The Lockport Express woes continued Friday night at the Morrisville State Iceplex as they dropped the opening game of a three game series 6-3 against the Syracuse Stampede. It was the fourteenth straight loss for the Express.
Syracuse’s Rich Hart broke open the scoring at 12:27 of the first, which until that point had been a very even, spirited battle between the teams. Nick Sanborn and Eddie Cannon provided the assists. Andrew Logar notched his tenth goal of the season just four minutes later to tie the teams at 1-1. Logar was assisted on the goal by Nick Grupp and Brandon Schweickert. The teams skated into the first intermission knotted at a single goal apiece.
The Stampede regained the league quickly in the second period with a goal by Hunter Soden only two minutes in. Express newcomer, Blake Bennett etched his name onto the scoresheet with a sniper shot over the shoulder of Syracuse goaltender, Steven Kozikoski. Logar and Schweickert tallied the assists. Soden put Syracuse back in front 43 seconds later, and Josh Wallace added another insurance marker to give the home team a 4-2 lead heading into the third.
Hunter Soden completed the hat trick at 12:57 of the third to extend Syracuse’s lead to 5-2 over the Express. Andrew Logar scored his second of the night at 16:15, with assists coming from Bennett and John Duffy. Syracuse closed out the scoring for the night with a marker from Nate Walker at 18:33, which drew protests from the Express. The goal was called a goal from the blue line although it appeared that the puck stalled and never crossed the goalline. The referees called it a goal and the Stampede went on to win 6-3.
“We’re getting close,” said coach Frank Vecchio. “I saw some improved play out of our guys tonight even if it didn’t work out our way on the scoreboard.”
The same two teams will face off today at 5pm and Sunday afternoon at 1pm. The game can followed via live-Tweeting at niagaraswatercooler.com or by following @niagwatercooler on Twitter.