Hat Tricks Sweep Mammoth, Clinch Division Finals Berth

by Chris Lynch

Danbury, CT- The Danbury Hat Tricks secured a series sweep of the Elmira Mammoth behind a 7-1 wipeout win on home ice. The full house at the Danbury Ice Arena enjoyed the Hat Tricks’ offense powered for a second consecutive night by Lucas DeBenedet and Michael Marchesan, who recorded two goals and an assist for three points each to run their postseason scoring totals to seven points in two playoff games.

Elmira opened the scoring, mirroring Friday’s game, with Joshua Sanchez doing the honors 2:31 into the night. But after that goal, Danbury tilted the ice in their favor and never let the Mammoth back into the game. DeBenedet got his two goals in the opener, the first to tie the game on a power play four minutes in and the second to extend the lead off a Michael Marchesan feed at the 12:44 mark. Jacob Ratcliffe gave Danbury the lead for good on another power play, one of three extra strength goals the Hat Tricks tallied.

Jonny Ruiz added an unassisted goal to end the first period scoring at 4-1.

Michael Marchesan scored his two goals in the second and Dmitry Kuznetsov added one more score to end the tally at 7-1 before the second intermission. Danbury outshot Elmira 15-9 in the final stanza but got no goals through Harley White, who stopped 22 of 23 shots who came on in relief after Thomas Proudlock stopped 28 of 34 shots faced through Marchesan’s second goal at the 8:40 mark of the 2nd.

Brian Wilson stopped 20 of 21 shots in the Danbury net.

Daniel Amesbury and Justin Schmidt dropped the mitts twice for two of the best fights of the season.

The Elmira Mammoth conclude their inaugural season with a postseason appearance.

The Danbury Hat Tricks claim their second postseason series win in franchise history after beating Binghamton in the 2022 postseason.

With the sweep, the Hat Tricks move on to the Empire Division Finals against the Binghamton Black Bears. Game One is at Visions Veterans Memorial Arena on Friday night while Games Two and Three move to the Danbury Ice Arena on Saturday and Monday if necessary.