RIVER DRAGONS WIN GAME ONE OF CONTINENTAL DIVISION FINALS, 3-1

FLORENCE, SC. — The Columbus River Dragons defeated the Pee Dee IceCats by a final score of 3-1 on Wednesday night at the Florence Center in Florence, South Carolina.

Trevor Babin received the start in net for Columbus, while Breandan Colgan got the nod for Pee Dee.

Tyler Barrow and Alexander Legkov dropped the gloves just over three minutes into the game, setting the tone early for a physical night.

At 10:21 of the first period, Ryan Hunter opened the scoring with his first goal of the Commissioner’s Cup Playoffs. Hunter capitalized on a loose puck that gave Colgan trouble in the crease. Brad Fortin and Lucas Texmo picked up the assists on the play.

Sixty-five seconds later, Houston Wilson broke in on a clean breakaway for Pee Dee and fired low blocker, bringing the score even. 

The River Dragons struck quickly in the second period, finding the back of the net just 73 seconds in. Brodie Thornton capped off a strong shift by breaking free at the far circle and slipping the puck through Colgan’s legs to double the advantage.

At 5:08, Columbus extended the lead to two, as the blue line stayed active offensively. Rookie Lucas Texmo finished from the near circle after a tape-to-tape feed from Tyler Barrow, with Kyle Moore earning the secondary assist.

From there, the River Dragons locked things down defensively. Babin was sharp throughout, turning aside 45 shots and keeping the IceCats off the scoreboard the rest of the way.

Trevor Babin finished with 45 saves in the win for Columbus, while Colgan made 20 stops in the loss for Pee Dee.

"We got a playoff bounce early," Head Coach Jerome Bechard said. "Trevor Babin kept us in it, and our defense were tremendous in the neutral zone forcing turnovers. On Brodie’s second goal, we took advantage of a turnover, and to his credit he sped in and buried it. Then Lucas Texmo put the nail in the coffin for us.”

Don’t miss Saturday night's contest as the club takes on the Pee Dee IceCats in game two of the Continental Division Finals, with puck drop set for 7:05PM EDT. Tune in 30 minutes early on the club’s YouTube for pregame coverage!