Danbury Drops Shootout in Mississippi

Biloxi, MS- The Danbury Hat Tricks made their first appearance in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in franchise history for a rowdy Friday night game against the Mississippi Sea Wolves.

The hosting Sea Wolves jumped to a 2-0 lead behind a first period shorthanded goal by Jake Raleigh and a second period even strength goal by Yaroslav Yevdokimov. As the second period progressed, Danbury answered back. Brendan Dowler scored on a point blast to cut the deficit down to 2-1.

The lead held into the third period when Dmitry Kuznetsov drew Sea Wolf goaltender Blake Weyrick out of position and potted a goal to tie the game at the 6:05 mark of the third period. Both goaltenders, Weyrick and Danbury’s Brian Wilson put up excellent third period and game performances with 36 and 30 saves respectively, plenty of them with style to keep the game even at 2-2 going into overtime.

Late in the third period, with 1:06 left to be exact, the teams engaged in a shouting and shoving match between the two benches and an altercation on the ice that resulted in a power play for the Hat Tricks that carried into overtime. Danbury could not score on the power play and the game went into a shootout, the third shootout for the Hat Tricks this season.

Former Sea Wolf Daniel McKitrick opened the shootout with a score for the Hat Tricks, but Blake Weyrick stopped the next four Hat Tricks shooters while Yianni Liarakos and Matt Carinaci scored in the shootout to secure a win for the struggling Sea Wolves over the first placed in the Empire Division Hat Tricks.

Danbury drops to 21-2-3 with their second shootout loss of the season, with the first coming in Watertown back on December 17^th.

The Hat Tricks and Sea Wolves meet again on Saturday night. Puck drops at 8:05 PM ET, 7:05 PM CT.