WEEKEND RECAP: ROCKERS SPLIT WEEKEND SERIES WITH CAROLINA

Motor City made their farthest trip of the season when they visited Winston-Salem, North Carolina this past weekend. The Rockers had a two game set with the current leaders of the Continental Division, the Carolina Thunderbirds. 

On Friday, the Rockers fell 7-3 to the Thunderbirds. The first period of the game had six goals between the two sides, Carolina led 4-2 after 20 minutes of play. The Thunderbirds would break the game open in the second period with two more goals to extend their lead to four. A Thunderbirds goal in the third period from James Farmer-Valente gave us our final score, 7-2. Petr Panacek (2 goals, 1 assist) and Jan Salak (1 goal, 2 assists) led the way for Carolina with three points apiece. 

Motor City would respond well in the rematch on Saturday night. Goaltender Ricardo Gonzalez shut the door on Carolina, stopping 57 of their 58 shots in a 3-1 victory. Eli Rivers opened the scoring for Motor City on a breakaway in the first period. He would also tally an empty netter to seal the win in the third. Josh Colten found Marquis Grant-Mentis on an odd man-rush to give the Rockers a 2-1 lead in the second period. Grant-Mentis has two goals in two games with the Rockers this season. 

Motor City (11-13-1, 31 PTS) still sits in fifth place in the Empire Division. The Rockers will host the league leading Binghamton Black Bears this coming weekend at Big Boy Arena. Puck drop is slated for 7:35pm on Friday the 10th and 7:05pm on Saturday the 11th. Tickets can be purchased at www.mcrockershockey.com/tickets. Both games can be viewed on YouTube at RockersHockey. 

Carolina (16-4-3, 49 PTS) remains at the top of the Continental Division. They will travel to Columbus to face the River Dragons on Friday and Saturday. 

Written by Alex Haenke

alex@rockershockey.com