CRD WIN GAME ONE 7-2, CAN CLOSE OUT FRIDAY NIGHT AT HOME

BILOXI, MS - Alex Storjohann and Austin Daae led the way with four-point nights as the Columbus River Dragons took game one of the Continental Division Semifinal against the Sea Wolves in Mississippi 7-2 on Wednesday night.

Columbus opened the scoring early, with Storjohann potting his first of the night just 1:31 into the game by tipping a Hugh Anderson shot past Sea Wolves goaltender Austyn Melin to make it 1-0.

Before the end of the first, Daae and Nolan Slachetka would extend the lead to 3-0.

After going up 4-0 on a Carter Shinkaruk shorthanded marker, Mississippi fought its way back into the game with a pair of goals to close the second period and make it a 4-2 game after 40 minutes.

Columbus opened the third period by bottling the Sea Wolves up in their own end, and eventually scored a pair of goals just 15 seconds apart to put the game away just over six minutes into the period.  The River Dragons added a late power play goal from Hunter Bersani to wrap up the win.

Breandan Colgan made 29 saves to pick up the victory.

Notes:

-  Storjohann (2-2-4) and Daae (1-3-4) led the team with four points, while Josh Pietrantonio and rookie Hugh Anderson recorded a pair of assists in the win.

-  Columbus topped the six-or-more-goal plateau 20 times in the regular season.

The River Dragons now have a chance to close out the best-of three series on Friday night in Columbus at 7:35 pm. Tickets for all River Dragons home playoff games are on sale now through the Civic Center Box Office or online at TicketMaster.com.