FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. – Despite tying the game twice, the Marksmen couldn’t pull ahead and fell to the Ice Bears at home, 4-2.
The first period started off a bit sluggish for both sides as they tried to find their footing. Not much action for either goaltender as pucks were dumped in and cycled in the defensive zone looking for breakout passes. Off of a bit of a nothing shot from above the dots, the Ice Bears were able to break the ice first at 10:18 in the first after goaltender Kyle Curtin was unable to control the deep shot which led to a juicy rebound for Ryan Kuzmich of the Ice Bears.
After the Marksmen started generating more and more opportunities, Blake Benson of the Ice Bears committed a tripping penalty at 18:51 of the first period, where the Marksmen had an abbreviated powerplay heading into the second period. Starting the second frame on the man advantage for the Marksmen, just six seconds into the period Cam Tobey of Knoxville was sent to the box for a delay-of-game penalty giving the Marksmen a 5-on-3 advantage.
After peppering the goaltender with shots, the Ice Bears were able to successfully kill the penalties and return to 5-on-5 hockey. With similar play to the first period, both teams fought for open ice trying to generate chances getting pucks deep and fighting for loose pucks on the end walls. At 4:38 of the second period, Alex Davis was sent to the box for kneeing which turned up the heat in the arena with both teams starting to get chippy. After great goaltending from Kyle Curtin they were able to kill the penalty. Just minutes later the Marksmen were dinged for another penalty, a delay-of-game call this time. After smothering Knoxville on the PK there were no grade-A scoring chances which led to another kill to bring them to 2/2 in the second.
After breaking out from being the goal, the transition game finally clicked as Payton Schally was able to break the zone up to Blake Humphrey where he was able to throw a shot on net, tying the game at 1 on an odd deflection off an Ice Bear defender.
An eventful 3rd period started off with a Shane Murphy roughing penalty at 5:30 into the third period. Right away Ranon Joseph of the Ice Bears was able to capitalize on the man advantage at 5:46 in the 3rd giving them the 2-1 lead. The Marksmen continued to grind and chip away to try and knot things back up. After doing some great work along the half wall, Payton Schaly was able to connect off a beautiful give and go with Alex Davis along the goal line to tie things up at 12:45 in the 3rd.
Things escalated quickly unfortunately for the Marksmen as they found themselves down after Ryan Kuzmich batted the puck out of the air to push the Ice Bears ahead 3-2 at 14:36.
The Marksmen would get a powerplay late in the game to try and tie things up but failed to convert. With just under 3 minutes left to play the Marksmen pulled the goalie to try and get the extra attacker 6 on 5 goal but Frankie Ireland was able to put home the insurance goal for the Ice Bears at 18:11 in the 3rd. With a strong effort the Marksmen come up just short tonight losing 4-2 on home ice.
The Marksmen will head to Knoxville tomorrow before hosting Roanoke on Thursday, November 5 at 10:00 am for their first School Day Game presented by PWC. Bring your class! Head to marksmenhockey.com for more information.