Yohsihiro Kuroiwa Shuts Out Mississippi

Yoshihiro Kuroiwa pitched a 24-save shutout to help the Prowlers to a 6-0 win over the Mississippi Sea Wolves, their seventh-straight victory. The shutout is the second for the Prowlers this season and first at home since Kurt Gutting made 34 saves on April 10, 2021. 

“He’s the ultimate pro,” said Prowlers assistant coach Chris Paulin. “He’s an absolute warrior. Every day in practice, he’s locked in, he battles and competes like crazy. He plays with an unbelievable amount of confidence. He doesn’t care how many times his number is called, when he’s in there, he knows he’s going to shut the door and the team really rallies behind him.”

The offense supporting Kuroiwa got started early. Reggie Millette collected his own rebound and put the puck back on net from the corner. It hit a Sea Wolf and caromed in to make it 1-0 after 46 seconds. Later in the first, Austin Fetterly sent a shot through and Alex Johnson tipped it home for his team-high eighth power-play goal of the season.

In the second, Vincent Dekumbis held the puck in the corner and snuck a pass through to the back door. Tucker Scantlebury tapped it home as he came out from behind the net.

Dekumbis got himself a goal in the third. He jumped a faceoff in the defensive zone and sprinted ahead, splitting the Mississippi defense and scored on the breakaway. Four minutes later, Scantlebury galloped into the offensive zone and wrapped the puck around the net. Dekumbis crashed the back side and put it home.

Millette bookended the scoring, putting a rebound to the top shelf off a Bryan Parsons shot.

Kuroiwa was the first star of the night after the shutout. Dekumbis finished with two goals and an assist while Scantlebury and Johnson added a helper apiece to their goals. Millette had two tallies and three players, Matt Graham, Adam Heinzl and Lukas Lacny, each dished out two helpers.

“I feel everyone supporting me,” Kuroiwa said. “It gave me more energy to keep going. I appreciate everyone for supporting me.”

Richie Parent made 45 saves in the loss.

The Battle of I-94 returns next weekend with a 7:35 P.M. puck drop at Big Boy Arena on Friday, March 28 and a 6:05 P.M. puck drop at McMorran Place on Saturday, March 29. Tickets to Saturday’s game are available at phprowlers.com/tickets.

Photo courtesy at Delta Imaging