The Norwich Sea Captains dropped a 4-2 decision to the Northeast Generals on Sunday evening, January 22 at the New England Sports Village in North American 3 Hockey League (NA3HL) action. Both Jacob Begich and Brian Essing scored one goal and assisted on another to pace the Norwich offense. Brendan Pellerito made 31 saves in the Sea Captains cage.
The Generals took a 1-0 lead 14:27 into play when they converted a shot in a goalmouth scramble. Begich knotted the game 1-1 with 1:12 left in the first period. Jack Kinahan won a wall battle and fed the puck to Essing who then touched it quickly to Begich. The Alaskan two two strides toward the goal and ripped the puck past the Northeast netminder on the near side of the net.
The hosts retook the lead 12:15 into the middle period when another Generals shot from in tight found the net. 58 seconds later a power play goal from Essing knotted the game again, this time 2-2. Tim Hayden’s shot was redirected by Begich who then retrieved the puck below the goal line and fired a bullet of a pass to Essing. The Sea Captains’ leading scorer rifled the puck into the top corner of the net through a screen. Unfortunately, Northeast was able to capitalize on a Norwich turnover to score the eventual game winning goal with 2.9 seconds left in the second period.
The only goal in the third period was an empty-netter from the Generals with only one second left to play. The Norwich effort was buoyed by strong specialty teams play. The power play converted on one of five opportunities and the penalty kill held the Generals power play off the board on one attempt.
“Tonight’s game was a solid effort from our entire lineup. We scored two quality goals and created some other dangerous chances. We allowed Northeast a few flurries of shots in the first period and they made us pay once. Their goals in the second period were similar as well. If we can tighten up a bit in front of our net we can eliminate at least two of those goals, which would lead to a different outcome,” opined Norwich Head Coach Kevin Cunningham.
The Sea Captains return to the RoseGarden Ice Arena on Saturday evening, January 28 when they host the Long Beach Sharks at 8 PM. Tickets for that game, as well as all other remaining home games, can be purchased HERE.