Game Recap

Ice Prowlers away versus the Athens Bobcats
@ the Ohio University Bird Arena (Athens)
Saturday, December 11th, 2004

Prowlers bring "Team" Offense to Athens

The Prowlers drove into Athens on Saturday knowing that this was a difficult arena to play in. The team had not won a game at Bird Arena in their first 5 seasons, until bringing home two victories there last season. The Bobcats had just moved into 3rd place in the GCHSCHL on Friday with a victory over Newark and were now just four points behind the Prowlers in the standings. After a tough battle and a 4-1 victory for the Prowlers in their first meeting this season (11/14/2004) no one knew what to expect in this game.

With junior Jesse Betts back between the pipes after freshman Miles McGrew's first shutout on Thursday (12/09/2004, 4-0 @ Newark), the Prowler's offense came ready to roll. Alex Hubbard was in net for the Bobcats and stopped 11 of 15 shots in the first period for his side, but the Prowlers were able to take advantage of their chances behind junior Taylor Walcutt's 4 goals and senior alternate captain Anthony Kantor's 5 assists. In all, 14 different Prowlers made it onto the score sheet, and that with the team's leading point getter, sophomore Nick Hess, not registering a point.

Walcutt put the Prowlers on the board first at 11:30 of the first (assisted by Kantor and senior alternate Captain Eric Weinhold), but the Bobcats responded quickly with a goal from their alternate captain Caesar Braddock just 87 seconds later to tie the score up at 1-1. Walcutt then took the game into his own hands rattling off three more goals (including a power play goal from alternate captain Mike Miller and Weinhold) to put the score at 4-1 midway through the second period. The fourth of his goals was a thing of beauty as he teamed up with line mate Kantor for a perfect tic-tac-toe passing play.

Just when it appeared that Walcutt would be the only Prowler scoring goals tonight, sophomore defenseman Loren Chrisman riffled a shot through traffic from the point for his first ever goal as a Prowler (assisted by senior captain Eric Willard). Sophomore defenseman Cody Berkebile pinched in on the power play to get his 8th goal of the season (assisted by Kantor) to put the second period score at 6-1.

The third period saw a rash of 11 penalties between the two squads, and some more scoring from unlikely sources as senior defenseman Matt Schuh blasted a shot from the point past Hubbard for his first goal of the season (assisted by freshmen Tommy Newhard and Austin Zurbriggen). Miller then scored his 4th goal of the season (assisted by sophomore Max Matsanoff and junior Ben French) before freshman Zach Wiard committed a giveaway to the Bobcats alternate captain Brian Carlson who undressed two Prowler defenseman on his way to the net before tucking the puck behind Betts to get his team back on the board and the score to 8-2.

Berkebile scored his second of the game from Kantor, and Weinhold netted two goals (the first a power play goal assisted by junior defenseman Jeff Laird and the second by sophomore defenseman Brian Rossi) to give the Prowler's an 11-2 lead with 8:19 remaining in the third period. Then with the team down 5-on-3 with 16.4 seconds remaining, the Bobcats netted a power play goal by Zach Brainard to cap off the score at 11-3.

Now the Prowlers return home from their road trip for a showdown for sole possesion of first place in the GCHSCHL when they meet the Westerville Warcats on Sunday (12/12/2004) at 5:30 at the CoreComm Ice Haus.