Short Shifts: Through Week Nine

A week of OT thrillers

HAVERHILL, MA — It is time for another edition of Short Shifts around the Eastern Hockey League.

The month of November is winding down, and the EHL has one more weeks’ worth of games prior to the Thanksgiving break. Before the players head home for the holiday, we’ll take a look around the league and all the action that took place over the last week.

Late-Game Heroics

• After a week-long stretch of games ending in regulation, the EHL saw a couple of overtime thrillers this past week.
• On Saturday, the Bridgewater Bandits went up to Merrill Fay Arena and beat the New England Wolves, 4-3. The Wolves salvaged a point as forward Felipe-Miguel Miron tied the game with 38 seconds left in the third period, but Bandits forward Cody Tatar was the OT hero by scoring the game-winning goal and his second of the game. 
• On Tuesday, the Express Hockey Club defeated the Seahawks Hockey Club 2-1 in overtime, and Vile Bodin scored the game-winner. 
• The second-year forward now has 17 goals in 12 games, including a hat trick in the Express’ 7-0 win over the East Coast Wizards last Friday.
• On Wednesday, the Providence Capitals prevailed with a 3-2 OT win against the Connecticut RoughRiders. Brendan Devenney, who was recently traded from the RoughRiders to the Capitals, marked his debut with Providence by scoring the overtime goal against his old team.
• That same day, the top two teams in the South Division went head-to-head as the New Jersey 87’s defeated the New Jersey Bears, 4-3 in overtime.
• The Bears clawed their way back from a 3-0 deficit to force the game beyond regulation, but Ivan Kulagin was the difference-maker for the 87’s with a pair of power-play goals including the OT dagger.
• Speaking of the Bears and 87’s, both of those teams will travel up to Hooksett, New Hampshire where they will each play against the Express and the New Hampshire Avalanche at the Ice Den Arena. Those games will take place on Sunday and Monday.

Going Streaking

• HC Rhode Island has the longest active winning streak in the EHL with 12 straight wins. They swept the Providence Capitals in a home-and-home with 3-0 and 7-1 wins, then took down New York Apple Core 7-1.
• Ernests Muska has been a big part of this winning streak, and his month of November has been spectacular. As of this writing, he has 26 points (9g, 17a) in eight games this month, including a hat trick in their most recent win over Apple Core.
• Going into Friday, Muska (14g, 22a) is tied with 87’s forward Alex Haar for the league lead in points with 36. His teammate Aiden Forcier (17g, 18a) is right behind him with 35 points.
• Down in the South Division, Philadelphia Hockey Club has won four in a row. They are third in the division, but they have an 11-3-1 record while having four games in hand over the second-place Bears.
• Last weekend, PHC snapped the 87’s 10-game winning streak with a 5-3 win. Philadelphia scored four unanswered goals in the second period, and David Cook finished the game with a pair of tallies.
• On Thursday, PHC cruised to a 7-2 win over the Philadelphia Little Flyers; Ryan Fleischauer scored twice while Liam Kansler had a goal and two helpers.

Around the EHLP

• The New Hampshire Avalanche extended their winning streak to nine games with a 6-2 victory over the New England Wolves last Saturday. Jake Hutchins, Connor Carey and Sam Pies each had a goal and two assists in the win.
• The 87’s beat the Union Jr. Thunder 8-3 last Friday; Tomass Vekselis scored four goals while his linemate Daniel Novoselov had an assist on all four of his goals.
• Union shook off the loss by taking down the Pennsylvania Huntsmen, 5-1, the following day. Radek Jenik (2g, 1a) and Matej Denk (1g, 2a) had three points each.
• The Connecticut Nor’Easter and Seahawks Hockey Club both won two out of three games over the past week. The Nor’Easter beat the Little Flyers 7-0 and followed that up with a 4-3 win over the Huntsmen. Colin Daigler had five points (3g, 2a) against Philadelphia and tacked on two more goals against the Huntsmen. 
• The Seahawks defeated the Express, 4-2, on Sunday, then closed out their week with a 6-2 victory over Connecticut on Thursday. Carson Low had a goal and an assist in both of those wins; he is second in the league in points with 33 (16g, 17a) in 18 games.