Saturday, January 28, 2017

Express Divert Stampede 5-3

The Lockport cashed in on a very strong start out of the gate with a 5-3 victory over the visiting Syracuse Stampede Friday evening. The same two teams will face each other two more times this weekend, Saturday at 8:00pm, and Sunday at 2:00pm. Both games are at the Cornerstone Ice Arena in downtown Lockport.

Lockport’s Blake Bennett continued his hot streak as he opened the scoring for the game 5 minutes into the first period. Andrew Logar and Luca Mazzo provided the assists on the tally. Domenic Senese, playing hard all game, was rewarded with his 11th goal of the season at 10:31, with assists coming from Gibson Stuart and Michael Sokol. Syracuse closed within 2-1 before the end of the period off the stick of Oscar Lande.

Early in the second period, Blake Bennett extended Lockport’s lead with his second of the night. Breaking in on goaltender, Ryan Scheide, Bennett hesitated for a second, dropping his shoulder. The move froze Scheide long enough for Bennett to snip a shot over his left shoulder for the score. Senese and Mazzo were credited with the assists.

Lockport further extended it lead before the end of the period with a goal off the faceoff by Michael Sokol. The goal came immediately off a faceoff win, and shocked the goaltender before he could react. Lockport carried a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.

Rich Hart rifled a shot from the point while on the power play to shrink Lockport’s lead 13:05 into the third period. A defensive misstep by Lockport 90 seconds later closed the gap to 4-3. Tristian Ayoubi was credited with the goal that went in off a Lockport player’s stick. Aaron Shahin scored on the empty net at 18:33 to seal the deal for Lockport.

Lockport outshot Syracuse 53-44. Sam Fitzpatrick made 41 saves on the night, including a pair in the second period that had the crowd roaring and the Stampede shaking their heads. In both instances, Syracuse players believed they had scored only to have Fitzpatrick make the stop.

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