Southern Connecticut Hockey League

Hamden, CT.

For the third time this season, Dragon Club and the New Haven Mustangs faced each other and once again turned out to be a close game with a score of 7-5. Rj Gates scored 3 goals in his first game of the season, while Kyle Tyll scored 1 goal and had 2 assists. 

The Mustangs didn't take long to find the back of the net when forward Mike Pomichter received a pass from forward Craig Cushing and buried the puck past DC goaltender Jason Szerszen 43 seconds into the game. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, this would be the last bit of effective offense to be generated during the first period as the DC defense shut down everything that came at them. Szerszen made 35 saves on the night and came up huge stopping a number of quality scoring chances throughout the entire game. Forward Brian Courtmanche tied the game for DC at 1-1 on a goal that was assisted by defenseman Jay Rothfuss and forward Kyle Tyll. Another unassisted goal from Tyll would give his team a 2-1 lead shortly after. Forward RJ Gates scored his first goal of the game after being hit with a pass from defenseman Les Hrapchak and then beating Mustangs goalie Dan Ells to put DC ahead 3-1 heading into the second period.

The Mustangs would have 3 power play opportunities during the second period but couldn't score on either chance. DC would also go on the power play but came up short after Ells made some spectacular saves to keep the Mustangs in the game. Ells finished with 26 saves. DC received 2 more goals from Gates to complete the hat-trick and finish the period with a commanding 5-1 lead.

Attempting to turn things around in the third period, forward Kyle Amarone managed to split 2 DC defenseman and beat Szerszen to put the Mustangs now 3 goals behind and spark some life back into his team. DC would remain determined to hold on to the lead after forward Sean Whelan tipped in a rebound that deflected off forward Todd Forselius's stick and put the score at 6-2. The next two goals would come on a surge from the Mustangs with a goal from forward Vanja Duric assisted by Cushing,  and another from Cushing off an assist from Pomichter. With the score now 6-4 and still within reach, both teams fought hard to prevent any further offense but this would be short lived after Whelan scored his second goal of the night with assists from Tyll and Todd Forselius. Amarone would take a pass from Mustang forward Nik Bakos to score his second of the game but with the score now 7-5 and only 21 seconds left in the game, it was pretty much a done deal at that point and DC would take the win.

Dragon Club improves to 3-4-1 overall and in third place, while the Mustangs are now 6-2 and in first place in the SCHL.