Game Recap: Hat Tricks, Ratcliffe Top Prowlers in Shootout, 6-5

DANBURY — Jacob Ratcliffe’s game-winning goal in round five of the shootout propelled the Hat Tricks to a 6-5 victory Friday night in the opening game of a weekend trio with Port Huron. The Hat Tricks surrendered a two-goal lead late in the third, but Ratcliffe, as he did on Dec. 23 against the Prowlers, secured the game-winner. Ratcliffe missed Danbury’s previous ten games due to an injury.

6:10 into the third period, Danbury’s Bohdan Zinchenko beat Port Huron’s netminder Ian Wallace through the five-hole to push the Hat Tricks’ lead to 5-3, their second two-goal advantage of the night. However, Port Huron did not go away. With 2:02 remaining, Tucker Scantlebury steered the puck into the low right corner of the net to pull the Prowlers within one. With time winding down, forward Matt Graham jabbed the puck through the pads of Connor McCollum and into the back of the net to tie the game with three seconds remaining. 

Neither team scored in the five-minute overtime and the game headed to a shootout. Through four rounds, Austin Fetterly for Port Huron and Danbury’s Connor Woolley scored, setting up Ratcliffe for the winner in the bottom of the fifth.

Earlier in the game, at 11:46 of the first period, forward Brandon Stojcevski redirected a point shot from defenseman Josh Labelle to give Danbury a 1-0 lead. Just a minute later, forward Chase Harwell slithered through the defense and parked the puck in the top left corner of the net to give the Hat Tricks a 2-0 lead. 

The Prowlers responded quickly. Forward Liam Freeborn got the Prowlers within one at 11:20 of the first. A little more than a minute later, at 12:38, Austin Fetterly evened the score at two. Prowlers d-man Austin Johnson sniped the Prowlers’ third unanswered goal past McCollum on the power play to grant Port Huron its first and only lead of the night.

6:29 into the second period, while on the power play, captain Jonny Ruiz drilled the puck into the bottom left corner of the net on a pass from Woolley to level the score. At 4:25, the Hat Tricks struck on the power play again. Defenseman Josh Labelle’s slap shot grazed off of a Prowler stick and in to reinstate Danbury’s lead, 4-3. That is how the second period ended.

The Hat Tricks return to the ice Saturday night against Port Huron for the second game of the weekend three-in-three and the fifth game of a nine-game homestand.

The Hat Tricks are more than midway through their regular season Cup defense and we still want you to be a part of it! Season and single-game tickets are still available for purchase. Partial season packages can save fans up to 30% and include benefits such as FREE parking and season passes to the Danbury NAHL/NA3HL Hat Tricks games. Call Herm Sorcher at (973) 713-7547 to secure yours today or press here to learn more. To buy single-game tickets press here.

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