News

Dayton Destroys New York 12-3 in Federal Hockey League Play

By Robert Kirchner

(Dayton, Ohio) The 2^nd half of the Federal Hockey season began tonight for the first place Dayton Demonz as they welcomed the New York Bluefins to Hara Arena for the first of two games (tonight and Saturday night). The Demonz proved why they are unbeaten at home with a crushing win over the Bluefins 12 to 3. The Demonz only blemish came in an overtime loss to the 1000 Islands Privateers on December 21st.

Dayton controlled the play throughout the game. The difference was Dayton's team speed and skill to play as a unit, controlling the puck in all three zones of play. With the Bluefins unable to skate with the Demonz, Dayton utilized a strong counter attack rarely providing New York much time and space to control the puck. When, and if, the Bluefins broke out of their zone, the Demonz answered with an intimidating transition game, which created many odd man rushes and quality scoring chances.

Dayton would lead at the end of the 1^st period of play 5-0, outshooting the Bluefins 20-3. Goal scorers for Dayton were Mike Hoban, Seth Ronsberg (2 goals), Brian Marks and James Sanford.

Demonz coach Marc LeFebvre decided to make a goaltending change between the 1^st and 2^nd intermission and give back-up and for Wright State standout Tony Tabisz the opportunity to see some action, replacing All-Star Jeff Rose in the net. The Demonz play 4 games in the next 5 days here at Hara Arena.

Dayton came out in the 2^nd period and put on an offensive clinic. Controlling the puck for extended periods of time in New York's zone, Seth Ronsberg's 3^rd goal (hat trick) made it 6-0 Demonz.   The Bluefins scored the next 2 goals, both by Pavol Bolibruch, one at even strength, and the other a short-hander, to cut the Demonz lead 6-2. This energized the Bluefins for a short time. Dayton responded with another offensive on-slaught, scoring the final 3 goals (Luke Flicek's 2 goals) and the other by Ahmed Mahfouz which made it 9-2 Demonz at the end of 2 periods of play.

Brayden Metz, Marcus Pryde and Peter Cintala increased the Demonz lead to 12-2, and New York's Matt Maglione would score his first goal on the season and make it final Dayton 12 and New York 3.

Dayton and New York play again tomorrow night, Saturday, 7:35 at Hara Arena. Please contact Hara Arena for tickets.

The Danbury Whalers started the second half of the 2012-2013 campaign on a high note, defeating the Williamsport Outlaws 3-2. Richard Vanderhoek scored the game winner and Nick Niedert made 33 saves as the Whalers continued their dominance of the Outlaws at home (4-0).

The Whalers would fall behind 2:24 into the first period on former Whaler Martin Moucha's 17^th goal of the season. The score would stay that way until 3:30 of the second when Kamil Vavra connected on his 12^th goal of the season on a pretty pass from behind the net by Mike Atkinson. The Outlaws would retake the lead 23 seconds later on a goal by Matt Puntureri (6^th) after a bad turnover in their own defensive zone. Things didn't look like they were going to get much better after Andrew Willock took a penalty a little while later. But aggressive penalty killing lead to a short-handed tally by Tyler Noseworthy (16^th) at 11:19 of the second. From there you could feel the momentum swing in the Whalers favor. Richard Vanderhoek would score the go ahead goal at 15:06 on a rebound from Noseworthy and the Whalers would play shut down defense the rest of the way.

"Our defense really stepped up tonight. We have a few new additions to our defensive roster and I think they really made a difference tonight and hopefully for the rest of the season." - Head Coach Phil Esposito.

Chris Whitley made 44 saves in the losing effort, which saw the Outlaws 4 game winning streak stopped. These two teams will meet up once again tomorrow afternoon in Williamsport. Puck drop is at 1:05.