Gutty Defensive Effort Sees Columbus Win Game 2 Of Weekend Series Over Danbury

Columbus, GA - The River Dragons moved into 2nd place in the FPHL standing after withstanding a strong offensive push from the Danbury Hat Tricks and winning 3-2 on Saturday night.

Jay Croop started off the scoring for the second straight night with an early goal just 31 seconds into the first period assisted by Jack Riley and MJ Graham. 

Danbury struck back at the 11:41 mark in the first period with Kodiak Whiteduck tying things up on a backdoor feed from Tobias Odjick. On the play Chase Carter missed a hit and left the ice injured, he is still being evaluated ahead of tomorrow night's game.

Josh Pietrantonio then stole the show late in the first with back-to-back goals. The first of which came off of a turnover in the middle of ice and he wasted no time blasting it to the top left corner for a 2-1 lead. With less than two minutes to go, Pietrantonio would strike again, this time on a feed from Austin Daae who forced a turnover out of Aaron Atwell tto give Columbus a 3-1 lead through 20 minutes.

In the second period, Steve Brown scored on the power play with a great deflection at the 13:23 mark of the second period to cut the Columbus lead to 3-2. 

This goal would end up giving the game its final scoreline, but not without great chances from Danbury that were stifled time after time by Jared Rutledge and the Columbus defense.

Jared Rutledge got the win making 43 saves on 45 shots. Brian Wilson takes the loss with a 21 save night.

The same two teams close out their season series tomorrow afternoon at the Civic Center, a 4:30 puck drop means a 4:00 pregame show on the network. Tickets available at the Civic Center Box Office or on TicketMaster.

Three Stars of the Gam

Josh Pietrantonio
Jared Rutledge
Jay Croop