What started out as a strong effort through forty minutes that looked like it might lead to the Norwich Sea Captains earning a key North American 3 Hockey League East Division win turned sour and ended in a 7-4 loss to the Danbury Jr Hat Tricks on Wednesday afternoon, October 13 in Norwich, CT. Drew Schemmel, Ethan Ranger and Teagen Beier all recorded a goal and an assist each, but defensive lapses and a hat trick off the stick of Nick Rogers for Danbury enable the visitors to earn their victory.
Norwich scored first with only 1:05 left to play in the opening period when Schemmel jammed a puck home off a goalmouth scramble. Beier and Ranger earned the assists. Rogers’ first goal knotted the game on the power play 5:17 into the second period before the Sea Captains scored twice to open a 3-1 lead after two periods. Ranger netted Norwich’s second goal when he danced around the Danbury center and buried a puck 9:42 into the second period. Tim Hayden extended the lead with 4:35 left in the period when he netted a power play goal off his own rebound after Schemmel won a stick battle to get him the puck.
The teams traded goals 3:24 and 3:50 into the third period when the visitors scored to tighten the game before Beier took a pass from Sean Loftus and slipped a backhand into the net to restore Norwich’s two goal lead. Ben Cunningham earned a secondary assist on the goal. Unfortunately, that marked the end of the scoring for Norwich, as they allowed Danbury to score five straight goals, between $;27 and 17:10, to close the game. Brendan Pellerito was solid in net, making 26 saves in the loss.
“Today’s game was a frustrating one. After a very strong second period where we displayed everything that is good about this team, the third period was the exact opposite. We had a solid formula in place for forty minutes, but abandon it in the third. Credit to the Danbury players and staff for making us pay and brining their A game in the final twenty minutes when they needed it the most,” said head coach Kevin Cunningham.
The Sea Captains return to action on Saturday evening, October 16 when they host the Long Beach Sharks at 8:40 PM at the RoseGarden Ice Arena. Anyone who wears their Halloween costume gets in free (all ages!)! If you still do not have your costume, or you do not want to wear it to the Arena you can purchase tickets to Saturday night’s game (or any remaining home games this season) right HERE.