by Scantlebury’s three. He was named the game’s third star. Wyatt Hoflin made 30 stops in his second straight victory. Port Huron outshot Carolina 38-35.

Buttitta led the way for the Thunderbirds with three assists. Cavaliere made 25 saves in two periods of work before he was replaced by Boris Babik who stopped six Prowler shots. Carolina ended up with 52 penalty minutes to Port Huron’s 33.

These teams go at it again on Dec. 3 in Winston-Salem with puck drop scheduled for 6:05 P.M.

Photo courtesy of BC Captures