LOBSTERS DROWN DASHERS (10/26)

Danville, IL - Coming off their first victory in front of a lively crowd, the Dashers searched for a weekend sweep of one of the best teams the Fed has to offer. An Athens offensive explosion combined with no fortunate bounces made for a lousy night at David Palmer Arena for the home crowd. 

Athens clearly made it a mission to come out firing in period one. Embarrassed by their previous loss to the winless Dashers, they had a statement to make and never turned back. A pair of quick penalties immediately raised concerns for the home crowd, knowing the sleeping giant of an offense that had just been awoken. These reservations were confirmed when Orca Wiesblatt beat Parker Rutherford on the powerplay to open the scoring. The floodgates would open shortly after when Filip Virgili and Garrett Milan tucked home a pair to conclude a run of 3 goals in 2 minutes and 11 seconds. Once again a much needed intermission couldn’t come sooner for the Danville crew.

Period 2 did not provide a shift in energy out of the locker room for first year head coach AJ Tesoriero’s group. Instead, Athens hit the ground running with Orca Wiesblatt finding the twine once again on the penalty kill to make it 4-0. The bleeding continued with another surge of Lobster goals. As if the run in the first period wasn’t good enough, the Rock Lobsters scored another 3 goals (2 on the powerplay) in a span of 1 minute and 54 seconds to make it 7-0. Following the flurry, Rutherford was lifted from the game for Oscar Wahlgren. The rest of the game a tense theme emerged with both teams exchanging huge hits and subtle cheapshots. The score held with Athens up a touchdown heading to the second break.

Heading to the 3rd period the Dashers were looking for any answer on the offensive side of things. The silver lining of an otherwise forgettable evening came when captain Justin Brausen nipped a top shelf wrister for his 200th career goal in Danville. The Dasher faithful erupted when the milestone was announced over the speakers of David Palmer Arena. The Bucks added another when veteran center Nick Gullo slammed home a one timer on the powerplay which would conclude the night’s scoring at 7-2. 

The Dashers were outshot 59-24 en route to their third defeat of the season. They drop to 1-3 ahead of their three week road trip beginning in Baton Rouge next Friday at 7:05. The Rock Lobsters improve to 5-1 and will be headed to Monroe to take on the Moccasins Halloween night at 6:35.