The playoff race for the Lockport Express looked a little rosier after their 5-1 takedown of the Roc City Royals. The Royals currently occupy the fourth and final spot in the playoff race in the Northeast Division with 33 points. Lockport trails by 7 points with four games in hand on Roc City.
It took five minutes for the Express to get on the board, but once they did, they really didn’t look back. Mitchell Thornton had a goal called back early in the game because the net was off the moorings, but Frankie Bodami broke the scoreless tie just a few minutes later. Bodami was assisted by Aaron Shahin and Brandon Schweickert. At 19:02, John Duffy scored his first of the season, from Andrew Logar and Blake Bennett. Duffy’s teammates grabbed the puck from the referee and saved it for his trophy case.
Carrying a 2-0 lead into the second period, Lockport added another tally to the scoreboard at 5:11 off the stick of Ryan Metzler. He was assisted by Pavel Kovtunov and Mitchell Thornton. Less than a minute later, Andrew Logar made it 4-0, from Bennett and Luca Mazzo. That goal chased Nicholas Sesock from the net for the Royals, replaced by Freddy Peters. A change in momentum after the goalie change gave Roc City their only marker of the evening. Joseph Chinelly scored at 12:46. Lockport carried a 4-1 lead into the second intermission.
Blake Bennett scored late in the third period to close out the scoring. He was assisted by Nick Grupp and Andrew Logar on the tally at 18:05. The Express had five different goal scorers on the evening.
Lockport outshot Roc City 62-38. Sam Fitzpatrick stopped 37 shots. Nicholas Sesock stopped 34 of 38 shots, while Freddy Peters turned away 23 of 24.
Roc City will travel to Binghamton to face the Junior Senators tonight and Sunday. They have two more games after that, one against Lockport on March 3rd, and one against the Syracuse Stampede the following day.
Lockport will continue the weekend with a pair of games against the Skylands Kings. Saturday’s game will faceoff at 8:00pm. Sunday’s game is set to start at 2:00pm. After this weekend, Lockport will travel to Southern Tier for a Thursday morning game, then travel to Massachusetts for a pair of make up games against the East Coast Minutemen. They will then visit Roc City for a single game, followed by a pair of games at Cornerstone Ice Arena on March 4th and 5th.
All home games can be heard LIVE on Niagara’s Watercooler.
Howell Motors proudly sponsors the Lockport Express and Niagara Watercooler's live broadcasts. |