Fighting Spirit Continues Winning Streak

Oct 7, 2013

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The AHI Fighting Spirit remains undefeated in regulation as they move to 6-0, and remain in first place in Northern States Junior Hockey League standings, with only one shootout loss on their record.

The Fighting Spirit swept the Cape Cod Islanders this weekend, blanking them 2-0 on Saturday. The Islanders and Spirit had a closer match on Sunday which resulted in a 3-2 win in the Spirit’s favor.

Mitch Purdie and Matt Roberts netted the Spirit’s goals on Saturday, as Anthony D’Urso recorded his first shutout of the season.

On Saturday, the Spirit faced a much more energetic Islanders club. After a scoreless first period, the Fighting Spirit would capitalize on two power play goals, the first from Chris Paggio and the second from Anthony Langevin. The Islanders battled back as Taylor Saffer found the back of the net behind Spirit netminder Adam Higdon to cut the lead in half. However, the Spirit scored on the man advantage again when Alex Peddle netted a goal to extend their lead by two.

Chris Harris of the Islanders found the back of the net in the third period to make the score 3-2, but it was not enough secure the win.

The Junior Mariners notched their first wins of the season this weekend. The first came on Saturday against the New England Stars, which was decided in overtime, 8-7.

“The good news is we scored seven goals in our game versus the Junior Mariners,” said Head Coach Darryl Green. “The bad news is we have yet to figure out how to play a full sixty minutes.”

The first period of the game belonged to the New England Stars, as they put five pucks behind Mariners goaltender Sami-Pekka Ansio. Ricky Mulligan, Wes Monson, Cam Richard, Ryan White and Phil Sweeney were all credited with goals.

The Mariners put Domenic Montecalvo in net with one minute remaining in the first period to shift the momentum of the game. The Mariners came out strong in the second period, with Steven Reu netting his first goal of the season on Stars goaltender Matt Pearless. The Stars came back when Levi Marden found the back of the net, assisted by Ryan Donohue. The Mariners would notch three more goals that period from Jonathan Mathieu, Andrew Paterson and Dan Camara to make the score 6-4 in the Stars’ favor.

The third period opened with a short-handed goal from Mariners forward Derek Butler. Both teams would then capitalize on their own power players, the first from Ryan White for the stars, and then Tyler Boudrow from the Mariners. Butler netted one more goal to force overtime.

Stars goaltender Dalton Doire played in net for the overtime, stopping 9 shots, but was beaten when Kim Miettinen put a puck past him.

The Stars played a non-league game on Sunday against the Middlesex Bears, 4-3, that Green says will be used as a “valuable learning experience.”On Sunday, the Junior Mariners ran past the Maine Moose, 7-2. After a scoreless first period, the Junior Mariners put two pucks behind goaltender Jarrett Ross. The Moose battled back with goals from Yannick Price-Prevot and Brandon Nale, both of which came on the power play. Edward McCarthy and Toms Laus would also notch goals for the Mariners in the second period.The Mariners blanked the Moose in the third period, adding three more goals to the scoresheet, from Dan Camara, Colin Walsh, and Chris Conners for the 7-2 win.

The Syracuse Stampede swept the Maine Wild last weekend, winning 3-2 in a shootout on Saturday and 4-1 on Sunday. The shootout loss gives the Maine Wild their first point of the season, but the team has yet to see a win, while Syracuse improves to 4-0.

“Maine Wild played hard and with heart, they out worked us and out battled us,” said Syracuse Stampede assistant coach James Muscatello. “We were lucky to come out with wins. I admire the passion and effort the Wild showed in both games.”

The Stampede opened scoring on Saturday with a short-handed goal when Rick Runyon beat Wild goaltender Benoit Niclot. Alex Foster would also find the back of the net for the Stampede minutes into the second period. Wild Captain Keith Barnaby cut the lead in half when he scored his third goal of the season. Wild forward David Wilcox netted the game-tying goal with just one minute and eleven seconds left in the third period to force overtime and eventually a shootout. The Stampede came away with the game-winner.

“We finally put together a 60-minute effort,” said Maine Wild Head Coach Mike Tenney. “We were successful on special teams, we went 7 for 7 on the penalty kill and we scored one on the power play. I felt really good about our defensive zone play – we blocked shots like pros. We got the game into overtime however we could not score in overtime or in the shootout. I was really proud of the effort we put forth and can see we are starting to turn the corner.”

On Sunday, the Wild again struggled with special teams, giving up four power play goals to the Stampede. After a scoreless first period, the Stampede’s Mike Iselmoe would capitalize on the man advantage twice. Wild forward Ignat Molchanov would score the lone goal for his team, assisted by Drew Lupardo and Noel Fischer. However, Hampus Alenov would find the back of the net behind Niclot again to make the score 3-1 in favor of the Stampede. Syracuse locked up the win with a third period power play goal from Anton Liljekvist.

“We came out with the same fire and intensity we played with Saturday. We moved our legs we executed the systems and we played another really solid game,’ said Tenney. “Unfortunately we were not as good on special teams. Our power play did not score and our penalty kill allowed four goals on six power plays. Our special teams need to be special and they weren’t…against a good team like the Stampede. We can’t have a bad special teams game.”

Still, Tenney has faith in his hockey club.

“Overall I feel really good about our progress. We have some things to work on but we are starting to play some really good hockey,” he said.