Monarchs complete sweep of Admirals

MANCHESTER, NH – The Manchester Monarchs took on the Norfolk Admirals on Sunday afternoon looking to complete the weekend sweep. Led by Zac Larraza’s two goals, the Monarchs were able to complete the sweep of the visiting Admirals with a 4-2 victory.

Much like Saturday’s affair, Manchester came out of the locker room flying. The Monarchs struck first when Larraza beat Norfolk goalie Ty Rimmer, assisted by Matt White and Yann Sauve. The Monarchs took the early momentum and ran with it, dominating the Admirals with numerous chances. Rimmer was forced to come up with save after save for the Admirals to keep the Monarchs lead just one.

The game got chippy early with both teams were still battling from the games on Friday and Saturday night. With the period winding down, Maxim Kitsyn scored for the Monarchs assisted by Alex Roach. The first period end with the Monarchs leading 2-0 and the shots 15-6 in favor of the Monarchs.

The second period started with more back and forth action, both goalies were forced to make save to keep their teams in it. The Monarchs were able get more chances on Rimmer. The Admirals though fought back and started to test Manchester goalie Michael Houser with more and more shots.

The Admirals continued the pressure but Houser kept the Monarchs ahead. The Admirals finally broke through when Quinn Smith stole a breakout pass and slipped it past Houser. The second period ended with the Monarchs ahead 2-1 and the shots 28-21 Monarchs.

The third period started with the Monarchs looking to hang onto the lead and take the weekend. Matt Leitner took a delay of game penalty early in the third that put the Monarchs down a man. The Admirals scored on the ensuing power play on a drive from Steven Whitney assisted by Michael Pelech and Tommy Mele.

The goal tied the game for the Admirals and set us back to where we were in the first period. Both teams battled for positioning as the period continued and they both looked to find the back of net to take the lead. The chippiness continued as the period wore on with each battling hard.

The Monarchs found the back of the net again when Larraza scored his second of the game assisted by White and David Kolomatis. The goal put the Monarchs in the driver seat and they were able to control the rest of the period. Maxim Kitsyn would add an empty netter for the Monarchs.

That would be all the Monarchs would need to beat the Admirals and take the weekend series. The final score ended up 4-2 and the final shots were 41-29 in favor of the Manchester Monarchs.

Third star of the game was Houser who stopped 27 of 29 shots in route to his seventh win of the season. Second star went to White who had two assists for the Monarchs. The first star was Larraza with two goals including the game winner.

The Monarchs will head south to take on the Atlanta Gladiators in Duluth, Georgia on Tuesday night.

Contact the writer at James.McGowan@prohockeynews.com