Fraser, MI – The I-94 Rivalry belongs to the Motor City Rockers for the first season.
Thanks to a hat-trick by Declan Conway, and stout defense late in the third period, the Rockers skated to a 5-4 win over the Port Huron Prowlers to take the season series 9-7.
Motor City was buoyed in the first period by two of Conway’s three goals, with the first coming 1:02 into the period on the power play.
Josh Colten held the puck at the far side point and slid it to Scott Coash atop the near circle. Coash fired the puck on net, but Conway bunted the puck with his stick into the net for a 1-0 lead.
12 minutes later, Conway struck again thanks to a breakout pass from Roman Gaudet.
Gaudet held the puck at center ice and walked it into the offensive zone. As he crossed the blue line, he saucered the puck to Conway who fired in his second goal of the night and a 2-0 lead just beating Brian Tallieu under his left arm.
The Prowlers were able to get a goal back in the second period off the stick of Evan Foley who caught a perfect rebound off the leg of Blake Scott and snuck the puck into the nearside post for his 17th of the season 1:21 into the middle frame.
But Motor City kept the pressure on.
Midway through the 2nd Derek Makimaa carried the puck along the nearside boards and sniped the top left corner of the net for his 21st goal of the season for a 3-1 lead with 13:14 to play. The Rockers added another power play goal when Dante Suffredini finally broke through the five-hole for a 4-1 lead with 1:11 left in the period for his third power play goal of the year, sixth of the season.
The Prowlers clawed their way back into the game thanks to three power play goals broken up by Conway’s third of the night.
The first power play goal was scored by Frank Schumacher that cut the lead in half, 4-2 with 12:36 to play in the final frame. The next two were scored off the stick of Matt Stoia who peppered the night from outside and notched three goals on the weekend.
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As Port Huron pulled within one, 5-4, they had to get another goal to force overtime with 36 seconds to play. The Rockers welcomed the moment and stood tall pinning the puck in along the boards and not allowing another shot to preserve the win.
Motor City will travel to Mississippi to face the Sea Wolves on Friday and Saturday before the Sea Wolves come to Fraser to wrap up the season for two games.
by Ben Szilagy
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