Baton Rouge, LA – The start of Sunday afternoon’s game between the Baton Rouge Zydeco and the Monroe Moccasins looked like a replay of Thursday night from the Zydeco. They jumped out to a quick three goal lead on Monroe, who looked sluggish to start.
Starting the party was Brodie Thornton who picked the top corner on a 2-on-1 rush for his first career FPHL goal at the 8:18 mark. Just two minutes later Scott Shorrock received a pass at his feet, kicked it to his stick and lifted a backhand just under the arm of Moccasin goaltender Sean Kuhn to make it 2-0. Declan Conway grabbed his team leading 3rd goal of the season on a brilliant individual effort to protect the puck and use his long reach to sneak the puck between Kuhn’s pad and the post to give the Zydeco a three goal first period lead.
Noah Robinson kicked off his return to Baton Rouge by scoring the first Powerplay goal against the Zydeco all season. It was a one-time rocket right under the bar to put the Moccasins on the board. The first period would end with the Zydeco up 3-1.
The second period saw things die down a little bit as far as offensive chances are considered. However, it did not die down in penalty box. Lots of after the whistle scrums and battles landed players on both sides in the sin bin.
The Zydeco were able to regain a three goal lead as Nick Ketola scored his first of the season. He posted himself right on top of the crease and redirected a Jackson Bond wrist shot from the blue line to make it 4-1.
1:11 after that, Robinson found a soft spot in the middle of the ice and overpowered Bailey Stephens and into the back of the net. The second period finished with the Zydeco up 4-2.
Monroe came out ready to go in the third period and caught the Zydeco on their heels. They opened it up with three goals in a four and a half minute span to take an unprecedented 5-4 lead. Ben Stefanini, Helmer Oskarsson and Scott Coash all potted their first in a Moccasin sweater.
The Zydeco finally had their opportunity on a powerplay chance gifted to them by Monroe goaltender Sean Kuhn who gave Declan Conway a face full of glove in an attempt to interrupt his skating path and put his team down a man.
Elijah Wilson, acquired this offseason to be an offensive sparkplug for the Zydeco came through in the clutch with a powerplay goal to tie Declan Conway with the team lead in goals.
There was no scoring for either team the rest of regulation and overtime was a very cautious affair on both sides with the best opportunity coming off the stick of Nick Ketola who had a breakaway from the tops of the circles and was robbed by the glove hand of Sean Kuhn. Kuhn shook off a three goal first period and was solid for the Moccasins stopping 33 out of 38 shots.
Bailey Stephens was replaced by Breandan Colgan after the fifth Moccasins goal. Colgan only had seven shots on net through the remainder of the third and overtime, but looked calm, cool, and collected in goal making seven saves in his 18:42 of play.
In the shootout, Noah Robinson capped off his Baton Rouge return by sneaking his attempt right under the blocker of Breandan Colgan. Both teams were unable to score after that and Monroe walked away with 2 points.
The Zydeco go back to work against the Mississippi Sea Wolves on Friday at the Raising Cane’s River Center where the Zydeco will host their Cancer Awareness night. If you are unable to join us in person, follow along with us on YouTube or WBRZ.
source: https://www.federalhockey.com/news/game-recaps-10/20/24
