GAME RECAP: Rockers at Port Huron Prowlers 10/21/23

Last season, the Motor City Rockers kicked off their inaugural campaign with back-to-back losses to the Port Huron Prowlers, one at home and one on the road. This season, the two Michigan rivals started with two games in Port Huron against each other with a much different outcome. Friday night, the Rockers mounted a late comeback down 2-0 to force overtime before Scott Coash sealed the 3-2 win in the extra session. Saturday night at McMorran, Motor City won by the same score, but this time in regulation to take five of a possible six points back home in a wildly successful opening weekend.

It was the same goaltending match-up as the opener as once again Trevor Babin patrolled the crease for Motor City, while Ian Wallace was between the pipes for Port Huron. Just like Friday night, the Prowlers would strike first in the rematch with a powerplay tally. Alex Johnson blasted a one-timer on a feed from Matt Stoia that Babin stopped, but that left a juicy rebound for rookie Davide Gaeta who smacked in his first goal in his first FPHL game for the 1-0 lead. At the other end, Wallace stopped all 13 Motor City shots he faced, although it was wild how many times the net happened to come off its moorings at whatever end Wallace was playing in. Odd how Babin didn't seem to have this problem at all. It's a good thing I wasn't doing shots for every time the net magically came off with Wallace in front of it, I'd still be passed out. And to make matters clear, this was an issue in both games, not just some crazy coincidence. The teams went to the locker room with the Prowlers up 1-0.

As they did in the third period Friday, Port Huron closed the first period in this game with a string of undisciplined penalties that led to the Rockers having significant time on a five-on-three powerplay. Motor City was unable to get many quality chances at first, but leave it to their leading goal scorer Scott Coash to break the drought. He took a feed from Josh Colten and rocketed a shot from just outside the middle of the face-off circles past Wallace for his second of the young season, tying the game at one. Give Dante Suffredini the other assist on the goal. Things reversed a bit later in the period when the Rockers took a few less than ideal penalties and Port Huron took advantage on a powerplay goal reminiscent of their first. Alex Johnson fed Matt Stoia for the one time blast that Babin stopped, but that left a nice rebound on the doorstep for Sam Marit to poke in for his first of the season at 14:10 to put the Prowlers back up 2-1. The Rockers were able to even it up again before the end of the period on a beauty of a goal. Derek Makimaa picked up a loose puck deep in his own end and fed it ahead to rookie Pavel Svintsov who gained the zone and control of the puck, dropped a backhand pass to new addition Rocco DiCostanzo, and Rocco did what Motor City needs him to do, burying his first goal as a Rocker at 18:46 to knot things at two after two.

The third period was not as lopsided as it was Friday. Port Huron actually outshot Motor City this time 10-7, but the only goal would come from Rocker defenseman Nick Magill-Diaz at the 6:05 mark. Magill-Diaz broke in the Port Huron zone on a two-on-one with Makimaa and fired it from the face-off circle to the right of Wallace, beating him clean for his first of the season. The helpers on the game winning goal went to Roman Gaudet and Jamie Milam. Babin and the Rockers defense were able to shut the door the rest of the way, allowing Motor City to come out of the weekend with two wins and five points in the standings.

I know the season has just started but these games against Port Huron are crucial for Motor City's placement in the division standings. Playing the Prowlers eighteen times means a lot of where Motor City will finish in the Continental Division will hinge on how they do against their I-94 rival, so this is a great start for the Rockers. Motor City now prepares for their home opener Friday at Big Boy Arena against one of the FPHL's new expansion teams this season, the Wytheville, Virginia based Blue Ridge Bobcats. It'll be the first of ten contests between the two teams, who will also face each other Saturday in Fraser as well. 

GAME RECAP: Rockers at Port Huron Prowlers 10/20/23

One week after an exhibition game between the two teams, won by Motor City, the Rockers and Port Huron Prowlers faced off for real in the 2023-24 season opener at McMorran Place. As you'd expect, it took some time for both teams to get their legs under them, and Port Huron found theirs first jumping to a 2-0 lead. But the Rockers came out in the third period looking like a different team, completely dominated the final stanza to tie it up, then turned to a familiar face for overtime heroics.

The first period started out with four-on-four hockey due to a rule the FPHL is trying to enforce this year. Neither team was apparently off the ice in a timely enough fashion in the pregame skate, so each was assessed a bench minor for delay of game. Those were the only penalties of an otherwise rather uneventful first. Trevor Babin turned aside all twelve Prowlers shots sent his way, including a breakaway by Evan Foley, while his counterpart in net, Ian Wallace, stopped all ten Motor City shots. 

Things remained scoreless in the second until rookie Brandon Picard picked the puck up near center ice, carried it into the Motor City zone and fired a laser over Babin's glove at 8:50 to put the Prowlers up 1-0. Matt Graham and Dalton Jay were given the assists on the play. Less than two minutes later the Prowlers struck again. After the Rockers were buzzing in the Port Huron zone, the Prowlers broke out on a four-on-one break that was snuffed, but Brad Reitter was unable to clear the puck from the zone, Jay regained control and fired it past Babin for the 2-0 lead at 10:25. The physicality started to pick up after that with Motor City twice going down a man, but they were able to kill both penalties off and keep the deficit at two goals after two. Wallace was again perfect in the period stopping all thirteen shots he faced. 

Whatever was discussed in the locker room in the second intermission had the right effect as Motor City came out flying in the third. They put on tremendous pressure in the first couple minutes but Wallace continued to stand on his head, stopping everything thrown his way and it looked like it just might be his night. But the Motor City pressure took its toll on the Prowlers as a steady stream of penalties followed, giving the Rockers numerous opportunities to get back into the game on the powerplay. It finally paid off at 12:05 when Danny Vanderwiel crashed the net, was shoved into Wallace by a Port Huron defender, and Brad Reitter had a half open net to deposit the puck in for the first Rockers goal of the season. The powerplay paid off again at 15:24 on a beautiful display of passing. Josh Colten sent the puck over to Roman Gaudet who found Dante Suffredini all alone in the slot with a perfect feed and he ripped it past Wallace for the tying goal. In all, Motor City had five powerplays in the third period and out-shot Port Huron 16-3 in a completely dominating twenty minutes. Yes, they got a favorable whistle, but you still have to capitalize on your chances and they did just that.

That sent things to overtime and who else to clinch the win for Motor City but last season's leading goal scorer, and Prowler killer, Scott Coash. The rookie Picard, who opened the scoring, made a poor pass in his own zone looking for Austin Fetterly that was picked off at the blueline by Coash who skated in and made Port Huron pay with a perfect shot from inside the face-off circle past Wallace's blocker side. The unassisted goal gave Motor City the 3-2 overtime win and the celebration was on. The Rockers ended up out-shooting the Prowlers 42-24 in the game, the lopsided third period certainly went a long way to such a large discrepancy, but Wallace held Port Huron in as long as he could.         

This was the first of eighteen contests between the Michigan rivals this season and they are right back at it tonight at McMorran Place. Face-off is slated for 6:05 as the Rockers try to come home taking five of a possible six points from opening weekend. 

GAME RECAP: Exhibition Game - Rockers at Port Huron Prowlers 10/13/23

The Motor City Rockers and Port Huron Prowlers will see a lot of each other in the 2023-24 FPHL season, facing each other eighteen times. So why not include an exhibition contest between the two Michigan rivals as well? The Rockers traveled to McMorran Place, on Friday the 13th no less, to take part in the franchise's first ever exhibition game and came back home with a 4-2 win under their belts.

As you would expect for an exhibition contest, this gave Motor City and head coach Gordie Brown a chance to look at a lot of the new players in camp on PTO's in game action as final roster decisions are fast approaching. The Rockers dressed twelve players that were not with the team at the end of last season, with only five returning players seeing action. Three of those new players were involved with the first goal of the game as Glynn Robitaille was able to find a loose puck in front of the net and poke it past Prowlers goalie Makar Sokolov to put Motor City up 1-0 at 9:56 of the first period. Clayton Hightower and James Kakos were credited with the assists on the goal. With 56 seconds left in the period the Prowlers tied it on the power play as Tristan Simm ripped one past Rockers goalie Ricardo Gonzalez to even things at one after one.

The second period was scoreless as both teams switched goalies at the halfway point. Rookie Eli Bowers took over for Gonzalez in the Motor City net while David Anderson took over in the Port Huron cage. It was a solid start for the returning Gonzalez who joined Motor City late last season after finishing his collegiate career. He stopped fifteen of the sixteen shots fired his way in just over thirty minutes of action as he tries to win a spot on the roster.

It didn't take long for Motor City to break the tie in the third on a pretty power play goal. Returning defensive stalwarts Josh Colten and Dante Suffredini drew the assists as newcomer Pavel Svintsov took the feed in the slot and buried it past Anderson for the 2-1 lead just 1:01 into the final stanza. Suffredini drew his second assist at 3:42 when he shoveled a pass to Rocco DiCostanzo, another new addition to the roster, who flicked it past a stick-less Anderson for the 3-1 Motor City lead. Port Huron pulled back within one at 9:24 when Aleksis Ostankovics beat Bowers to make it 3-2, but the Rockers took advantage of a terrible giveaway that sent Svintsov in alone on a breakaway and the Russian rookie did what goal scorers do and capitalized on the mistake to make it 4-2 Motor City. I'd be shocked if this young man doesn't make the Rockers final roster based off his performance in this game.     

The next few days will be ones to watch as the roster gets cut down and we see which newcomers keep a spot. Especially of interest is the goaltending situation with Trevor Babin currently in camp in the ECHL with Kalamazoo. Both young goalies played well in the exhibition, only giving up one goal each. Bowers faced more shots than Gonzalez, stopping 23 of 24, so will be interesting to see how the goaltending depth shakes out. Even in an exhibition game, the win is nice as Motor City now prepares for the regular season to start this coming weekend, back in Port Huron for back to back games Friday and Saturday. Of course, the team on the ice will look much different as key returnees like Scott Coash, Declan Conway and Roman Gaudet, to name a few, should be in the lineup.

GAME RECAP: First Round Playoffs - Game Two - Rockers at Columbus River Dragons 4/21/23

It was going to be a tough task for the Motor City Rockers to go down to Georgia and take two games from the Columbus River Dragons. In a short, three game series, it is pretty much imperative the lower seed wins that first game at home. The Rockers came close Wednesday night in Fraser, losing a heartbreaking 2-1 game on a late third period goal. The best plan for Motor City was try to steal Game Two, set up a one game, winner takes all finale, and maybe put some of the pressure back on Columbus. But the River Dragons did what they needed to do, took advantage of their home ice and dominated in a rather shocking 7-2 victory to win the series two games to none.  

There is no way to sugarcoat it, the first period was a complete disaster for the Rockers and it decided the game. Motor City got caught with a tired line on the ice, exacerbated by an icing that did not allow them to change, and Columbus capitalized, moving the puck like they were on a powerplay until Alex Storjohann, the hero of Game One with the game winning goal, fired in a loose puck past Trevor Babin for 1-0 lead at 7:39 from Paul Fregeau. Once that first one went in, the floodgates opened and Babin was essentially hung out to dry. Storjohann struck again at 10:01. Then a Rockers powerplay went awry when Columbus broke out on a two-on-one and Josh Labelle blasted it past Babin for a shorthanded goal at 12:39 for a 3-0 lead. Exactly a minute later it was 4-0 when Jacob Kelly scored on a breakaway on a feed from Jay Croop. Then it was another breakaway goal, this time from Josh Pietrantonio, at the 15:00 mark and Motor City was in a 5-0 hole and the game was, for all intents and purposes, over with Breandan Colgan in net at the other end for Columbus. Babin and the Rockers were shell-shocked as they headed to the locker room. Between the breakaways and odd-man rushes, there was little Babin could do on most of the goals, Columbus had Motor City on their heels and dominated.

The second period was scoreless as the Rockers settled down. Babin made several outstanding saves, but at the other end Motor City could not solve Colgan to put any kind of dent in the Columbus lead. It was encouraging from a fan's perspective to see Motor City dig in and play an even period after one of their worst of the season. It would have been real easy to roll over, but they did the exact opposite.

An early third period goal from Dante Suffredini gave Motor City a little life. Josh Colten and Scott Coash drew the assists at 1:48 to make it 5-1, but the comeback was not to be. Columbus played it safe, and when chances did arise for the Rockers, Colgan was up to the task. Storjohann iced it with the hat trick goal at 14:27, before Thomas Aldworth added an unassisted powerplay goal at 17:45 to make it a 7-1 score. Cade Lambdin got one back late for Motor City from Tim Perks and Jamie Milam at 18:46, but that's how things ended as that first period was too much to overcome and Columbus cruised to the 7-2 victory. 

So the Rockers inaugural season comes to an end on a disappointing note, but don't let that take away from the many positives of this first season. Motor City was, by far, the best of the league's expansion teams and has a very solid core going forward into next year. As is always the case in minor pro hockey, some of these players will be moving on next season, but I fully expect to see many of these Rockers back, especially given how many are from Michigan. I plan to cover the team's future more in-depth in an off-season article to follow after the FPHL playoffs conclude. For now, congratulations to the Rockers front office, staff and players on a successful first season.            

GAME RECAP: First Round Playoffs - Game One - Rockers vs. Columbus River Dragons 4/19/23

With the First Round of the FPHL Playoffs being a best-of-three series, it's crucial for the lower seed to take advantage of having game one on their home ice. The third seed Motor City Rockers had that opportunity Wednesday hosting the second seed Columbus River Dragons, but came up short in a 2-1 heartbreaking loss before 1,019 at Big Boy Arena in Fraser.

Playoff hockey is a different animal from regular season games and that was on display in the Motor City. The first period consisted of both teams feeling each other out, playing very conservatively, making the safe plays and generating little offense in the process. The Rockers had the best chance of the period with just over eight minutes gone when Declan Conway took a breakout pass and was in all alone on Columbus goaltender Breandan Colgan, beat him, but plunked it off the goal post to Colgan's left. When goals are at a premium in a playoff series, opportunities like that have to be cashed in on, just a tough luck break for Conway and the Rockers. The period ended scoreless with both Colgan and Motor City's Trevor Babin stopping all seven shots they faced.

The stalemate finally came to an end at the 8:48 mark of the second period on an abbreviated powerplay for Motor City when Connor Inger took a pass from Dante Suffredini and fired it past Colgan from the faceoff circle to his right for the 1-0 lead. Conway drew the other helper on the first playoff goal in Rockers history. Columbus was finally able to figure out Babin at the 16:04 mark. Jay Croop led a rush up the ice, fed it to the late man coming over the blueline Cody Rodgers who blasted one top corner past Babin for the 1-1 tie. All things considered, the Rockers had to feel fortunate to leave the second period all even as they were outshot 15-6 in the period, again just unable to generate much offensively. 

That set up the nail-biter of a third period. 1-1 tie, one period to go, doesn't get much tighter than that. Again, both teams played it safe and conservative, afraid to make a crucial mistake that could lead to the wining goal. Unfortunately for Motor City, an icing with less than three minutes to go brought the puck down to their end. Columbus was able to win the faceoff, a problem for the Rockers all night, Lane King found Alex Storjohann and he ripped it between Babin's pads for the 2-1 lead at 17:12. The Rockers were really unable to generate much of anything the remainder of the game, not even getting Babin out of the net as Columbus kept them at bay and took Game One in Fraser. 

So a tough loss for Motor City but there isn't much time to let it linger. The two teams are back at it for Game Two Friday night in Georgia at 7:30. If the Rockers are to force a deciding third game, they'll have to take advantage of their chances, especially on plays like the Conway breakaway off the post tonight, and apply more pressure on Colgan. He's too good of a goaltender to only face 21 shots as he did tonight. Motor City will have to find a way to generate more offense on the road, and maybe some of the tightness on display tonight will disappear on the road where Columbus will be expected to close this out in front of a large home crowd. Take Game Two and suddenly Motor City can put some pressure back on Columbus for the third and deciding game.      

GAME RECAP: Rockers vs. Mississippi Sea Wolves 4/15/23

With third place clinched in the Continental Division, there was nothing on the line for the Motor City Rockers in their regular season finale Saturday night in Fraser against the last place Mississippi Sea Wolves. But Motor City still wanted to go into the playoffs playing good hockey and on a winning note, and they did exactly that in a 5-2 victory at Big Boy Arena before 1,023 fans on Fan Appreciation Night. 

The first period was rather uneventful, and seemed to have the intensity of a meaningless game, played rather clean with few stoppages. The Rockers did manage a late goal when Sea Wolves defenseman Connor Lind fell down, leaving Cody Oakes streaking in on net alone. Oakes placed the perfect shot through the five hole of Mississippi goalie Joseph Sheppard for his second goal of the season, and first as a Rocker, at 16:35 from Dante Suffredini and Brad Reitter for the 1-0 lead.

The scoring picked up a bit in the second. Declan Conway picked up a loose puck, skated in alone on Sheppard and scored on the backhand for the 2-0 lead at 9:18. Conway's 27th of the season was assisted by Connor Inger and Suffredini. The Sea Wolves got one back barely a minute later on a breakaway of their own when Yaroslav Yevdokimov slid one between Trevor Babin's legs at 10:39 to cut it to 2-1 Motor City. But the Rockers responded quickly again, when a three-on-one broke out and Scott Coash finished it for his 39th of the season from Conway and Nick Magill-Diaz at 12:24. The Rockers took the 3-1 lead into the second intermission.

After two periods there had only been one two minute minor penalty called the whole night. As I mentioned, it was a rather clean, quiet game, but that all changed in the third, thanks to some last minute goonery from Mississippi. I'll get to that in a minute. Yevdokimov netted another one at 4:59, his league leading 52nd of the season, to cut the Motor City lead back down to one. Shortly after that goal, the peaceful game took a turn when Elias Thompson squared off with Mississippi's Jesse Michel. It was a great heavyweight hockey fight with Thompson earning the belt. The Rockers reestablished their two goal lead at 6:25 when the puck came out to Ryan Rotundi at the blueline and he just sent it to the net and it eluded Sheppard for the unassisted goal, his second of the weekend and third of the season. Motor City then sealed the win when Scott Coash and Connor Inger broke out on a two-on-one break. Coash tried to feed it over to Inger but the puck was deflected off the Mississippi player's stick and sailed right into the net, giving Coash forty goals on the season. Great goal scorers have that knack for lucky goals at times, and it paid off for Coash with the milestone goal. Inger and Jamie Milam drew the assists at 12:08.

At this point, with the game over, Trevor Babin came out of the net and was replaced by rookie Ricardo Gonzalez for the remaining 7:52. After last night's issues with Mississippi players making contact with Babin numerous times, there was no sense risking injury or any rough stuff that could impact Babin's ability to start come playoff time. But Mississippi could not resist one last display of idiocy to put the finishing touches on their last place season. First, Connor Lind tried to get Nick Papandrea to fight, getting some punches in while Papandrea never dropped the gloves. But the real buffoonery was saved for Jesse Michel. There was some chirping between the teams on the ice, with Dante Suffredini in the middle of it, making some gestures at the Mississippi bench as well. That was all Michel needed to come racing off the bench, jumping Suffredini and getting some licks in before he was escorted to his usual place, anywhere but on the ice playing hockey. There is a reason Michel finished the season with zero points and 113 penalty minutes. He's not a hockey player. Elias Thompson also came off the Motor City bench once Michel started the gong show, credit to Elias for sticking up for his teammates. That didn't stop Suffredini from continuing to antagonize, as he started making golfing motions with his stick at the golf course bound Sea Wolves on the ice, particularly Lucas Helland and Mason Cirone who tried their best to get at Suffredini and Thompson. Credit to Suffredini, one of the funniest things I saw this season at Big Boy Arena, priceless taunting of a frustrated, losing team. Cooler heads prevailed after those fireworks, kudos to the officials for getting control of a situation that could have gotten even uglier, and the Rockers closed out the 5-2 victory.

Motor City finishes their inaugural regular season with a record of 32-18-6, good for 97 points and third place in the Continental Division. The Rockers finished with the fifth most points in the ten team league, by far the most successful of this year's FPHL expansion teams, so congratulations to the entire franchise, from the front office and coaching staff who put the team together, to the players who have represented the Motor City so well all season. Among them, Scott Coash finished third in the league with goals at forty and third in the league in game winning goals with seven. Declan Conway led the league in power play goals with eleven, while Trevor Babin finished third in save percentage at .915. Now Motor City prepares for the playoffs and the Columbus River Dragons. That best of three series starts this Wednesday with game one in Fraser at 7PM, before moving down to Georgia for games Friday and Saturday in Columbus.  Best of luck to the Rockers in their first ever playoff series.                                

GAME RECAP: Rockers vs. Mississippi Sea Wolves 4/14/23

With metro Detroit temperatures hitting the 80's this week, we are down to the final weekend of the FPHL regular season. But don't let the warm weather detract from the very important hockey games the Motor City Rockers still have left to play. It all starts with the Mississippi Sea Wolves making their first visit to Fraser for Friday and Saturday games at Big Boy Arena. And Motor City still has something to play for. They've yet to beat Mississippi this season, going 0-2-2 in the four games played down in Biloxi. They absolutely want to send a message that they are better than what they've shown against the Sea Wolves. On top of that, the Rockers are still trying to clinch third place in the Continental Division over Port Huron.

One key component to the Rocker's success returned Friday night as Trevor Babin was back in net. Babin had not seen action since March 25th against Binghamton when he took a shot to the head and was held out for a few weeks, but with the playoffs right around the corner, the Rocker's number one goalie was back and ready to go. Mississippi countered with Anthony D'Aloisio in net who did not see action last weekend in Biloxi.

Motor City came out on fire in the first, clearly ready to send a message to Mississippi that things would be different in Fraser. Team captain Danny Vanderwiel got things started at 11:20, taking a pass in the slot from Brad Reitter and firing the one-timer past D'Aloisio for his fifth goal of the season. Cody Oakes drew the other assist on the goal. Then the Rockers took advantage of sloppy play by Mississippi on their powerplay for a two-on-none break with Declan Conway feeding it over to Scott Coash for the easy shorthanded goal at 16:10. Dante Suffredini drew the other assist on Coash's team leading 36th goal of the season. Less than a minute later, Coash made it 37 on the season when he plunked in a rebound at 16:57 from Connor Inger and Ryan Rotondi for a 3-0 Motor City lead. In between those two goals, we had our first fight of the night when Elias Thompson take care of business against Mississippi's Mason Cirone. 3-0 Rockers is where things stood after one.

Despite the three goal lead, this would not be an easy win to get for Motor City. The Sea Wolves got an early one back in the second when Jeff Eppright picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Babin for his seventh goal of the season just 2:20 in. The second Mississippi goal was not without controversy. Kyle Russell put it in during a scramble, but Babin was also clearly interfered with, not the first time on the evening that happened either, and it would eventually boil over in the third. Russell's seventh of the season at 15:28 made it 3-2 despite Motor City's protests. The Rockers gained some breathing room back at 17:18 when Dante Suffredini blasted one past D'Aloisio for his eighth of the season from Josh Colten and Vanderwiel. But they could not escape the period with that two goal cushion as Lucas Helland deflected in a shot from Yianni Liarakos for his fifth of the season at 18:54 to make it 4-3 Motor City after two.

The third period was as exciting and intense a period of hockey as you'll see. Great pace, end to end rushes and tempers flaring. Coash completed his hat trick at 4:37 from Inger and Conway to put the Rockers back up two. That's the second hat trick of the season for Coash and his 38th goal, making him the fourth leading goal scorer in the FPHL this season. All hell finally broke loose at 15:39 when Liarakos made contact with Babin in the crease, at least the third time a Mississippi player did that in the game, and Babin had enough. Fists started flying, a scrum gathered in the crease and a separate fight between Cade Lambdin and Mississippi's Jackson Bond broke out in the corner. If the officials weren't going to do anything about the goaltender contact, I'm glad to see Babin and his teammates took care of business. Unfortunately, Babin was tossed from the game for fighting after the original altercation and Ricardo Gonzalez took over in net for the remaining 4:21. The Sea Wolves pulled D'Aloisio a couple times to try to get back in the game but it just resulted in two empty net goals for Motor City, Vanderwiel's second of the night at 18:45 from Reitter and Oakes, and Rotondi picking up his second of the season unassisted at 19:59. Make it a 7-3 Motor City victory.

With this win, the Rockers have officially clinched third place in the Continental Division. So now they await the results of tonight's contest between Columbus and Carolina to see who they will host in their first ever playoff game Wednesday in Fraser. The loser of that game will face Motor City in the first round. That means there isn't a lot on the line tonight as Motor City plays their final game of the regular season, other than pride and going into the playoffs on a two game winning streak, playing the right way. 

 

            

GAME RECAP: Rockers at Mississippi Sea Wolves 4/8/23

I'm pretty sure the Motor City Rockers were happy to see Biloxi, Mississippi in their rear view mirror as they headed home after this weekend's games against the Mississippi Sea Wolves. After losing two overtime contests back in February, the Rockers returned to Biloxi this weekend riding high on a six game winning streak, having also clinched a playoff spot in their inaugural season. There was reason for optimism that this trip would be different from the first one. But Friday night they suffered a 6-2 loss and things didn't get much better Saturday as the Sea Wolves rolled again to a 7-4 victory.

Things looked good at the start. Mississippi's little used defenseman Jesse Michel started trouble in the pregame warm-ups, apparently trying to get at Rocker Tommy Cardinal, before getting himself thrown out of the game before it started with an abuse of official minor and game misconduct. I am sure this was in retaliation for Cardinal's clean, but hard, hit on Ethan Busch-Anderson which took the Mississippi defenseman out for the rest of the weekend's action and that's fine, you stick up for your teammates, I have no issue there. But Michel's antics nevertheless earned him a spot back in the stands, a place he's used to. Thus, Motor City started the game on the powerplay and they didn't waste any time cashing in as Declan Conway put one right between the legs of Sea Wolves' goalie Blake Weyrick for a 1-0 lead just 27 seconds into the game. Dante Suffredini and Scott Coash drew the assists on Conway's 25th of the season. Things looked even better for the Rockers at 6:01 when Derek Makimaa led a two-on-one break and fed it over to Suffredini who buried it past Weyrick for his seventh of the season putting Motor City up 2-0 early. But Mississippi stormed back and it was the usual suspects leading the charge. Yianni Liarakos picked up his 27th goal of the season on the powerplay, beating Blake Scott at 10:15 to cut it to 2-1. Then Yaroslav Yevdokimov evened it up at 15:01 on a breakway before adding his second of the night on a powerplay at 18:24 and suddenly Mississippi was up 3-2. With the two goals, Yevdokimov now stands at fifty on the season. Tempers boiled over after that as two fights took place before the faceoff at 19:21, starting with Elias Thompson for Motor City against Lucas Helland. After those two were sent to the box, Motor City's Roman Gaudet dropped the gloves to go with Mason Cirone. After those fireworks were over, Mississippi had one more goal left in them as Philip Wong put the loose puck past Scott at 19:42 for a 4-2 Sea Wolves lead after one.

Just like he did in the first, Declan Conway struck for an early goal in the second, this time just thirty seconds in, finishing a two-on-one with Nick Magill-Diaz to make it 4-3. Make that Conway's 26th of the season. The Rockers continued to fight back when Tim Perks was sent in on a breakaway and put the puck past Weyrick for his seventh of the year at 12:25 from Elias Thompson and Roman Gaudet to knot things up at four. However, Motor City could not keep the momentum and Sam Turner scored a back breaker at 15:30, wristing one over Scott and under the crossbar to give Mississippi the 5-4 lead after two.                      

Liarakos helped close the game out for the Sea Wolves in the third. His second of the night at 3:43 took some wind out of Motor City's sails, and even though they had multiple quality chances in the period, Weyrick stood strong in net and shut the Rockers down. For the final insult, Liarakos put one in at the buzzer for the hat trick goal, making the final score 7-4 for Mississippi. 

So what to make of this weekend? The Rockers came into Biloxi the hottest team in the Federal League, seeming to be peaking at just the right time before the playoffs. They were then blasted in two straight games by the last place team in the Continental Division, giving up thirteen goals in the process. I will, however, urge fans not to overreact. Yes, Motor City is 0-2-2 against Mississippi, but they have also yet to play the Sea Wolves with their number one goalie Trevor Babin in net. Babin was on league suspension in February when they came here, and was again out this weekend. He is expected to return next weekend for the rematches in Fraser. I fully expect to see a different Motor City team at Big Boy Arena this coming Friday and Saturday. Babin should be back and it will be their final tune-up before the playoffs. They'll want to get back to playing winning hockey and not go into the postseason on a losing streak. Given the amount of fights and nasty stuff going on behind the play all weekend in Biloxi, I'd expect some carryover in Fraser as well. These two teams do not seem to like each other, and Motor City definitely will want to send a message on their home ice.          

GAME RECAP: Rockers at Mississippi Sea Wolves 4/7/23

With just two weeks remaining in the FPHL regular season, the Motor City Rockers and Mississippi Sea Wolves are about to become real familiar with each other. The two Continental Division squads will finish out their schedules with four straight games against each other, with the first two taking place this weekend down in Biloxi. The Rockers will be looking to have a better trip to Mississippi this time around. Back in February, they suffered two straight overtime losses to the Sea Wolves at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, giving up twelve goals combined in the two contests. 

With Trevor Babin still resting for Motor City, it opened the door for rookie Ricardo Gonzalez to make his first professional start after just being signed a week ago. Mississippi countered with Joe Sheppard in net. Unfortunately for Gonzalaz, it didn't take long for him to surrender his first professional goal, but there was nothing the young man could do on this one. A Rockers turnover led to Gonzalez staring down a Mississippi three-on-one break and the Sea Wolves executed it to perfection as Jake Raleigh completed the passing display with his 22nd goal of the year from Yaroslav Yevdokimov and Yianni Liarakos at 3:27. Gonzalez didn't let that early goal rattle him, however, and played very strong the rest of the period with some outstanding saves. That allowed the Rockers the chance to even things up at 13:37 when Derek Makimaa one-timed a pass from Mike Winn and blasted it past Sheppard from just inside the blueline, to even it at 1-1. Tim Perks picked up the other helper on Makimaa's 22nd of the season. Makimaa then got involved with some rough stuff at 17:24 when he shook up Yevdokimov along the boards and Joe Pace came rushing to his leading goal scorer's defense, jumping Makimaa for a fight. The officials deemed it an illegal check to the head and Makimaa's night was over with a five minute major and game misconduct. That led to some four on four hockey and Motor City used the extra ice to their advantage to take their first lead of the night. Roman Gaudet came down along the left side of the ice and fed a streaking Tim Perks who tapped it into the net for his sixth goal of the season at 18:14. Dante Suffredini drew the other assist and the first period ended 2-1 Motor City ahead.

The less said about the second period, probably the better for Motor City. Mississippi came out and wasted no time tying it up when Jake Raleigh got his second of the game, and 23rd of the season, on the powerplay just 15 seconds into the period. And the Sea Wolves did not stop scoring. Yianni Liarakos put them up 3-2 at 3:37 with his 25th of the season. At 6:04, Blake Weyrick took over in net for Mississippi, not sure if something happened to Sheppard, but it was the Sea Wolves who would keep piling up the goals. Raleigh picked up the hat trick at 6:27, then Jackson Bond joined in the fun at 8:25 with his eleventh of the season and it was suddenly 5-2 Mississippi. A shell-shocked Ricky Gonzalez was replaced in net for Motor City by Blake Scott but Liarakos greeted him with the sixth Sea Wolves goal, and fifth of the period, at 16:14 to make it 6-2 Mississippi. Easily one of the worst periods of hockey the Rockers have played all season, it's easy to point the finger at the goaltender, but the defense in front of each netminder was lacking, too many easy opportunities, too many rebounds, just a period to forget for Motor City.

The third period was rather uneventful. Neither team scored and Mississippi coasted to the victory. Roman Gaudet became the second Rocker to get tossed from the game with a misconduct when it appeared he was just in the vicinity of Yevdokimov who took a tumble into the boards. Gaudet was given a major for checking from behind but I swear I've watched the replay multiple times and just don't see it.

It was just one of those nights for Motor City as their six game winning streak came to an end. A rookie goalie making his first pro start, not the same level of intensity they've been playing with and not much to play for with third place in the Continental all but wrapped up. Port Huron did win in Watertown so the Rockers have still not officially clinched third place, but one point in any of these last three games will do the trick. They have not had much success in Biloxi this season, going 0-1-2 so far with the last game there tonight, hopefully they can break their Mississippi losing streak and come home for the final weekend of the regular season on a winning note.     

 

  

  

     

GAME RECAP: Rockers vs. Port Huron Prowlers 4/1/23

The Battle of I-94 came to its conclusion Saturday night at Big Boy Arena in Fraser, and as close as the season series was between the Motor City Rockers and Port Huron Prowlers, it is fitting it ended with a nail-biting 5-4 Motor City win. The Rockers won the season series 9-7 after sweeping this weekend. And what a finale it was in front of 1,502, the largest crowd of the season at the old barn off Utica Road. It was a raucous atmosphere with the group of Prowlers fans who drove down from Port Huron to cheer on their team and the Rockers faithful mixing cheers and insults towards each team and each other. There is no way you could have been at this game and not wanted to return for another one.

With Trevor Babin resting, it was Blake Scott back in net for the Rockers for the second straight night. Brian Tallieu was also back between the pipes for the Prowlers. Motor City wasted no time getting the scoring going on an early powerplay when Declan Conway tipped in a Scott Coash shot just 1:02 into the game for his 22nd of the season. Josh Colten drew the other helper. At 13:05 it was Conway again, this time taking a pass from Roman Gaudet and streaking in on Tallieu and going top shelf for his second of the game putting Motor City up 2-0 after one period.

It would be the Prowlers who struck early in the second when Evan Foley threw one on net from the corner and beat Scott at 1:21 to cut it to 2-1. Austin Fetterly and Gino Mini drew the assists on Foley's 17th of the season. The Rockers took advantage of a turnover by Mini to retake a two goal lead when Roman Gaudet stole the puck at the Rockers blueline, dropped a pass to Brad Reitter who then fed Derek Makimaa at the top of the faceoff circle for a shot that eluded Tallieu and made it 3-1 at 9:55. That was goal number 21 for Makimaa on the season. The Rockers then cashed in on the powerplay late in the period on a harmless looking play. Scott Coash passed it over to Dante Suffredini who just threw it on net but Tallieu flubbed it and the puck made it across the goal line for a 4-1 Motor City lead at 18:49. Give the other assist on the play to Josh Colten and the Rockers carried a three goal lead into the second intermission.    

Penalty trouble would hurt the Rockers in the third, helping the Prowlers mount a comeback. After Tallieu made a stop, Matt Stoia fed it ahead to Frank Schumacher who placed it over the shoulder of Scott for the powerplay goal at 7:24 and the Prowlers were back within two at 4-2. Motor City got it back on a powerplay of their own when Conway was planted at the side of the net and deflected Dante Suffredini's pass for the hat trick goal and his 24th of the season at 12:13. Scott Coash drew the other assist on the goal and Motor City seemed in control up 5-2. But barely over a minute later, Port Huron got it right back on the powerplay when Stoia ripped one past Scott from just inside the blueline on a one-timer to make it 5-3 at 13:44. Assists go to Alex Johnson and Evan Foley on this one. Then it was Stoia yet again at 16:22 as the Prowlers pulled Tallieu while on the powerplay for a two-man advantage. This time Stoia fired it from inside the left faceoff circle past Scott from Johnson and Fetterly and just like that it was 5-4. Frank Schumacher hurt Port Huron's chances with a slashing penalty at 17:25, the Rockers maintained possession for much of that powerplay and were able to hang on for the 5-4 victory, their sixth straight win overall.

It was a chippy, physical game all night, lots of chirping on both sides, but none more than Port Huron's Tory McLean who ran his mouth all game, particularly from the bench at Rocker Elias Thompson, but took the coward's way out and refused to drop the gloves at any point. It was by far one of, if not the, rowdiest crowds I've heard at Big Boy Arena this season and it was a great atmosphere to be in. The proximity of the two franchises will make for a great rivalry for years to come hopefully. It makes me wish the FPHL had other options in Michigan but sadly, most of the other cities that used to have minor pro franchises in the state like Flint, Saginaw and Muskegon have gone the junior hockey route. So let's enjoy the one we have for now in The Fed, the Port Huron-Motor City rivalry is a great one. Congrats to the Rockers on taking the season series and parading around their I-94 sign after the game. With the win, Motor City has also all but locked up third place in the Continental Divison. They lead Port Huron by 11 points with only four games, a possible 12 points, left. The Rockers travel to Mississippi next weekend for the second, and final time, of the season.