Special teams surge tames Bulls

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C.- The Fayetteville Marksmen, proud members of the Southern Professional Hockey League, defeated the Birmingham Bulls 4-3 at the Crown Coliseum on Friday night.

The Bulls opened the scoring on the powerplay when Aaron Huffnagle deflected an Alex Cohen shot by Jason Pawloski and in.

At one point, the Marksmen were being outshot 17-11 in the first period, but in the period’s final minute, Drake Glover squeeze a wrist shot by Hayden Stewart to tie the game.

Matt McNair would capitalize on the momentum just 1:21 into the second period to make it 2-1 Marksmen.

Fayetteville struggled through the remainder of the period, hemorrhaging a goal midway through the second to Birmingham’s leading scorer Carson Rose.

Former Marksmen Sam Stormoen would give Birmingham the lead 17:31 into the second period, and sending the Bulls to the locker room up one.

In the third period, the Marksmen would get a break. Glover scored his second of the night to tie the game on the powerplay.

With just six minutes left in the game, Don Olivieri would blow a slapshot by Steward on the powerplay to give the Marksmen the lead for good.

Despite taking a penalty in the final three minutes of the game, the Marksmen survived the onslaught to win.

Fayetteville is now just four points out of third place in the SPHL.

The two teams will face off tomorrow evening at 6:00 p.m. on Carolina Reapers Night. Tickets are still available by skating to marksmenhockey.com.