Columbus, GA – The season has started on the road for the river dragons with six games away from their own ice. The game on November 17th was their home opener game, and it proved to be a spectacular for the fans along with the players. Opening up the season in the dragon’s den, the crowd showed up with 4,277 people which would make a lot of noise.
The first period was a lot of testing the game play between the two teams. A lot of physical play between the two teams for the first five minutes. The river dragons would be the first to score with Alexander Jmaeff hitting the puck in at the 7:01 mark of the first period. In quick fashion, the river dragons would get another score with Josh Pietrantonio at the 8:39 mark. The physical play would continue to develop between two players and Jay Croop would get a roughing call at the 9:20 mark. This would give the sea wolves a power play which they would not be able to capitalize. Lucas Helland would commit a delay of game to give the river dragons a power play. Just like the Sea Wolves, the river dragons would not be able to score. The two teams would leave the period with a score of 2-0.
The second period would start out similar to the first period. The teams were testing each other to see what type of changes the other team made during the intermission. The river dragons would get a power play chance with Joe Pace committing a slashing at the 6:47 mark. The power play would almost end fairly quick with Justin MacDonald making a goal, but would have it waved off by the refs. It would be a no goal and the river dragons would continue their power play. They would capitalize on the power play with Jay Croop scoring to make it 3-0 at the 8:33 mark. Yianni Liarakos of the sea wolves would score at the 10:28 mark to prevent a shut-out. Connor Lind of the sea wolves would commit a delay of game at the 1:22 mark. This would give the river dragons another power play. Two players would start pushing and shoving which would have a few follow-on altercations at the 35 second mark. It would lead to the river dragons having a 5 on 3 power play. Upon completion of the refs talking the penalties would end with Nathan Balkwill of the river dragons would get a fighting major. Hugo Koch of the sea wolves would get a fighting major, and Liarakos would get a two-minute penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct along with a 10-minute misconduct. The end of the second period would be entertaining for the fans with the chaos and a score of 3-1.
The third period would start with four sea wolves in their box. That would not stop the sea wolves from pestering the river dragons. The sea wolves would kill off the power play. The sea wolves would that they were not to be counted out of the game yet when Joakim Nilsson would connect off a rebound to score at the 3:33 mark. This would make the score to a closer game with a score of 3-2. The sea wolves would have a chance to tie the game when Hunter Bersani would commit a tripping call at the 5:39 mark. The river dragons would prevent a potential game tie with their own penalty kill. The river dragons would extend the led with Jmaeff slapping one in at the 12:53 mark. The puck would go out of play with Ethan Busch-Anderson getting a delay of game penalty at the 14:04 mark. During the power play the river dragons get a call of too many men on the ice at 15:23. The sea wolves would take advantage of their short power play by Koch getting a score at the 16:39 mark. With a score of 4-3, the sea wolves were showing that they still have plenty of fight left in them. There was a short celebration that the sea wolves tied up the game, but the refs would wave off the second goal of the game. The river dragons would secure the victory with MacDonald scoring an empty net goal at the 19:10 mark.
The river dragons would win their home opener with 4,277 fans in attendance. The final score would be 5-3 which puts their record to 6-1-0 for the season.
The third star goes to Justin MacDonald with a goal and two assists.
The second star goes to Breandan Colgan saving 23 out of 26 shots.
The first star goes to Alexander Jmaeff with two goals and an assist.
Photo Credit: Toni.Hill@prohockeynews.com
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