MONROE, LA. – The Monroe Moccasins suffered a tough 4-2 loss to the Blue Ridge Bobcats on home ice Saturday night, despite holding a lead heading into the third period. The defeat snapped Monroe’s momentum after a strong second period and highlighted their struggles to close out games.
Austin Bellefeuille continued his hot streak for the Bobcats, opening the scoring for the second consecutive night. Midway through the first period, Bellefeuille capitalized at 12:49 with a quick shot assisted by Devin Sanders and Hunter Virostek, giving Blue Ridge a 1-0 lead. Monroe responded with strong offensive pressure but failed to beat Blue Ridge goaltender Timur Gavrilovich in the opening frame.
Monroe roared back in the second period, leveling the score at 9:32 on the power play. Christopher Rex Moe netted his sixth goal of the season, finishing a slick passing sequence from Blake Anderson and Rasmus Asp. Less than a minute later, Kyle Heitzner gave Monroe the lead with a wrist shot set up by Asp and Scott Coash, making it 2-1 Moccasins. Monroe held that lead into the second intermission despite a strong push from Blue Ridge.
The third period belonged to the Bobcats. Alex Norwinski tied the game at 3:20, converting on a rebound after a setup by Nicolas McHugh. Bellefeuille struck again at 10:37, notching his second goal of the night off assists from Jakub Volf and Filip Hlavac to put the Bobcats ahead 3-2.
Monroe pushed hard for the equalizer, pulling goalkeeper Hugo Koch for the extra attacker in the final minutes, but Daniel Klinecky sealed the win for Blue Ridge with an empty-net goal at 18:18.
source: Monroe Moccasins – Read More
